Malware Protection vs Privacy Rights

In a historic maneuver Google announced today they will be providing alerts to users if their system is infected with malware.  The internet behemoth stated they took action after discovering bizarre patterns of infected computers sending traffic to Google through proxy servers.  Read more and see an example of the alert at: Google blog post.

In an action that is designed to protect individuals from malicious attacks we must also be aware of the actions large technology companies will be using to combat malicious behavior.  Although the intentions of these organizations may be to protect the rights of society they are also probing further into privacy rights.  With electronic devices gaining more and more prominence in all of our daily lives these devices are the vault in which we store our most personal details.  We must cautiously examine the trade-off that occurs when we allow large scale organizations the ability to probe and in some cases inspect these devices for the betterment of society.