Google, evil, kids, the future
Why Has Google Been Collecting Kids' Social Security Numbers Under the Guise of an Art Contest?
"What you're about to read hasn't been reported anywhere, and when it was brought to my attention, I could hardly believe it.
It turns out that the company sporting the motto 'don't be evil' has been asking parents nationwide to disclose their children's personal information, including Social Security Numbers, and recruiting schools to help them do it -- all under the guise of an art contest. It's called, 'Doodle-4-Google,' a rather catchy, kid-friendly name if I do say so myself. The company is even offering prize money to schools to enlist their help with the promotion. Doesn't it sound like fun? Don't you want your kid to enter too?
What could be wrong with filling out a few entry forms?
A national, commercial database of names and addresses of American children, especially one that includes their dates of birth and SSNs, would be worth many millions to marketing firms and retailers.
Of course, data collection is not the reason Google gives for doing this competition. Their FAQ says it's because 'We love to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people...' etc. If that's so, then why on earth would the contest's original Parent Consent Form ask for the child's city of birth, date of birth and last four digits of the child's SSN? Along with complete contact info of the parents.
You see what Google knows and many parents don't know is that a person's city of birth and year of birth can be used to make a statistical guess about the first five digits of his/her social security number. Then, if you can somehow obtain those last four SSN digits explicitly -- voila, you've unlocked countless troves of personal information"
The person in possession of city of birth, mother's maiden name, and SS# has the key items to own an identity.
"I sent all of this to Google's press office, and after 48 hours, they had offered no response.
So in closing, three simple ideas for you, gentle reader, to take away. (1) City of birth, when coupled with year of birth, can be correlated to social security numbers, so don't give it out just because a box appears on a form. (2) No public contest should ask for any part of a social security number, especially involving kids. (3) For internet searches, have you tried Yahoo! or Bing lately? You just might find what you're looking for."
It's going to be a pain in the butt to wean myself off of Google, but with their Leftist bent, fomenting revolutions, standard personal information collection and now this, I may have to.
"Google's Spokesperson just contacted me with the following response: [...] Couple things:
1.) I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist* by disposition, but doesn't 'these last 4 digits were not entered into our records and will be safely discarded,' sound like a contradiction? [...] Then, they could ask more specific questions of the winners, right? Instead, Google's wants every child's city of birth upfront?"
Their response makes it worse.
*
I am SICK TO DEATH of people and the DISCONNECT OF REASON they illustrate with "I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist"
I see this all too often. I've complained about it before, and will again.
"This sentiment was meant as the typical dismissal of a 'conspiracy theory'. Here's the thing:
Conspiracy - 4. an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act.
Theory - 2. a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural
Any suspected fraud involving more than one person without certain proof is a conspiracy theory. Giving it that label is not a persuasive argument against it."
I would go through a list of conspiracy theories throughout history that turned out to be true, but that would mean listing EVERY crime, fraud, or other wrongful act involving more than one person that has ever occurred... and that would be a long freakin' list!
To dismiss something solely based on it being a conspiracy theory is to declare either a refusal to think or to accept that sometimes people do bad things. In other words it's the conscious choice to be stupid. Stop it.
Business leaders gather for advantage. Union leaders gather for advantage. Politicians gather for advantage. People gather and plan for advantage, because there is strength in numbers. If one suspects any of them of committing a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act, then that's a conspiracy theory. Stop suspending your intellect because you can't yet prove it. Just look for evidence either way.