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08:00 28th October 2010
Despite developments in the IT industry, search giant Google's potential to misuse people's personal information is limited by its status as a corporation reliant on its customers, according to Anders Sandberg, research fellow at Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute (FHI).
"If Google wanted to be intrusive, they could do lots of naughty things. That leads to the general question – how well can you control this sort of system?" Mr Sandberg said.
The expert explained that a "functioning society" relies on trust, and people are "rationally ignorant" in their relationships with online corporations in the same way they are with government, referring to the ability of large companies to exploit their users' personal information.
"If Google really started acting up, people would just force them to behave, or they'd lose customers. As we get more and more of this kind of technology the demand for keeping our society more democratic and tolerant will also go up," he said.
Google recently admitted it "failed badly" after mistakenly downloading unencrypted WiFi data via its Street View cars in May 2010.
Posted by Derek Oldman ??
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