Why Has Google Been Collecting Kids' Social Security Numbers Under the Guise of an Art Contest?

As the director of The Cartel documentary, one of the things I learned was how poorly the traditional news media cover issues pertaining to children, in that case corruption in public education. Since the film's release, I often get contacted about other aspects of child protection that I would have never imagined -- stories that don't seem to get attention elsewhere. Like this.

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?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-bowdon/why-has-google-been-colle_b_825754.html

I blame the goverment more for doing nothing to protect us.

This reminds me of the I'm Thumbody program we had in elem school, where the cops fingerprinted the kids so "in case they get lost and can't remember their name..."

though that should be verboten as well.

before that it was just in a card in a box somewhere.

I think I got it because I had to register for the draft. I should have just forgotten to get one. I probably wouldn't have been drafted because they wouldn't have known I was alive.

... an ice cream restaurant. I can't remember the name but I remember the place because we used to frequent it. Anyway, they had a "birthday club" where kids could register for free ice cream on their birthday. Some kid apparently registered his name and a phony name (IIRC, he used is dog's name) so he could double dip for free ice cream. When he turned 18, both he and his alter ego received draft registration reminders in the mail. This story was reported in the local Chicago papers at the time. IIRC, it was in the 80s.

I'm sure things are different now with all the advances in technology and the requirement of a social security number at birth.

So there was no need to register for the draft in the '80s.

However, around 1980 or so, the Carter administration started to require all US males born in 1960 or later to register for selective service *if they wanted to receive Federal financial aid for college*.

*On edit*
My understanding at the time (1980) was that selective service registration was not mandatory. However, a Wikipedia article contradicts my understanding. However, given that it's "editable-by-anybody" Wikipedia, I don't know how accurate that article actually is.

Selective Service registration has been mandatory since 1980.

That was the year before I turned eighteen, so I thoroughly investigated whether I could skip registering without legal consequences before I signed up.

The way I heard it, it was only mandatory if you wanted to get Federal financial aid for college.

That is, my university had a notice posted at the financial aid window stating that registration was necessary to receive Federal financial aid, but I don't remember reading that it was mandatory otherwise.

There were signs and television ads all over the place stating as much.

You are correct, though, that just about the only enforcement was through the withholding of federal student aide.

Then we got one so taxes could be taken out of our checks. My card states right on it "NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION". The original cards all said that.

student number. Then some states used it as your driver's license # too. I don't know if that goes on anymore, but it was crazy. Our gov. has needed for decades to enact legislation to stop the wide used of SS #s for ID, but for whatever reason it never gets accomplished.

... of the number for any other reason.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

they also ask for the child's full name, date of birth and city/state where they are born. I'm sure a good identity hacker can work with just that.

My guess is that too often DUers do not bother to read links, but just get bent out of shape by the post or thread title.

If there is, the money is probably taxable. That is the only reason I can think of.

for the winner.

that Google might be tricked into giving away a T-shirt to a kid.


Google is not your friend; neither is Facebook or Twitter.

Grants and netbooks are also awarded: www.google.com/doodle4google/judging_prizes.html

I used to work at a job where I had a lot of spare time, so I would do searches in Google just to see what kind of information I could find that was publicly available.

Once, about 2 years ago, I found a spreadsheet on Google that was a list of every student from our local school district that had been suspended or was below a certain GPA, all of their names, addresses, phone, emails, parents names, student SSN, grades, reason for suspension, etc. There were easily 3-400 names on the spreadsheet with all this info just sitting out there.

So I sent it to the school district and copied a news reporter friend of mine on the email. They thanked me and fixed the problem immediately and the news friend agreed to not run the story. :)

You can still find SSN occasionally but it's (a little) more difficult nowadays.

Unfortunately, through caches, anything that was ever on the internet is still out there somewhere. But I hope it is buried so far that it is incredibly difficult to find.

I wish more people were able to do this kind of digging to find vulnerable information, and more places were acting on it to patch the wholes.

And, most of all, I wish Google really would live up to their motto of "Do No Evil." Unfortunately, there seem to be the invisible words after that motto "unless we are well-paid for it."

Like most corporations, Google's goal is to turn a profit. Google is a company that relies on information harvesting in order to maintain its worldwide ad network and software development efforts and partnerships. As an IT person, I see the real danger of what is going on here. New technology has come to us very fast since the 90s, and there are major threats including privacy rights, weaponization, and civil rights. Most of the time new technology is created, it is not long before humanity weaponizes it. You will not see a corporation in the United States like Google do this. However, we have recently seen Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and other countries turn the Internet into a weapon - by turning it off.

Let's look at how Google makes money: They collect information about you. Your viewing habits. Your activity. This is truly what they do. Now, this information is so important to Google, that they do not sell it to 3rd parties. And its very convenient for their privacy policy as well. What they do use it for is to create the perfect advertisement for you. Not long from now, you will be walking passed a store, and it won't be impossible to see an ad "personally tailored" to you. This is Google's vision of the future. They create the market place for the exchange of advertising. It has made them billions upon billions of dollars. In order to provide these types of innovations and services, they must harvest information.

Remember, that a corporation, no matter if its unofficial motto is "Don't be evil" has no moral or ethical standard. A corporation is amoral. Its moral compass is directed by human beings who are just as susceptible to corruption, bribery, and greed as any other person. Because the primary goal of a corporation is to make money at any cost, it will even break the law to do so, if it believes it will make more profit by breaking the law, even if it is punished. This is why the free market needs careful regulations that do not involve Congresspeople into a situation of being morally compromised. "Who watches the watchers?" The goal of every business is to turn a profit. And Google will do this if they can get away with it. Do they want it to create a database of everyone in the world? Maybe. Will they use it for no good? Only if the profit from any illegal activity does not jeopardize future earnings.

That is how a business works.