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Google Adds Search History Feature

Philipp Lenssen writes "Google has released My Search History (Beta). Login with your Google account (like your Gmail account), and a search history feature will be integrated right into the Google.com homepage. You can then retrieve pages you've previously found by either clicking on calendar dates, or by performing a full-text search. Other features are available as well."

278 comments

  1. Paranoid here we go.. by VaultX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here comes the paranoia that google is tracking EVERYONEs searches..just hiding the fact from those who don't sign up for this.

    --
    - nick
    1. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Big+Mark · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't mind my privacy being violated as I'm far too lazy to actually bookmark things I want to visit again.

      This is really true.

    2. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 5, Informative

      As was pointed out by someone else, they definitely are tracking everyone's searches. See http://www.google.com/jobs/britney.html. "Each of these variations was entered by at least two different unique users within a three month period" You can't get that information without tracking searches and retaining the individual information over a three month period.

    3. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's one of those "extra features'. The Department of Homeland Security can do text-based searches of your everyone's searches - watch for it in the next Beta version! ;)

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by ShaniaTwain · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wait.. so I can search for a search that I've searched for before?!?

      and perhaps others can search through the searches that I've searched? Will I be able to search their searches of my searches?

      whoa. my brain just exploded.

    5. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google does track everyones searches already. However, if you turn this service on, they also track which links you click on in the search results.

      I don't see a problem with either thing since they are up-front about what they are doing and the privacy policy is clear about how they use this information.

      "Upon your first visit to Google, a cookie is sent to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser. A "cookie" is a small file containing a string of characters that is sent to your computer when you visit a website. We use cookies to improve the quality of our service and to better understand how people interact with us. Google does this by storing user preferences in cookies and by tracking user trends and patterns of how people search."

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    6. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by myrdred · · Score: 1

      It is, and this is a known fact. Google changes search results (well, prioritizes over which ones show up first on the list), depending on your past searchies.

      This is done with cookies, and the effect can be seen if you take a browser which has a long-standing cookie from Google on which you've searched for lots of things vs one with no cookies, and search for some terms - it won't always happen, but often you'll see different results show up on the first page of searches depending on your past ones.

    7. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great! Now my wife will see all my Google images searches for Danni Ashe. Damn.

    8. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Keamos · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      But, ! says .

    9. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by antic · · Score: 2, Insightful


      True, but now that data will be tied to less-than-anonymous accounts. The advantage for Google is that they will have broached the concept of "having an account to use a search engine" which will enable them to do more powerful things.

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    10. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Keamos · · Score: 1

      But, [insert randomly taken out of context TOS clause here]! [Insert randomly paranoid group here] says [insert stupid, standard "talking points" statement].

      (I really need to remember to select Plain Old Text more often..)

    11. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by double-oh+three · · Score: 1

      Also, they let you delete stuff from your history, so if you use it for say, porn, you can delete those searches.

      --
      "For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
    12. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 5, Interesting

      However, if you turn this service on, they also track which links you click on in the search results.

      They're also then able to tie all of your IP addresses together.

      Upon your first visit to Google, a cookie is sent to your computer that uniquely identifies your browser.

      Yes, and upon my first visit to google, I told Firefox to deny the cookie and deny any further cookies from google.com. So yes, they can track my usage between different IP addresses, but I seriously doubt they're tracking all my searches throughout my entire lifetime (it's possible, but it'd be pretty hard and without getting a subpoena from my ISP it'd probably just be a best guess).

      I don't see a problem with either thing since they are up-front about what they are doing and the privacy policy is clear about how they use this information.

      Well, I see a problem with it, in that I don't want to be tracked in this way. But as long as they're upfront about it I don't think they're doing anything unethical.

      One thing they aren't upfront about is just how long they keep this data. If it's only a month or two, it's not so bad. But if they keep a record of every search that someone has done in her lifetime, I think that's pretty bad.

    13. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Might as well call it a feature. They HAVE been doing it forever anyway.

    14. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by draxil · · Score: 2, Informative

      Their only tracking it once you log on.

    15. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus thank you for believing in them. Delete. Pffff.

    16. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

      Well, I see a problem with it, in that I don't want to be tracked in this way.

      So don't enable the history service.

      Oh, you meant the anonymous tracking they do with cookies? Please tell me how it harms you (assuming Google abides by their privacy policy)?

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    17. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by weopenlatest · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, you could get those stats (although with a slight margin of error) anonymously if you based them on a one way hash of the ip (or whatever is used as a unique identifier). What you can't do is verify this with a closed system. So the real question is, do you believe the the 'do no evil' google people really respect our privacy enough to do truly anonymous logging.

    18. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by double-oh+three · · Score: 1

      Also, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus thank you for believing in them. Delete. Pffff.

      Delete so that anyone on the same computer can't see those searches in the history. I know google knows, but then again, out of millions of searches per day, I doubt they'd do much with any single user.

      It looks like this program has so amount of learning ability, so as one searches more it begins to figure out what the person tends to look for. I'd rather when it's learning my profile for it to ignore the searches I know won't be part of my profile, so it has a better idea of how to rate sites for me.

