Are You Getting “Scroogled” By Google?

If you use Google for search, Gmail for e-mail or an Android phone as your smart phone then, according to Microsoft, you’re getting “scroogled” daily!  What exactly does that mean?  Well, according to www.scroogled.com, it means that Google systematically uses your private information that it collects online through your search, your emails, your Android app store purchases and more to sell more ads.

And there’s no way to opt out.

Let me explain further how they do it with a few examples:

• Gmail:  Google’s systems go through all of your personal Gmail emails ever sent and received looking for keywords they can use to target you with paid ads. So that email you just sent to your spouse, your child or whomever you just sent it to… Google is looking to see how they can use that to target you with advertisements. And 46% of users of the e-mail service don’t even know it. Great for advertisers. Not so great for your privacy.
• Google Android App Store:  When you buy an Android app from the Google App Store, they give your full name, e-mail address and the neighborhood where you live to the app maker. This occurs without clear warning to you every time that you buy an app. That might be OK in a handful of instances, but it’s impossible to tell what the app maker might do with that information. App makers are spread all around the world and not all app makers are trustworthy.

Consumer Privacy Groups are up in arms about this blatant sharing of your personal information. A Consumer Watchdog Complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on Feb 25, 2013 said “The various applicable Google privacy policies promise not to share user information collected by Google outside of the company. The policies contain no exceptions that would justify Google’s disclosure to app developers of confidential user information.”

In full disclosure, the term “Scroogled” has recently been hyped up in a series of big marketing campaigns bashing Google’s services. So are these privacy concerns a bunch of marketing hype or real concerns to act on?  That answer is really up to you.

So what to do now?  Only you can determine how much you want to risk your own personal information in the hands of Google. The online world has an increasing number of security risks to consider these days and most of them don’t have anything to do with Google. How do you respond?  Hopefully by being informed and making decisions based on real information and not because you didn’t know any better.

IF YOU ARE USING GMAIL FOR YOUR OFFICE:

 I have always recommended to the chiropractors I talk to, to fully brand your email.  It’s quite inexpensive and so much more professional, not to mention much safer.  Why not put a professional face on your office and have drjohn@adjustedwellchiro.com or whatever your office name is?  In either case remember that HIPAA prohibits you from using any normal unencrypted email (gmail cannot be encrypted) for communicating patient sensitive information (ePHI).   Unless you are working with a team of HIPAA security compliant professionals that encrypt it, make sure you and your office never use email for private info.  And if you allow your CA’s to use GMAIL or HOTMAIL, etc chances are, despite office rules, it’ll happen sooner or later.   Protect yourself with a system that auto-encrypts your email to patients when it detects ePHI.   Yep we can help. (you know I had to throw that in)