Zimmer

In Com430z, I was assigned to read Michael Zimmer’s article, “The externalities of search 2.0: the emerging privacy threats when the drive for the perfect search engine meets Web 2.0”.The article takes a look into the growing Web 2.0 technologies and how they could present a problem of privacy for the computer user. In the article Zimmer specifically looks at the emergence of what he calls the “perfect search engine” to aid in understanding the use of these Web 2.0 technologies. This “perfect search engine” is said to be able to deliver intuitive results based on user’s past searches and general browsing history”(Zimmer, 2008;Pitkow,2002; Teevan,2005). This would enable people to receive more information that is particular to them and what they may like when searching throughout the internet. It’s also shown how the new Web 2.0 technologies have allowed for the user to become a lot more user-generated in comparison to their Web 1.0 predecessors. It was said that these technologies would blur the lines between user and creator similar to that of Wikipedia which allows users to enter their own information into a huge database for everyone’s viewing pleasure. Zimmer goes on to highlight some of the threats that have emerged with these Web 2.0 technologies on the rise. Amongst these threats discussed, the one that stands out as most important was privacy which of course is no new problem to the Internet user. In the article it’s seen just how much ones privacy is invaded when using these new technologies. It’s especially seen with Web 2.0 programs like Flickr (huge photo database) and YouTube (huge media database) which allow almost anybody to view a user’s photos or videos at the click of a mouse. Zimmer also expresses how these technologies would also enable the government to obtain information from companies (Yahoo/Google) about user’s activity on the internet and use it against them. This tracking of users Internet activity is defined by Zimmer as datavallience.

After reading this article by Zimmer I have come to realize a number of things about these new Web 2.0 technologies. Not only are they becoming more user friendly but they are also allowing for one’s privacy to be violated unknowingly. While I strongly feel that this problem could be fixed with the help of some nifty computer genius’s, I also understand that it will be a problem that will take much effort. Besides programmers taking an initiative to provide privacy I also think that users should be a lot more conscious of what they publish on the Internet because who knows where it could turn up. People are becoming too comfortable with these Web 2.0 technologies posting personal videos, photos, and etc. thus failing to realize the trouble it present for them in the future.