Google Checkout
Thursday, June 29th, 2006Google announced today that they would be adding yet another branch to their wide array of existing services with the launch of Google Checkout, “a checkout option that makes buying across the web fast and easy”.
At first glance, this service seems like a good idea. I’m sure everyone who has made online purchases from several different retailers knows the problems involved in trying to keep track of a different login for each site, not to mention trying to remember when each product is being shipped. It also seems like offering a good deal to retailers, as they get free processing of payments based on how much they spend with Google AdWords. Obviously Google is hoping that this will provide an incentive for advertisers to spend more on this service, so it looks like it’s complementing Google’s core revenue stream rather than being launched as a money making service in its own right.
However, my primary concern about this service is the fact that Google will keep a record of all your transactions made through the checkout system, including what items you’ve bought and where they’ve been shipped to. I’m sure I’m not the only person who thinks that putting all of this personal information into the hands of one company is a fundamentally bad idea. Google promise that they won’t share this information with sellers, but there doesn’t appear to be anything to stop them from using it in other ways. Perhaps I’m just being paranoid, but I really don’t like the thought of Google having a record of everything I’ve bought online and then using that information for nefarious purposes (I’m not saying that they will, only that the capability is there).
