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Last post Author Topic: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"  (Read 45001 times)

CWuestefeld

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #50 on: April 14, 2010, 12:35 PM »
Trying to get back on the exact topic of Google having knowledge about you...

I recently started using a new search engine, DuckDuckGo, which has (amongst other features) a very appealing privacy policy: they don't keep any personal information about anybody at all.

I just started a new topic recommending this, you might want to go look here.

Eóin

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #51 on: April 14, 2010, 12:51 PM »
Interesting, must check it out.

Regarding this thread, I've been following bits of it and though I still tend to think Google ain't so bad I have decided to switch from Chrome and Google to Iron and Scroogle. Two very simple changes which haven't affected my online productivity in a negative way at all :)

cranioscopical

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #52 on: April 14, 2010, 01:49 PM »
I recently started using a new search engine, [url=http://duckduckgo.com]DuckDuckGo
Thanks for the suggestion, we should take a quack at it.

40hz

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #53 on: April 15, 2010, 12:44 PM »
Yeah. I'd be willing to take a gander.

Gwen7

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #54 on: April 15, 2010, 12:52 PM »
Well, if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck - it's likely a duck.

But there's also a good chance it's an overweight 33-year old porn-hound WoW addict who's still living with his mom.

Edvard

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #55 on: April 16, 2010, 10:41 AM »
But, waddle I search for?

CWuestefeld

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #56 on: April 16, 2010, 10:48 AM »
With jokes like this, you're gonna get smacked, so you'd better .... (nah, I won't do it)

Edvard

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #57 on: April 16, 2010, 10:57 AM »
Just don't goose me!

paarkhi

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #58 on: April 16, 2010, 12:13 PM »
I read the whole thread and I think as app said privacy is illusion, but myself I search on google outside my account (I have gmail account but never search being logged in) I dont go to Orkut, Facebook, twitter or any other social site (sorry, but I personally feel they are crap) for the forums no real email address or real name (all fake), although use google maps on my phone with GPS (I dont care if google knows where I stay becuase my gmail account is also configured on the same phone), but my bank accounts are linked to google (all my bank mails come to gmail account), dont use google labs, apps, office suite.

I know its a silly thought but I still feel I've nothing to hide.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2010, 12:17 PM by paarkhi »

Tuxman

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #59 on: April 16, 2010, 12:21 PM »
privacy is illusion
Only if you let it happen.

I still feel I've nothing to hide.
Do you leave your doors open at night?

CWuestefeld

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #60 on: April 16, 2010, 12:30 PM »
Two stories listed on HackerNews this morning:

2. Obama administration wants warrantless access rights to most US email (cnet.com)
3. Thousands of webcam images have been found in the school district being sued (philly.com)

The top one says that the President thinks that the government should get access to our emails without any probable cause or due process of any kind. The bottom is an update about a school district that issued laptop computers with remote-control webcams and has been spying on the students.

So the battle isn't looking good. We're fighting a defensive battle, certainly not making any positive ground in our civil rights.

JavaJones

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #61 on: April 16, 2010, 02:01 PM »
Did anyone actually read that first Cnet article? It's remarkably topical to this conversation, though it wouldn't appear so just from the brief description above. Check out the lead sentence:

"Google and an alliance of privacy groups have come to Yahoo's aid by helping the Web portal fend off a broad request from the U.S. Department of Justice for e-mail messages, CNET has learned."

and

"This case is about protecting the privacy rights of all Internet users," a Google representative said in a statement provided to CNET on Tuesday. "E-mail stored in the cloud should have the same level of protection as the same information stored by a person at home."

Yeah, so this is why I don't feel all that bad about using Google services and Google having access to data about me.

- Oshyan

paarkhi

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #62 on: April 16, 2010, 11:05 PM »
Dont you think this story is too much exaggerated

bleh75

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #63 on: April 18, 2010, 07:19 AM »
Hmm I've never heard of the Iron browser but it looks decent I'll give it a whirl thx  :Thmbsup:

40hz

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #64 on: April 18, 2010, 07:39 AM »
Dont you think this story is too much exaggerated


Hard to say.

I used to feel that way about all those dystopian stories about the USA gradually becoming a police state.

Then along came the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay and documented accounts of some of what went on there. I haven't felt the same about our political and legal system since.

SciFi is only scifi until reality catches up with it. Nowadays, it seems like the lagtime can be measured in days instead of centuries.
 :(
 

zridling

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #65 on: April 18, 2010, 08:57 AM »
...this is why I don't feel all that bad about using Google services and Google having access to data about me. - Oshyan

Same here. I do a lot through Google services (since 2003), was one of the original Gmail users, and have not had one ill effect. I've yet to see where Google has abused its data against someone/anyone. That said, I don't search "child porn" or "making dirty bombs" and starting websites, posting in forums based on the results of such searches. While I never doubt that Google could abuse its data at any time, I'm keen to Google's activities with regard to government agencies. Yet somehow I don't mind that Google cooperates with law enforcement to stop spammers. The key is not simply amassing a database (DNA, demographic, usage, traffic, content, etc.), it's whether data mining such a database actually works. Often the results don't follow.

