“Google and the NSA: A Tale of Corporate Social Irresponsibility?”

Renowned author of The Googlization of Everything And Why We Should Worry among other published works, Siva Vaidhyanathan, spoke at theUniversity of Miami about just how profusely the always evolving search-engine powerhouse collects data on users for its own means, without their true understanding or consent. And the case is not just for Google alone, Siva’s intent was not on standing up against Google, but to spread the knowledge of how Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and all the great companies we have come to respect (and in fact admire), are treating our own personal data.

Governments, the US government included, are using this data too, amassed by those companies we supposedly trust; who might not have much option in handing over their files to the state. We, as consumers must understand that we are giving up certain rights to our privacy in turn for our convenient online shopping, information finding, package tracking, and other services. Siva argues that we must certainly at least know the serious facts before we get even more intimate in our relationship with Google.

I was fortunate enough to have been able to lunch with Siva and Rebekah Monson prior to the presentation. We spoke of his career and research, what inspires him to write and how he stepped into the shoes he wears now. We discussed themes of his upcoming his book like corporate surveillance vs state surveillance and his great intrigue with Google’s almost audacious mission statement ‘to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible’, which at first seemed impossible and cocky, now a reality. In fact going beyond to something we thought impossible – having them know our own thoughts even before us. I look forward to reading his book.