So, you must have read up on all the recent news about Google vowing to make privacy a very high priority issue by regularly purging data that could identify, and match a user with a given search term.
The huge brouhaha last year ended somewhat with a whimper when the Court asked Google to only release a sample of the searches on a random day, but that doesn't mean the information-hungry govt folks all over the world are going to give up so soon.
Google now represents not only a fantastic tool to mine the murky Internet (as also the WWW) but it also is a great first source for agencies looking to incriminate people ranging from murderous/murdering spouses to clean-cut, white-collar professionals. And why is that?
Because Google is no longer just a search engine - it's now a VERB. If you've ever used 'Google' as a verb you know what I mean.
The fact that other search engines pale in comparison to the relevance and depth of Google, helps GOOG not only power its growth, but also learn more and more about more and more - people, technologies, trends - well, really, everything. And thus if you've used Google as your exclusive search engine for the past several years you can trust it has a nice little background on you and your passion for whatever it is that you are passionate about.
There is not much to doubt that last year's Court motions have set these info-monsters in a state of panic - usability or privacy? Technology or privacy? Relevance or privacy?
AOL has already affirmed that it'd be purging identification data every 11 months - just enough to comply with the insane record-keeping requirements. YAHOO apparently has been a bit more nebulous, its statement clear as a San Francisco winter morning.
Where do users stand? Should you use tools that offer to 'whitewash' your trail? Should you opt for anonymizers? Or should you surf oblivious, ignorant, and blissfully unaware of the compromising trades that we make every single day whenever we submit to the 'more information, please' requests of the various websites that collect information about you via cookies, surveys, sweepstakes and so on?
If you have something to hide, or if you think it might be a good idea to play it safe nonetheless, why not use the local library to do your search, or use one of the many privacy tools available for free and for a few dollars? Might be worth it, if you value your isolation from the teeming bits and bytes that could be mirrors into your very soul.
Sesh
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