When the police need help, they have an open door to phone company records and its locational data, which reminds me, many of us haven't enjoyed locational privacy since we started using cellphones. Use coupons and soon the company knows more than you want about you. I get my picture taken virtually everywhere I go, from Walmart to the bank ATM to the post office to hardware store, and whenever I drive my car. Shit drives me mad if I think about it. I'm so old, I remember when peeing in a cup for a job interview was a grave offense and invasion of privacy. Now, your application doesn't start until the pee results come back (which you have to pay for). Of more concern than Google is how restrictive an ISP can be, and the issue of network neutrality. Most law enforcement work presumes most people live their lives by familiar patterns. When those patterns change and go outside the norms (Uncle Earl just started using meth, joined a militia, and suddenly became a god-believer!) is when their job gets easier.

Google also respects a wide variety of formats within its Google Docs apps, and through data liberation, lets me take my data and documents with me when I leave Google. (Ask Apple if you can do that.) Until Google begins abusing its own policies, I'll continue to enjoy their services.
________________________________
Qualifier: My email and internet activities primarily consist of simple correspondence, twittering, and forum participation. I buy most things online and have rarely had a problem that couldn't be fixed. Otherwise, most of my online time is spent reading.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2010, 09:00 AM by zridling »

downloder

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #66 on: May 24, 2010, 10:03 AM »
One just needs to watch the CNBC show on the rise of Google to see how far they have gone. They (Google) admitted they sell their info to large corporations.
That is enough to stop me from using their site(s), At least with the Bing search you can turn off the history, and in their small print say they only store data 72 hours. That's what they say anyway.

cranioscopical

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #67 on: May 24, 2010, 10:17 AM »
I remember when peeing in a cup for a job interview was a grave offense
Probably shouldn't have used the interviewer's coffee mug, or at least taken it somewhere private.

Innuendo

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #68 on: May 30, 2010, 09:27 AM »
One just needs to watch the CNBC show on the rise of Google to see how far they have gone. They (Google) admitted they sell their info to large corporations.

They admitted to selling info? WTH happened to "Do no evil"???

That is enough to stop me from using their site(s), At least with the Bing search you can turn off the history, and in their small print say they only store data 72 hours. That's what they say anyway.

I've tried Bing and it just doesn't bring in the results for me like Google does so I still use Google, but I use a bundle of Firefox extensions that keep me & my surfing habits safe. Every time I make a search on Google I appear as a separate distinct user. Good luck aggregating my data, evil denizens of Google!  :D

JavaJones

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #69 on: May 30, 2010, 02:54 PM »
I still haven't seen any actual information about this "Google admitted to selling their info to large corporations" bit. How about it downloder, where does that info come from?

Incidentally, Microsoft admitted to killing kittens. It's true! :P

- Oshyan

Renegade

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #70 on: May 30, 2010, 07:04 PM »
Many people are not ready to understand the complications of such concentration of data at this point.


I don't think that there is anyone at the moment that really understands the implications. (Do you mean complications or implications?) I can imagine quite a bit, but really, it's a massively complex issue and the ramifications are extreme.



In this modern day and age, privacy is an illusion. The only real privacy you have is in your mind (and only as long as you keep your thoughts in there and don't let them out)


I think that even that is disappearing. Literally. What is in your head is slowly being exposed and will over time become clearer and easier to access. You only need to look into advertising to see where that is being done or how it is being done at a basic level right now.



As I said in previous posts, the issues surrounding these topics have dire consequences and very very complicated power issues in the upcoming years and centuries, not just for individuals but also for societies, cultures, languages, philosophy, art, literature, animals and the nature. This is a big ethical fog that is surrounding people minds.

+1 for that.

I think that we're seeing the end of privacy, and with that, the end of freedom. I do not have any faith in it not being exploited in diabolical ways. Sigh...
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

parkint

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #71 on: May 30, 2010, 09:15 PM »
I think that we're seeing the end of privacy, and with that, the end of freedom. I do not have any faith in it not being exploited in diabolical ways. Sigh...
I don't believe Privacy and Freedom are synonymous.

downloder

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #72 on: May 31, 2010, 06:09 AM »
Two shows come to mind about our privacy. I cannot find the original show/video, but below is info RE the Google show and another good show about our so called privacy.

CNBC Originals: Inside the Mind of Google
Season 2 : Ep. 5 (43:22)
Air date: 12/03/2009
Get a rare look at the company that hundreds of millions of people touch every day. Reported by Maria Bartiromo.

Near to the end of the Original show, the interviewer asked what they did with all the data they collect and store. Their answer was that they sell it to large corporations for "market research". To allow companies to focus on who likes what, who goes where, etc.

This show was scary.......
CNBC Originals: Big Brother, Big Business
Season 1 : Ep. 4 (1:29:19)
Air date: 11/01/2006  

This Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Documentary examines the big business of the technologies that allow companies to monitor our every move and record our private personal info.
« Last Edit: May 31, 2010, 06:15 AM by downloder »

downloder

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #73 on: May 31, 2010, 06:32 AM »
After searching a bit further I found these links. 

http://www.hulu.com/cnbc-originals

http://mashdata.blog...-mind-of-google.html

A new Google app.   Can anyone else see the possibilities of privacy invasion?
http://vodpod.com/wa...ty-and-visual-search

Josh

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Re: "The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows about you"
« Reply #74 on: May 31, 2010, 07:20 AM »
Am I the only one who is growing sick of conspiracy theorists who think Google is simply out to be big brother? Do I really care that they know my IP ADDRESS did a search on "big donkey pillows" or "Hairy banana chips"? Is it really "hurting my privacy"? All I see with the google critics is hear-say without any real evidence to back up the claims. Does Google sell information they collect? Sure, they make their money from advertisers. Do they collect and store data to be used by some higher powered big brother to spy on users? Doubtful.