In the current climate of control, distrust, spying, etc. this trend can be viewed as a clear statement of protection. Yes it is possible to use technological measures to track and trace users and their use. This information can (and will) be used in circumstances of dubious behaviour. But dubious behaviour is not always defined clearly.
In the US and other countries private individuals are held responsible for stealing what is not theirs in the digital realm. ISP’s are forced to disclose information that helps identify these individuals. In the Netherlands users are protected but in other countries this protection is somewhat limited.
On first thought this seems to be protecting their users. Perhaps not entirely altruistic but definitely a sign of proper respect. Modern companies that realize their customers are actually people. But this might not be the main reason for these companies.
We are talking about huge amounts of data. One request for information might take a considerable amount of time. Time for which they need wetware to appropriately guarantee the necessary discretion. Apart from gathering and presenting the information a lawyer needs to assess the risk involved in disclosing private data. One mistake and legal battles can be expected.
So, the same technology that makes this data available can be used to remove it again. As far as I know search engines are not obliged to hold this data indefinitely, in contrast to ISP’s. So these actions might be disguised and marketed as privacy measure beneficial to the users of these system while in fact the steps takes are primarily designed to protect the companies themselves.
What do you think?
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I know there already are companies that can ‘clean up’ your ‘online history’. In a low-tech sense you can already use the search-engine to update you on what is known about you (e.g. through Google Alerts).
In a more positive sense I think PR companies will extend their services to the Internet: creating a respectable online identity for their clients. Of course this is common practice for some music artists already (see for example http://www.netvibes.com/50cent).
do you think we will see this for individuals as well? do you have examples of that? how will a PR ‘erase’ history?
The best known examples are www.reputationdefender.com and www.defendmyname.com
and what do you think the reasons for the search engines might be? altruistic or self defence? or something else?