DonationCoder.com Software > Finished Programs

DONE: perform random URL queries (Random Submitter)

<< < (9/12) > >>

redmaledeer:
     
I still don't see why I should trust them over anyone else.  Who is to say if or how long they really store searches, or if they'll be subpoenaed with everyone else?
-Scott (January 31, 2006, 12:31 PM)
--- End quote ---
Well,  they rant and rave like true enemies of the establishment,  which in fact Brandt has been for a long time.
   
   

Scott:
I can certainly identify with and respect that.  We pissants need all the anti-establishment types we can get.  Thanks for sharing the info.

redmaledeer:
   
Thinking again about my Reply #38,  isn't the Scroogle Scraper program just a special-purpose anonymizer (for Google only),  and couldn't one get the same privacy effect by using one of the many general-purpose anonymizers?
     
I mean there are a number of programs out there which are basically proxies.   You pass them the URL you want to see and they retrieve that web page for you.   The web page you are interested in sees only the proxy,  not you,  and any data passed to the web page is data pertaining to the proxy,  not to you.
   
Of course,  using a general-purpose proxy might be more cumbersome than needed if you only wanted to shield yourself from Google.   On the other hand,  many of them have been around for a while,  and you could pick one which you trust.
     
Two major ones that are done as public services are JAP (http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de) and Tor (http://tor.eff.org).   I have heard a story that the German government has required JAP to put a trap door into its program,  so that identities can really be revealed.
   
On the commercial side there is Anonymizer (http://www.anonymizer.com),  an early entry in the field.   Many of the commercial ones,  including Anonymizer,  allow limited free use.
     
I hope this isn't too far off topic,  but such programs seemingly could be aimed toward the same goal as the Random Submitter.
   
   

   
                                                   

Scott:
I use forwarding proxies occasionally (usually with Ad Muncher), but not for Google.  They're always annoyingly slow.  Some use "forwarded-for" headers, which reveal the source IP (i.e. yours) to the end server anyway.  Even without that, everything you do gets logged by the proxy, so it's the same thing as contacting the web server directly, just one step removed.

But, it's an idea that may have merit.  I'm just more comfortable hiding my searches in the open.

---------

I'm editing, not replying, so as not to bump the thread.

Does anyone want to goof on me NOW for requesting and/or using Random Submitter?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,126663-c,aol/article.html

AOL has apparently released details of Internet searches performed over a period of three months by hundreds of thousands of its subscribers, raising privacy concerns.

The cached copy of the page said the data comprised about 19 million Web searches performed by 658,000 users from March through May.

The release of such information poses serious privacy concerns. Major search engine companies fought a request for similar data on user searches last year by the U.S. Department of Justice.
--- End quote ---

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/privacy/0,71579-0.html

AOL has apologized and taken down the data, but it is now widely available on the internet and some have set up search engines that query the records.

So far AOL has not contacted AOL users to let them know if they were one of the users affected.

AOL says it anonymized the data by replacing the AOL user ID with a randomized number. Is it possible for someone to figure out who I am just from my searches?

Possibly. Reporters for The New York Times tracked down a Georgia woman based solely on a review of the AOL logs. Wired News was also able to determine the identity of one 14-year-old from his queries and knows of one woman who was identified by an outside party and notified she had sensitive financial data revealed by the logs.
--- End quote ---

I've been polluting the absolute hell out of my searches for months.  Have you?

kimmchii:
more people need to run this tool.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page