Google is not your friend
http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html
Scary stuff...
And now with GMail, they'll be reading all the email you ever get too [if you subscribe]. Combined with the Patriot Act, GMail will be the ultimate big brother tool.
Scary stuff...
Quote:
1. Google's immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.
2. Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."
3. Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.
4. Google won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.
5. Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, used to work for the National Security Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances, so that they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.
6. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf, and yes, it reads your cookie too. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.
7. Google's cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright laws to the Internet, Google's cache copy appears to be illegal. The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache, but webmasters don't. Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google's cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters, not "opt-out."
8. Google is not your friend:
By now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. Webmasters cannot avoid seeking Google's approval these days, assuming they want to increase traffic to their site. If they try to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google's semi-secret algorithms, they may find themselves penalized by Google, and their traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time Google doesn't even answer email from webmasters.
9. Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 200 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S., Google amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Google has already achieved.
1. Google's immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it's years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don't already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.
2. Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."
3. Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.
4. Google won't say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.
5. Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, used to work for the National Security Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances, so that they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.
6. Google's toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf, and yes, it reads your cookie too. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.
7. Google's cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright laws to the Internet, Google's cache copy appears to be illegal. The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache, but webmasters don't. Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google's cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters, not "opt-out."
8. Google is not your friend:
By now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. Webmasters cannot avoid seeking Google's approval these days, assuming they want to increase traffic to their site. If they try to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google's semi-secret algorithms, they may find themselves penalized by Google, and their traffic disappears. There are no detailed, published standards issued by Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time Google doesn't even answer email from webmasters.
9. Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 200 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S., Google amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Google has already achieved.
And now with GMail, they'll be reading all the email you ever get too [if you subscribe]. Combined with the Patriot Act, GMail will be the ultimate big brother tool.
Comments
That guy is a *LOON*. A first class, grade A *BOZO*.
I know Matt Cutts personally. He did a summer internship at the NSA as an undegrad. That's it.
The rest is speculation, lies, and paranoia on the man's part.
Just ignore him.
Oh well, Yahoo used to be cool also. Success breeds evil, just look at the Ultimate Example
Originally posted by Kickaha
Oh for ****'s sake.
That guy is a *LOON*. A first class, grade A *BOZO*.
I know Matt Cutts personally. He did a summer internship at the NSA as an undegrad. That's it.
The rest is speculation, lies, and paranoia on the man's part.
Just ignore him.
Why does Google need an engineer with a top security clearance?
**DMBand raises hand**
Everyone has their own conspiracy theory and crap like that. I for one don't believe it, and if it is true...why do I care? Not like I'm using Google for anything illegal. (Hate to turn this into something political) Same for the patriot act...if you've got nothing to hide, why are you so worried?
Originally posted by Existence
Why does Google need an engineer with a top security clearance?
?!?
He was an undergrad. He did a summer internship at the NSA. He did not, and never has had, to the best of my knowledge, a 'top-secret security clearance'. We used to *JOKE* about it in grad school. Hell, he was my roommate for a year. Brandt is full of it. Period.
When I was an undergrad, I worked at the Univ of Washington Applied Physics Lab writing sonar simulation software that was ultimately used by the US Navy for torpedo research. Guess what my clearance is? oooooOEEEEEEEEEooooooo....
Brandt has dragged Matt's name through the mud for zero reason, simply because **HE WAS PISSED THAT HIS PAGES DIDN'T RANK HIGH ENOUGH ON GOOGLE**
That's it.
Originally posted by Kickaha
http://www.google-watch-watch.org/
Thanks to the Fast Typing Moderator for the link. Brings to mind a couple of guys with a dead iPod battery, a stencil, a can of spraypaint, and a bad attitude.
I'm still lookin' at ya with goo goo googley eyes, Google. Good buddy, good pal.
No content though...hmmm...
Originally posted by Kickaha
?!?
Brandt has dragged Matt's name through the mud for zero reason, simply because **HE WAS PISSED THAT HIS PAGES DIDN'T RANK HIGH ENOUGH ON GOOGLE**
That's it.
