CIO —
Despite having proposed a free wireless Internet service in San Francisco with advertising targeted to users’ locations and interests, Google won’t require an e-mail address for log-in or make users stay associated with a particular identity the whole time they’re using the service.
What the company is saying now about its planned service with EarthLink seems to represent a change in emphasis from its earlier approach, though it gave few details in its response to the city’s RFP in February. But even critics of the company’s plans don’t agree on whether their pressure brought results.
The two companies’ plan to build and operate San Francisco’s citywide Wi-Fi network has come under fire from civil liberties advocates since even before the companies responded to the RFP. Concerns that Google would make users trade their personal data and location information for free broadband have been among the biggest issues surrounding the Wi-Fi initiative, which was kicked off in 2004. Critics have also decried inadequate opportunities for public comment, a lack of planned funding to help low-income users enter the digital age and other issues.
The privacy drive has been led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
The controversy over municipal Wi-Fi in San Francisco has been closely watched as part of a national debate over whether cities should get involved in Internet service, but also because the high-flying Internet search company is involved. Google and EarthLink teamed up to propose a two-tiered service: EarthLink would offer a paid subscription service with speeds over 1Mbps, and Google would offer a 300Kbps service for free. The city and the two companies are now negotiating a contract for the network.
"Google’s advertising technology will target advertisements to specific geographical locations and to user interests, thereby increasing relevance and enhancing the user experience," the company wrote in its RFP response. The system could tell where a device was located by which access point it was communicating with. But that doesn’t mean Google will build up a database of where you’ve been and what websites you’ve visited, said Chris Sacca, Google’s head of special initiatives, in an interview last week.
To get on the network, users will have to set up an iGoogle account with a user name and password, Sacca said. However, the user name can be made up, and the visitor could set up a new account each time. In addition, users will be allowed to log out whenever they wish and remain connected to the Internet for the rest of the session. The only reason a password is required is to make sure a human is signing on, to help prevent automated virus attacks and spamming, he said.
