Ethical Issues Of Search Engines: Protection Of Property

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to discuss about the ethical issues of search engines on protection of the public property. This paper also explains about the purpose of search engines and how it is used in day to day life along with pros and cons of search engines and its adverse impact on the public property. In this paper we will start with some introductory facts on search engines and then later we will discuss on how it plays an important role in using public’s property for their commercial gain by explaining with some real case scenarios as examples and then we will cover the ways on how to protect your property from these major search engines. The main goal of this paper is to help an individual reader understand on how to use the search engines in his/her daily life with a privacy assurance to their personal data.

Search Engines and their purpose

Search engine is a service that allows internet users to search for the content via the World Wide Web (WWW), where a user enters keywords or key phrases into a search engine and receives a list of Web content results in the form of websites, images, videos or other online data [1]. Search engines often do change their algorithm to improve user experience. They aim to understand how users search and give them the best answer to their query by giving priority to highest quality and most relevant pages [2]. Some of the most commonly used search engines are:1. Google2. Bing3. Yahoo4. Ask.com5. Baidu

Now a days, billions of people use this search engines in their day to day life to search their daily needs which includes:

1. Research: Most people use search engines for research purpose. They generally look for answer or set of information to make a decision to fulfill their purposes.
2. Entertainment: Few people use search engines as a means of entertainment like watching movies, video songs, movie trailers and listening to music.
3. Social networking: People also use search engine to connect through various social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.
4. Shopping: Few people use search engine for making some online purchases through websites like Amazon, Snapdeal, jabong.

Ethical issues of Search Engines

How major search engines use public propertyLet’s take a look at how different search engines use the public data [3].

1. Google:Google is one of the world’s largely used search engine. When you use Google web search engine it’s privacy policy states that the company collects data on “ Things you do”, “Things you create” and “Things that make you “you”””. The “image” that the google is able to create about you is very complete, like the Google map using bits of data from your mobile to help recognize traffic patterns. While Google calls the data anonymous, many people don’t even consider that this information is shared. Google does a great job in explaining that it uses all of your information they collect is to help you and improve your experience with its products. But in reality, it uses much of your information for ad targeting. In November 2017, Google admitted to tracking user location data, via cell tower data, even when the setting was turned off [4].
2. Bing:Bing is the second most used search engine in the world. It is owned and operated by Microsoft. Its users make around 873 million searches per day and Microsoft says this about the personal data it collects
3. Baidu:Baidu is a Chinese web service company and is one of the largest internet companies in the world. It’s search tool is used across the web and as most citizens in china don’t have access to google or other western online services, Baidu is leading search engine in china. Baidu collects user data from search queries and from thousands of apps. In the year 2016, a Baidu android software development kit had a data breach and other firms using the same kit leaked users’ personal data [5]. Baidu responded that it would be “fixing the encryption holes in its kits, but would still collect the data for commercial use, some of which it shares with third parties”. It also added saying “It only provides what data is lawfully requested by duly constituted law enforcement agencies”.
4. Yahoo:Yahoo uses log files stored on its server for analysis, research, auditing among other purposes. These log files are stored for up to a period of 18 months. Yahoo uses the terms anonymization and de-identification to describe how it removes and replaces personal identifiers in its data records. However, it also shows that its anonymization policy only applies to search log data. In the Year 2013, Yahoo had a huge data breach affecting every user on its service. The hack exposed user account information including name, email address, hashed passwords, birthdays, phone numbers and also the encrypted or un-encrypted security question and answers [6].
5. Ask.com:Ask.com has fewer features when compared to large search engines like google. Hence, the data it collects is not very extensive. However, it tracks your search queries, clicks, page-views, search history and more. For the mobile users, they track the geographic location as well. In the year 2017, Ask’s toolbar had suffered a data breach twice in a period of two months. Fraudsters delivered malware to computers through the Ask.com toolbar. Further information about this can be found in [7].