Regardless of his motives, you have the immortal cookie problem, Google's tracking and retention of data, the automatically updating toolbar, and now GMail which is the ultimate data mining resource.
You seem to be attacking the person, not the argument. Your logic is flawed and your points are moot.
Are you *POSITIVE* he's not lying about the others?
He was pissed that Google didn't put his site info above useful content for searches. (Really. Read the articles.) He was upset that Google didn't return results in the order that *he* wished based on his own *personal* agenda and bias.
So he made crap up. Some of it is *verifiably* bullshit.
And you say that doesn't matter to his arguments?
Feh. Whatever. Join the tinfoil hat crowd if you wish.
Originally posted by johnq
FYI, yes Dorothy, there is a http://www.google-watch-watch-watch.org[/url]
No content though...hmmm...
Hmmm.. cybersquatting time - I'm gonna go register
google-watch-watch-watch-watch.org
right now!
Originally posted by FormerLurker
Hmmm.. cybersquatting time - I'm gonna go register
google-watch-watch-watch-watch.org
right now!
Not if I beat you to it!!!!!
Man, is domain registration free now?
Originally posted by Existence
First of all, that job opening is for someone other than Cutts. Google wants more people with high clearance. I ask again, why does google need people with top security clearances?
Simple. Because it facilitates their selling their GoogleBoxes to government departments where clearance is needed. Period.
You know, that little server they sell that will create a searchable UI for your local LAN... very popular with many companies for internal searches. Govt has lots of data they want to search. Google wants to sell them boxes. Google needs to have employees with clearance to effectively do so. Cripes.
Sorry, what was the point of your question again?
Edit: READ that job ad. It's for a *DEPLOYMENT* engineer. On-site. With customers. Ie, government customers. With sensitive data.
Jeez, some people will swallow anything without thinking about it.
Originally posted by FormerLurker
Hmmm.. cybersquatting time - I'm gonna go register
google-watch-watch-watch-watch.org
right now!
A friend of mine has a radar detector detector detector
Delphi has implemented systems to take control of your car. (anti-lock brake systems)
Delphi has positioned itself in the auto-industry to monopolize devices which control devices which have been know to kill drivers and passengers. (smart air-bag controller)
Delphi has developed systems to track drivers habits. ((adaptive driving control)
Delphi systems reagularly gather data about human biometrics. (system to determine if an airbag should deploy based on passanger height and weight)
This is utter CRAP because the above are simple systems which through creative use of the english language can be made to sound more nefarious.
Cookies? Every site uses cookies. Get over it.
Oh, back to the security clearance, maybe Google is developing a search engine to comb through proprietary government file formated documents to find specific information. Hmmm doesn't seem too far fetched now does it. Google may be positioning themselves for a government contract.
Next, there is nothing wrong with being a monopoly. A monopoly becomes illegal when they use their market share to block competition. Last time I looked there were many other search engines available not losing money because of Google.
HaHaHa This HAS to ba an April Fools because you'de have to be a true tinhat to buy into this.
Originally posted by Existence
Regardless of his motives, you have the immortal cookie problem, Google's tracking and retention of data, the automatically updating toolbar, and now GMail which is the ultimate data mining resource.
You seem to be attacking the person, not the argument. Your logic is flawed and your points are moot.
Delete the cookie and reject cookies from google. It's not that hard. And as for the toolbar being spyware - who didn't think they'd be using it for smart searches and other tracking?? GMail, last I checked, is a rumor and not required to use google.com. Get over it. Google is still the best search engine out there. If something better comes along, I'll move to it. There is no coercion here.
Originally posted by faust9
HaHaHa This HAS to ba an April Fools because you'de have to be a true tinhat to buy into this.
GMail was the last straw on the camel's back in my mind. 1GB? That's 500 times what Yahoo offers. Gmail is the ultimate data mining resource. Google themself said they intend it so you never have to delete an email--google intends to have access to all the email you've ever going to recieve. Naturally, they have to store all that email--hence the 1GB gimmick. The 1GB is really for THEM as much as it is for you.