Personalized Search From Google Now Opt-Out 206
An anonymous reader writes "CNet reports that 'Google now intends to deliver customized search results even to those searching its site without having signed into a Google account.' This may be what finally drives me to seriously experiment with cookie-free browsing. I consider non-personalized search results to be of value. They quasi-subconsciously give me a better perspective of the full range of information and ideas on the net. That, and I'm also a bit paranoid about a coming world with push-button infrastructure for personalized mis/disinformation."
Re:oh c'mon (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd like to see Google make their far-forward cookie and personalization tracking service be opt-in. If someone wants to have Google looking over their shoulder almost 100% of the time they're on the web (remember, it's not just google.com but every site with a Google ad) ensuring that they are effectively advertised at, then it should be something you ask for, not ask to have taken away.
If they made their tracking "services" an opt-in proposition, *that* would prove to me and probably all other Google skeptics that they truly were out to do no evil.
As it stands, I'm convinced they're as evil as the next megacorp monopoly.
Re:oh c'mon (Score:1, Interesting)
Sure, nothing wrong with reinforcing people's distorted views of the world.
This is against the idea of free information exchange and truth.
Re:oh c'mon (Score:5, Interesting)
Might as well ask them to pull out a gun and shoot their own foot. What should be changed are browser defaults to "delete new cookies on exit", and make it a special opt-in to allow the site to set permanent cookies. If I go to the cookies page after a surfing session, there are tons and tons of sites that have no legitimate reason to leave cookies other than to track me. Permanent cookies should be handled by a info bar in the same way as popup windows, "Allow this site to set permantent cookies?". That would cut down cookie abuse massively.
New Google Maps on mobile (Symbian) (Score:5, Interesting)
I think Google apologizers has become worse than Apple apologizers but let me try one more time.
If you install current Google maps to your Symbian phone (possibly others soon) and "reset it", it will send your personal "favorites" (read: locations saved) to Google, without even asking you. For example "Grandma's home" goes from your personal phone memory to Google, instantly.
It must have sort of "opt out" too of course but it doesn't change the fact that Google really looks like some sort of information vampire, trying to get all data from you, especially personal ones.
One day in future, looking to their horrible image among customers and several government/private investigations going on, they will ask themselves "What did we do wrong?" but it will be too late for them. My "citation"? MS history in 1990s. Quote from the book "No Logo" (sorry, double translated) "It was a cool thing to work at Microsoft but whatever happened in no time, people started to stare at us like we work for Philip Morris."
Re:oh c'mon (Score:3, Interesting)
Mine, too, mainly because it's so *possible*. Worse yet, there's a pretty good chance it WILL be something I need. I really hate personalized results. Amazon continues to recommend music I hate simply because I bought some CD's as gifts. Sure, there's ways around it but it's a pain in the butt, and sometimes you just want to know what everyone else likes.
There really needs to be some simple way to get these recommendation engines to stop showing results for a particular category without having to get into some amazingly complex Boolean search set.
Re:oh c'mon (Score:5, Interesting)
"Every once in a while a box will show up at my door: "You need this. We found it at an awesome price. You will be billed via Google Finance"." I hope you are joking, because my creep-o-meter just went off the scale.
Another generation or two of advertising and propaganda, and people will be begging for this new feature. Once conditioned to it, they will be as disappointed by companies that don't offer it as they are today at the prospect of preparing their own meals or interpreting their own information. What amuses me (despite its minor inconvenience) is the way people on this site already try to portray privacy advocates as unreasonable, paranoid, and backwards. It's as though their message is, "you don't automatically welcome every marketing effort from corporate America with open arms? WTF is wrong with you?" Since when did siding with the marketers become the default position? Ever since some of them worked for Google? Does the name really do that much for you? If so that's some effective branding, but that's all it is.
That's particularly surprising on Slashdot, with a technical crowd who should be much more aware than the masses of how information can be gathered, used, and abused. You'd think that this crowd would more intuitively understand what you can do by cross-referencing bits of information from multiple sources, like what Google is in a position to do. You'd think that because of that, there would be more privacy advocates speaking out in discussions like this. But we have our favorites and they're precious to us, aren't they? Google can do no evil because they say so, now here, look at this shiny new feature and shut up. Right? Let's also sidestep the fact that anyone could potentially data-mine if it's alright for Google to do so. Privacy is in a sorry state right now, we need some strong protections for it, and marketing efforts like this personalized search should always be opt-in. Even if Google never does any evil to anyone, you have no reasonable expectation that everyone else will be so nice.
Re: Search this! (Score:3, Interesting)
(I can already find this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines [wikipedia.org] thanks)
Re:Scraped Google (Score:4, Interesting)
Scroogle itself appears to be related to http://googlewatch.org/ [googlewatch.org] but whois shows different registrants (googlewatch=Deng Youqian, scroogle=Daniel Brandt). I just don't really know how to evaluate a proxy such as scroogle, because my only means of finding out information is google or other search engines, not wikipedia though as the scroogle article is deleted. If I'm going to be paranoid about search, I would be naive to trust search results, proxies, or random comments on Slashdot. And since I am a bit paranoid about search (I played with the AOL data a few years back -- a real eyeopener), I feel quite lost at sea.
Re:oh c'mon (Score:5, Interesting)
Next time you browse, the cookies will accumulate like always but disappear whe you close the browser. However, if you change site preferences, those changes will be lost also.
Re:oh c'mon (Score:3, Interesting)
You know -- that's a great idea. Perhaps in a future version of Firefox when I Apple-Q, it would slide down a sheet with a list... "The following web sites have added cookies to your browser during this session. Delete or Keep?" with a list of domains and checkboxes next to each.
I like that. I could keep allowing Google or Slashdot or whatever to track me, while unchecking the boxes for things I don't know or recognize.
Delete cookies on exit (Score:3, Interesting)
Might as well ask them to pull out a gun and shoot their own foot. What should be changed are browser defaults to "delete new cookies on exit", and make it a special opt-in to allow the site to set permanent cookies. If I go to the cookies page after a surfing session, there are tons and tons of sites that have no legitimate reason to leave cookies other than to track me. Permanent cookies should be handled by a info bar in the same way as popup windows, "Allow this site to set permantent cookies?". That would cut down cookie abuse massively.
For more than 10 years now, my personal browser settings have included "delete ALL cookies on exit". For me, cookies exist only while my browser is open. Works great for browsing throughout the day while my computer is on. When I close the browser, it's all gone.
It's sometimes a pain to have to login to every web site that I use (work webmail, Gmail for my domain, my general Gmail, Sourceforge, Facebook, etc) but I think it's a bit more secure. [I know, my Flash cookies are still there...]
I originally did it because, as a laptop user, I didn't want to have to worry about my web accounts getting compromised because my laptop got stolen or lost. If the laptop goes missing, I know the bad guy isn't able to access my web accounts - and my Gmail accounts are important to me.