google skeptic

Really, why resist?  They already have your email, your web history, your reading habits, your YouTube faves, your DNA, your medical records, and pictures of where you live, all nicely cross-indexed.  Hey, maybe if they record you saying “I feel wonderful and I love the government” four or five times a day, it’ll all balance out … but probably not.

From TechCrunch:

Google Voice Makes Its Today Show Debut; Invites Start Going Out Today

This morning Google Voice was featured in a segment on the Today Show, during which NBC News correspondent Janet Shamlian outlined her experiences with the service over the last few months (her verdict: she loves it). It’s an interesting piece to watch if only to see how the mass media is trying to describe Google Voice without confusing everyone watching, which can be a difficult task.

Shamlian and Matt Lauer briefly address the potential privacy concerns that have been raised over Voice, which would give Google access to your voice conversations and voicemail. Given that many of us have already used Gmail for years, handing over sensitive data to Google isn’t exactly novel, but it’s a valid point nonetheless.

[more] via Google Voice Makes Its Today Show Debut; Invites Start Going Out Today.

According to press reports, Google has recently acquired one million phone numbers in preparation for finally rolling out its Google Voice “service” to the general public.  The technophiliac blogs are atwitter with breathless expectations, giddily blind to the fact that if the NSA were caught doing what Google Voice plans to do, at least some of those same blogs would be shaking with righteous outrage.  But once again, as this admirably skeptical Computerworld item from March warns, it’s that old Googly “Look, shiny!” syndrome at work — if it’s Google, it has to be a Good Thing, even if it’s obviously a very, very bad idea:

Lost in all the hooplah about the release of Google Voice is this disturbing fact: The service will give Google enormous amounts of information about the intimate details of your everyday life, including recordings of your voice mail and possibly your phone calls. Combined with what Google already knows about you, it could mean your privacy is at an end.

Google Voice, by all accounts, may be the best tool ever for managing your telephone communications. It routes all of your calls through a single number, and can then ring all of your phones simultaneously. You can manage your voice mail with it, including getting free transcripts of your calls. It includes free voice conferencing, inexpensive overseas calls, and plenty more. You’ll also be able to record and store your calls online.

But all that information about your calls will be routed through Google. Google will know everyone who called you and when they called. They’ll have records of your voice mail, and because they offer free transcription, it means they’ll have not just the voice, but text of your calls as well. They’ll have recordings of your phone calls — and I would expect them to offer transcriptions of them as well, which means they’ll have the transcriptions as well as your calls.

Google Voice will be offered for free. Google, though, will certainly be looking for ways to make money from it. One of the most obvious ways is via targeted advertising, particularly because the company recently announced that it’s going to figure out new ways to target ads based on your interests. It already does this with Gmail. So don’t be surprised to see ad targeted based on who calls you.

Doing that means that Google will be mining data from your calls, possibly including what is being said on the calls themselves. It already does the equivalent of this in Gmail, looking for key words, and then displaying ads based on those words.

[more] via Google Voice: Press “1″ to invade your privacy – Computerworld Blogs.

But I’m sure Googy will share if you ask nicely:

First, Google read your e-mail.

Now, its reading your voicemail.

The Internet behemoth unveiled its newest offering Thursday: Google Voice, a service that records and transcribes users’ voicemail, turning audio messages into text that can be accessed and read online.

Google Voice works by scanning and transcribing the entire content of voicemail messages automatically – also allowing users to listen in live as messages are being recorded.

The service resembles Google’s e-mail client, Gmail, which famously “reads” e-mail text, targeting advertisements at users based on keywords.

Among the other features of Google Voice:

* A central phone number that links your cell phone, house phone and work phone.

* A routing system that sends certain calls to certain devices.

* A notification service that alerts you, via text, when you have a new voicemail at any of your numbers.

* The ability to download or forward voicemail messages.

* Specialized greetings based on who’s calling.

[more] via New Google Voice service turns voicemail messages into text.