Ask list the following on how they share the information of the public data:

• Our suppliers, subcontractors, and business partners (“service providers”) Companies within the IAC Group of Companies
• Our Search Application partners Fraud prevention
• Law enforcement purposes and public safety
• Sale or merger of our business
• Advertisers and advertising networks How can you protect your property from the search engines? So far, we have seen how the major web search engine use your data for their commercial uses now we will see on how we can protect our data from these search engines. One way would be by using Search Encrypt [8].

Search Encrypt is a privacy search engine that puts user privacy first. By combining encryption and privacy-by-design, Search Encrypt offers perfect forward secrecy. Private Search Engine vs Private Browsing mode One might be thinking that why to use a private search engines like Search Encrypt when the search engines are making their availability in private browsing modes. The answer to their question is even if you regularly make use of private browsing settings like Google’s Incognito Mode or Safari’s Private Browsing Mode, you are only protecting your search history locally. These major Search Engines can probably still track your behaviour. These “private modes” don’t deliver the privacy that users expect, so they are essentially deceiving the users. The advantage of using private search engines like Search Encrypt is that it will not store the users’ information and sell it to third parties. Third parties are the organizations who use your information and target you with ads, and could even use your data against you later on. Search Encrypt protects public from any government or business organization that may attempt to gather information on their internet behaviour.

Advantages of using Private Search EnginesThe following are some of the advantages of using private search engines [9]. No Tracking of Personal Information: Without tracking search engines serves you with fewer and less intrusive ads. Your results can’t be influenced by your past searches or web browsing.

Objective. Neutral Search Results:Filter bubbles are a problem because they eliminate opposing views from your search results and social media feeds. Private Search Engines deliver the same results for every user because they don’t use complex data profiles to tailor search results.

Private Browsing Isn’t Enough:In private Browsing or incognito mode your browser doesn’t track information about your internet behaviour. However, the information is still stored and sent from the websites you visit. Private Search Engines can truly keep your search terms hidden and in encrypted form.

Searches are not linked to your Email Account:Private Search Engines for the most part are focussed on delivering reliable and useful search tools. Unlike big search engines, which try to gather your information from as many angles as possible. Private search engines have one product which doesn’t collect user data. Google for example has hundreds of products and services which collects and process user data. If you use Gmail for your email and Google for your search engine then your data is more complete because Google can link your searches to your email address and your name.

Conclusion

Most people need the help of search engines in their day to day life but not at the cost of their property. It should be noted that while search engines provide massive utility and value to the users, the search engines actually benefit far more. They use your data for ad serving purposes. In the year 2016, Google generated nearly $80 billion in ad revenue. This is because Google has so much data on its users and web users in general that its ad targeting is much more complex than other digital advertising solutions. In comparison Facebook’s ad revenue in 2016 was $26.9 billion less than half of what google has made. Google claims that it uses your data to serve you “more relevant” ads and to deliver a more user friendly internet experience. However, we should understand the fact that “can users experience be truly user friendly if it benefitting search engine company much more than its users?” So it your responsibility to put your personal data private and secured from these search engines. We, as public should rule on search engines and not let search engines rule on us.

References:

1. https://www.techopedia.com/definition/12708/search-engine-world-wide-web
2. https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/what-search-engine-and-how-do-they-work
3. https://medium.com/searchencrypt/how-the-most-popular-search-engines-use-your-information-6d7420f39e85
4. https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/21/16684818/google-location-tracking-cell-tower-data-android-os-firebase-privacy
5. https://www.reuters.com/article/baidu-vulnerability/thousands-of-apps-running-baidu-code-collect-leak-personal-data-research-idUSKCN0VX0EX
6. https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/3/16414306/yahoo-security-data-breach-3-billion-verizon
7. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ask-com-toolbar-network-compromised-twice-in-two-months/
8. https://www.searchencrypt.com/
9. https://choosetoencrypt.com/search-engines/private-search-engines-a-complete-guide/