Mediaboss Marketing

Google Street Views & Privacy

Google Street Views, a new feature of Google Maps that offers photos of various cities (and citizens) around the country, is raising new concerns about privacy. Edward Jurkevics, Chesapeake Analytics; John Gapper, FT chief business commentator; and CNBC's Erin Burnett take on the topic

Savvy consumers learn fast and have realized limiting access to their data means they have to stay vigilant on privacy settings.

Facebook and Google's social networking arm, Google Plus, have group functions that allow users to selectively share information, instead of exposing data to "the random world", as Polonetsky euphemistically called social network posts. (Read more: Randi Zuckerberg Also Confused About Facebook Privacy.)

In some cases, web surfers are going a step further and downloading additional software and browsers specifically to block advertiser access to their personal data. AdBlock Plus, which is free touts about 42 million active users, is one example.

Unless users are willing to jump through such hoops, "there isn't much privacy from marketers when your sharing your information online," Polonetsky said. "Users should understand that there's not much online that is free, unless they take extraordinary steps."

In the end, the onus is on users to know where and how their data is disseminated.

"I'm often surprised that people are surprised" by user data policies, said Brad McGee, co-founder of iCrowd, a social network for equity crowdfunding. If you post information, always have a clear idea of how the site or company intends to use your data, he said.

Visit link:
Why Online Privacy Is a Big Oxymoron