Google, Prediction, and Privacy
September 6, 2009
Google is pretty good with predictive mathematics. When I read “Google Urges Support for Proposed Books Settlement,” I was confused. Then I remembered that some Google attorneys work in temporary trailers about a mile from the nerve center next to the employee car wash. The math and physics folks are in the Googleplex. The lawyers are around, just not sprinkled among the wizards. Not surprisingly, the firm’s predictive expertise flags when dealing with matters such as privacy. For example, consider this statement from the article cited in this blog post:
“As we noted in our letter to the FTC, because the settlement agreement has not yet been approved by the court, and the services authorized by the agreement have not been built or even designed yet, it’s not possible to draft a final privacy policy that covers details of the settlement’s anticipated services and features,” Horvath said. “Our privacy policies are usually based on detailed review of a final product — and on weeks, months or years of careful work engineering the product itself to protect privacy,” she said. “In this case, we’ve planned in advance for the protections that will later be built, and we’ve described some of those in the Google Books policy.”
I think I understand. No predictions and “usually”. Maybe the math folks should help out the law folks.
Stephen Arnold, September 6, 2009
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