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Why Google Can't Solve the Privacy Paradox

Google has said that privacy and security are the focus for Android Q and many of its other releases this year, but Senior Security Analyst Max Eddy explains that a company built on mapping and sorting data can't deliver perfect privacy.

By Max Eddy
Updated July 19, 2019
SecurityWatch: Why Google Can’t Solve the Privacy Paradox

Opinions Android is a mature, extremely functional OS. It's great. The perennial question for new versions is: What's next? The task is convincing people they want or need some new design or set of features—and then delivering on those expectations. Recently, for example, Google pushed the narrative that we are spending too much time on our phones. And the next version of Android included excellent Digital Wellbeing features, which might actually help fight screen addiction.

With the release of the public beta of Android Q, Google jumps on the privacy bandwagon in a big way, tapping into a burgeoning desire to reclaim our privacy. The problem is, this time Google has raised the bar higher than its own business model can allow it to climb. For the first time in while, Google may not deliver on the expectations it has set for Android.

I've spent time living with the Android Q beta, and it remains the familiar, polished OS I lauded in Android Pie. It's worth stressing, too, that this is only a beta, and my final review will consider the whole OS, and not just the hyped feature of the day. But, looking through the filter that Google itself has applied, I'm a bit less enthusiastic than I might otherwise be.

The New Privacy Conversation

The last few years have been a wakeup call to the general public about privacy and security, and in turn increased discomfort with tech giants like Google. The role that social media and targeted advertising played in the Russian misinformation campaign during the 2016 US election illustrated in a visceral way the power tech companies have amassed. Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was listening, but 2016 revealed a far more complicated and far more urgent crisis. Now, Congress is debating if and how to regulate Silicon Valley, and consumers are increasingly skeptical of big tech companies like Google and Facebook.

Given all that, it shouldn't be surprising that Mark Zuckerberg is suddenly embracing privacy initiatives, that Apple is touting its privacy features as major selling points over competitors like Google, and that Google put privacy and security front and center in its latest release of Android.

SecurityWatch That's an uphill challenge, since in the world of security wonks, the words "security" and "privacy" are rarely used positively along with "Google." The company is often cast as the ultimate antagonist—or perhaps second only to the US government. In this role, the company spies on everyone's every move and action online in order to better target advertisements. That's not necessarily untrue, but Google has always argued that the targeted ads and tailored experiences it enables are useful to people, since they (allegedly) appeal to our interests, and that the company is a good steward of your data. People who feel stalked by ads that follow them across the internet may feel otherwise.

Apple, meanwhile, has slowly started using privacy as a selling point, specifically to contrast itself to Google. Apple argues that its business model isn't about harvesting data, which it claims allows the company to make more privacy-friendly choices. While machine learning tools have crept into iOS, Apple has been quick to point out that much of the processing is done on your device, limiting what is sent back to the cloud. At WWDC 2019, Apple presenters emphasized how Apple Maps and iOS 13 were more careful about what can access your location data and when.

That's not to hold Apple up as a perfect paragon of privacy. The company may not place emphasis on harvesting your data, but many companies in its highly profitable app store still do. And the efforts Apple has made to protect your privacy often can't extend much beyond the confines of its devices. Apple has also been making the implicit argument that its promises of privacy justify the high price of its hardware, but the enormous community of open-source developers may disagree.

What Google Can and Can't Do

In Android Q, Google does a lot of tightening up. A new permissions model lets you only allow apps to access your location data when the app is in use. Even apps that can use your location data are being further limited. Android Q also prevents apps from accessing permanent unique identifiers, like you MAC address or IMEI number, and instead pushes developers to use an advertising ID that you can easily reset yourself from the new Privacy settings menu.

Google's focus on privacy this year extends from Android out across the massive platform of services and tools it offers. It can be hard to tell where one ends and the next begins, so I focus on what is most directly entwined with Android. On the web, Google is also allowing you to use incognito mode in Maps and YouTube, and have data collected by Google automatically deleted periodically—a radical departure for the company, but one that also suggests that the data wasn't useful to begin with. These changes, and more besides, feel like a new tone for the company and can be seen even in small ways across Google's services. That alone is an improvement.

These are limitations, but they're not always hard blocks. Apps can track you less, Google will store less of your data, and will make the ads you see less targeted. You will, however, still be tracked, still have your activity data stored, and still see ads. Despite incremental improvements in privacy, Google is still built on gathering data on users and monetizing that data.

The Privacy Paradox

I pondered whether Google could really deliver on its promise of privacy when it first announced these changes. After spending the last few weeks with the beta of Android Q, I can say that it, and other changes from Google in 2019, definitely do improve your privacy, and do keep you safer. But Google's products are fundamentally built on gathering and organizing data: that's what its search engine does, that's what powers its machine learning systems, that's what suggests stories for you to read in the Discovery feed. All of this, along with Google's business model, is built on a kind of surveillance, and it doesn't work without our data. It's a paradox. For Google to do differently would fundamentally change not just how Google makes money but what it does as a company.

It's undeniable that Google makes excellent products, and it's laudable that the company is trying to find a way to be more privacy-conscious and continue offering the experiences that have made the company successful. If you like all the things Google provides in exchange, then perhaps the tradeoff is worthwhile. As long as it's an informed choice, shunning or embracing Google is up to you.

None of this is to say fighting for privacy is a losing battle. Quite the contrary. To my mind, the best thing to do is to use the products that work for you, and pressure all tech companies to do a better job protecting users. Even from themselves.

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About Max Eddy

Lead Security Analyst

Since my start in 2008, I've covered a wide variety of topics from space missions to fax service reviews. At PCMag, much of my work has been focused on security and privacy services, as well as a video game or two. I also write the occasional security columns, focused on making information security practical for normal people. I helped organize the Ziff Davis Creators Guild union and currently serve as its Unit Chair.

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