Google Voice, Part 3

I've had Google Voice for a month or so now, and it is slowly becoming a staple of my everyday telephony. I do have one big concern regarding the service however which makes adopting GV full-time, well, difficult.

Let's talk privacy. I'm willing to give up a some amount of privacy in exchange for Google products. Information is power and money, and Google makes a lot of money off our information. And they should. Google supplies practically everyone who wants it with absolutely incredible products (the search engine, Gmail, GV, Blogger, Scholar, etc.) and instead of trading them cash for services, I swap information. For example, (in case you haven't noticed,) Google scans your Gmail account to tailor its ads toward your interests (or whatever you talk about in your emails). For example: say you're always emailing people about your kid's little league accomplishments. Well, Google will surely pick up on that and changes your ads so they relates to baseball. "Baseball bats $20 @ www.(whateverstoreGooglechooses).com", etc. You are more likely to click those ads, which by collapsing the entire transaction, makes Google money.I really don't mind those ads or this process, and I am generally able to ignore the fact Google is a benevolent Big Brother.

However, what really bothers me is that my privacy on Google Voice. GV text messages are saved online. I don't like that. It's not that I say anything that bad over text, but I certainly don't want anything sitting around my Google account that was produced by telephone. People don't self-censor over text like they do email. What's more, what other people text you becomes part of the record, and that's fairly creepy.

Google also has a "voice recording" feature with which you can record telephone conversations online with the push of a button (number "4" I believe). I haven't used it, but I certainly hope when you push the record button, a little Google voice comes on the phone to enlighten unwitting parties on the status of their (otherwise private) conversations. As you might gather, the Pragmatic Economist doesn't approve of this information-without-consent free-for-all. This is supremely ironic given I have completed extensive study the effects of information asymmetry... Ha.

Here's what Google should do: your text messages and voicemails (which are also recorded, transcribed, sent to your email, and archived) should have more of an opt-in policy, rather than opt-out or no policy at all. Opt-out already exists for voicemail, but I haven't figured the same for SMS. As for the voice recording nonsense: I haven't used it, but if there is no informed consent from the affected party, I am most likely against it.

Yikes. Google, you amaze me for better or for worse. I do have to say overall I'm happy with the product, but I need to be a bit more comfortable with my privacy before "making the switch". I received some Google Voice invites, so I'm hoping to see how my friends like it (given that I talk about it a lot) and whether they agree with these points. I'll keep you posted.