Richtig said Fred!

Here is an interesting posting from Mike Hearn, a Google software developer on Slashdot:

For instance, I’m one of the very few people who have Maps logs access (ie, I can see cookies and IP addresses), and that’s only because I work directly with the servers on a day-to-day basis and do abuse handling as part of my job. The vast majority of Maps developers have no logs access at all. I have to periodically rejustify my access, I’m not allowed to track any individual cookie or IP address for longer than 24 hours, my own usage of the logs is recorded and audited, I’m not allowed to take the logs out of their secure holding area and am not allowed to give logs in non-scrubbed form to anybody else. Violating these rules is grounds for instant termination. Contrast this with ISPs which sell clickstream data [seekingalpha.com] on the open market.

I would like to point out that very few companies handle logs and user data with that level of protection. I have seen quite a few places where webserver logs are not properly secured and not considered as important as user information like addresses and phone numbers (which are publicly availlable in the white pages). Google understands privacy issues clearly which is better than most companies out there.

You can read Mike Hearn’s complete comment on Slashdot here.

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