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And the patriot act

was of course initiated.

[bush] the bill before me

takes account of the new

realities and dangers

Posed by modern terrorists.

This new law

that I signed today

Will allow surveillance

of all communications

used by terrorists,

Including e-mails,

the internet, and cell phones.

The patriot act expanded

the ability of the federal

government

To do surveillance in

a lot of little ways.

You don't need a judge's

approval, for instance,

To find out what website

someone visited,

What search terms

they typed into google.

The question of your,

if you will, information,

being retained by google

Is not really at this point

a google decision.

It's really a political

or public-policy decision

Enforced by different

governments in different ways.

[narrator] what if privacy

policies weren't about

protecting privacy at all,

But rather, taking it away?

Let'e's

privacy policy around this time

To see if any changes were made.

So here's google's privacy

policy from December of 2000.

"google may also choose

to use cookies

To store user preferences.

A cookie can tell us,

'this is the same computer

That visited google

two days ago',

But it cannot tell us,

'this person is joe smith',

Or even, 'this person lives

in the United States'.

And here's the privacy policy

from one year later,

In December of 2001.

"google does this by storing

user preferences in cookies

And by tracking user trends and

patterns of how people search.

Google will not disclose cookies

to third parties,

Except as required

by a valid legal process,

Such as a search warrant,

subpoena, statute, or court

order."

Now it's important to note

the fundamental difference

Between these two policies.

One says that you're

totally anonymous.

The other says, when

necessary, you're not.

But here's what's strange.

So the first screenshot you saw

of google's oldest policy

Was taken by a non-profit

internet archival service.

It records what websites

used to look like

By taking snapshots, and it's

been doing it since the '90s.

Now, google also lists the

history of its privacy policies

On its own official archive

page.

In their archives, they state

that they've got every privacy

policy

That goes back to the beginning.

But what google shows as their

original privacy policy

Doesn't match that

of the archive service.

Instead, they show the policy

from December of 2001,

The one that says users

are not anonymous.

Google claims this is their

first privacy policy,

which it isn't.

So why would google not include

its original privacy policy

On its own archives page--

The one that said you would

remain anonymous?

What if the data collection

that the patriot act required

Became the foundation of

a whole new business model,

And the foundation of the modern

internet as we know it?

Would that be something

worth covering up?

And even though we don't write

checks to google,

And that's one of the reasons

we kind of like the company,

It doesn't mean that google's

really free,

Or that we are free in the

liberty sense when we use it.

It might feel very different

if google was effectively

A $500-a-year service,

Because that's the value

of the data that you're

providing.

I mean, that was a really

critical finding,

That advertising could be

targeted based on information

That people were somehow

supplying about themselves.

Suddenly, you didn't

have to wonder,

Was somebody watching

my commercial?

You knew. Someone

clicked on my ad.

That meant that they

paid attention to it.

[narrator] in 2012, google

was one of the most valuable

stocks in the world.

And mark zuckerberg,

the founder of facebook,

Had become one of

the richest men in america.

My job is to help investors

figure out for themselves

What this thing's worth.

So I look at what facebook

has as an asset,

Which is 900 million people and

a ton of data on those people,

And I say if they use 10%

of that data,

They're going to be the most

valuable company ever.

[narrator] when personal data

is worth this much,

Why would google, or any free

internet service,

Be opposed to the data retention

that the patriot act required?

Anonymity wasn't profitable.

People who are willing

to give up information

In exchange for having access

to something that's free,

Or something that's fun,

or a free taco.

I don't think

that ever changes.

You always want

something free.

And plenty of people

are willing to provide

information to get that.

[narrator] and plenty

of companies picked up

on this fact.

Let me give you some

very practical tips.

First of all, I want everybody

here to be careful

About what you post

on facebook.

What the default settings

are on facebook,

This is how most people

use this technology.

When these companies are

building these systems,

they know that.

[audience member] so why is it

the default for everything

sharing,

Every photo,

when I start facebook?

Why isn't it

just for my friends?

Why is the default

for everybody?

Because it's really confusing

for my mom to figure out

How to just share

to her friends.

The way we've designed

the site is that,

It's a community thing,

right?

So people want to share

with just their friends,

But a lot of people

also want to share with

The community around them.

Right. Right.

I want to share with everyone

who works with me at facebook.

I want to share with everyone

who went to my college,

Everyone in the village

around me.

And those people aren't

just my friends.

[narrator] even mark's

explanation doesn't make

any sense.

He says he wants to share

with the school,

With the quaint village

next to him.

He doesn't say he wants

to share with the entire world.

And yet, that's the default.

The challenge with defaults

Is that you get comfortable

with whatever the default is.

When the default is public,

You actually can adapt really

beautifully and deal with it.

When the default is private,

You can adapt comfortably

and deal with it.

When the defaults change,

that's when problems emerge.

[narrator] and in fact,

that's what facebook did.

In 2009, facebook made changes

to their privacy policy

Without telling anyone.

Doing a privacy change

for 350 million users is--

Is not the type of thing

that a lot of companies

would do.

We decided that these would

be the social norms now,

And we just went for it.

[narrator] you might

remember the fan page

with over a million people

Who tried to get

the policy reversed.

What was the big deal,

you might ask?

Well, over the course of

a night,

Facebook turned what was

once private information

Into totally public

information.

These platforms

have an incentive

To keep as much information

About you and make it

as visible as possible.

It's almost the question

then becomes,

What's the less

forgivable sin,

Having this crazy

one night stand

Or not knowing how

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