Twice an hour, an animated version of Google CEO Eric Schmidt can currently be seen giving away free ice cream to little kids in return for their private information on a 540 square foot screen hovering over New York’s Times Square. The cartoon was produced by a “Inside Google,” a project of the non-partisan Consumer Watchdog group, that wants to draw attention to what it perceives as Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s “lack of regard for our online privacy.”
Eric Schmidt is “Out of Control”
The reason for this? According to “Inside Google,” Eric Schmidt is “out of control. When questioned about privacy, he has said, ‘If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.’ Recently, he suggested children could change their names when they got older if they wanted to escape what was embarrassing and public in their online lives.”
Do Not Track Me List
The project advocates the creation of a “Do Not Track Me” list, similar to the National Do Not Call Registry that allows users to prevent telemarketers from calling their phones. Inside Google is being supported by the Rose Foundation.
It’s worth noting that Google already allows consumers to opt out of personalized advertising and Google Analytics tracking.
What do You Think?
We can’t help but think that the extreme caricature of Schmidt takes away from the overall message of the video. We’re also not sure that the majority of people walking around on Times Square actually know who Schmidt is.
What do you think? Are you worried about Google knowing too much about you? Do you think this video is an effective means of alerting people to the potential privacy issues online? Or is Google being singled out unfairly and the video should really feature Mark Zuckerberg?
Tip of the hat to Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land for alerting us to this video.
