Google Now Tracks Which Search Results You Click?

Jack writes "Has anyone else noticed that the best search engine out there, Google, now generates links for some of its search results which point back to Google before redirecting you to the site's URL? I can't help thinking they'll be using this information to sell targeted search results and measure how effective it is. I guess they have to make a buck, but this could be the start of a very slippery slope. It's also interesting to see which search queries generate tracking results. For example, "Quake" generates them for every link." The monetization of Google proceeds...

Comments

Taking privary a bit too far

[gengee]

This is just absurd. Firstly, after a quick grep, I find that google has placed a single cookie on my computer - One that I asked them to place, to save my preferences for language settings. They may or may not use this "preference ID" to track where I click. I really could not care less. They don't have my home address. They don't have my email address. They have no phone number. Not even a fake name. This is not a decision I made - they simply never asked for any of this information. This is closer to anononymity than you could ever hope to get in the 'real' world.

If they want to target advertisements to me, so be it. I might actually click on a few of them. At some point, someone has to pay for their large and expensive network. While I'm not convinced advertising alone is capable of doing this, at least it's a start. They provide a *great* service. Having said that, it occurs to me that I would greatfully pay 5$/month to use the search engine.

Just my two cents.
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