      --
      "For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
    19. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Absolutely, I think the advantage to google is tremendous. They already target ads to people based on location, which they guess from the IP address. If they know exactly who you are they can target ads a lot better, for instance they can target ads for you based on what you've searched for in the past. If they get enough people logging in, then they've even found a partial solution for the problem of people clicking on the same ad over and over from different IP addresses.

      There are also lots of potential advantages to the end-user. Letting you access your search history is just the beginning.

      This is also extremely open to abuse if the information is kept too long and falls into the hands of the wrong people. Imagine your google searches in the hands of an oppressive government. Search for communist writings, bible quotations, or Jewish pickles, and go to jail (yes, I'm kidding about the Jewish pickles, but just think what a modern day Hitler could do with access to everyone's google searches).

    20. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Search me.

    21. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean by using the search history pause feature you can keep Google from thinking you're gay? Google is better than Tivo?

    22. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by nileshbansal · · Score: 2, Funny

      Google will now show me relevent text ads based on my search history?

    23. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, I see a problem with it, in that I don't want to be tracked in this way.

      So don't enable the history service.

      I won't.

      Oh, you meant the anonymous tracking they do with cookies?

      No, I didn't.

      Please tell me how it harms you (assuming Google abides by their privacy policy)?

      It doesn't necessarily harm me, but there is a lot of potential for harm. Google says right in their privacy policy that they'll release the information to the government if they get a subpoena. If the government decided to target people who make a certain search which I made, they could easily tie that IP address to a real person. Now I don't think that'd be a problem given our current government, but who knows what could happen in the future.

      Google would be a prime asset for an oppressive government. This is already true even besides the history service. With just access to someone's gmail account you can hijack just about every account they have which gives internet access. Think you're secure because you use different passwords for different services? Hell no, your accounts are only as secure as your email account, as anyone with access to that can change just about any of your passwords.

    24. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by FlopEJoe · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh no! what if Google, like TiVo, thinks I'm gay. http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/living/4662397 .htm

    25. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1

      Actually, you could get those stats (although with a slight margin of error) anonymously if you based them on a one way hash of the ip (or whatever is used as a unique identifier).

      No, you couldn't, because anyone who knows the one way hash function could easily run every single possible IP address through it. Even if you went through all 4 billion IP addresses and built a dictionary it'd take relatively little time. If you optimized it by only focussing on IP addresses of interest (for instance, ones in the United States), it'd be even easier.

    26. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by tofucubes · · Score: 1

      does everyone include yahoo and microsoft... "I'm paranoid that we're missing out on so much good and valuable information"

      --
      Some people believe 1-1=3 and for the sake of being politically correct, we should respect their differences
    27. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Fareq · · Score: 1, Informative

      I'm giving up my right to mod this article, because your post gave me this insight:

      Amazon recently "unleashed" the A9 search. It's a "search engine with a memory" or something like that.

      It remembers what you searched for, and theoretically tailors your search results to things you've been looking for recently, and things you've bought from amazon.

      You get a 1.57% (approx. pi/2) discount on all amazon orders if you use A9 search "enough"

      I don't like using A9 -- and so only search for inane things on it, and just often enough to keep up the discount. Why? I don't *want* a search engine that figures out what I like to search for and filters those results.

      Oh, sure, it'd make the results waaaaaaay more relevant. But I don't trust anybody, not even a component of future GoogleZon, with a highly organized and structured understanding of who I am at that level. Hell, even if I knew I'd be the only one to ever see the results, I don't know if I want to know what my searches and result-clickthroughs say about me!!!

      Anyway, the important part of this post is: hey, take a look at A9. They seem to have been doing this for awhile now -- and very overtly -- read their marketing stuff...

      Oh, and A9 is kinda cool, with a totally crappy interface... once you figure out all the stuff it does, its really nifty -- but scary for the same reasons...

    28. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if someone is logged into his/her gmail account via firefox extension (Gmail notifier/check mail periodically) and throws away all cookies on exit ?

      Is the history attached to that particular session cookie or via gmail account identifier ?

      *Have a good Day*

    29. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by pbaer · · Score: 2, Funny

      Great now I'm going to get loads of enlarge your penis! ads in my email and at google...

      --
      There are 11 types of people, those who know unary and those who don't.
    30. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1
      they definitely are tracking everyone's searches.
      Do you think that any other search engine out there doesn't log the search terms? If you looked at the link you posted, none of the data are tied back to any one account. So what is the big deal about Google, Yahoo or MSN logging search terms if they don't tie it to any one user? I personally don't care what Google does with my activity on Google's sites, as long as Google _never_ starts to sell that to "3rd parties" so monkeys-in-suits can start to spam me and try to sell me stuff. As long as Google keeps my info of all the activity/transaction I do with Google private, I will be a happy-camper ; )
      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    31. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Karl+Tacheron · · Score: 4, Funny
      See http://www.google.com/jobs/britney.html.
      Add the extension .mp3 to each of those.
      You now have the filelisting for KaZaa.
    32. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by xiphoris · · Score: 0
      Of course they track everyone's searches! They aren't even trying to hide the fact. Top queries are made publically available at Google Zeitgeist.

      Some example information:
      Top 10 Gaining Queries, April 18 2005:
      1. boston marathon
      2. amityville horror
      3. britney spears
      4. vida guerra
      5. nelly
      6. irs
      7. lance armstrong
      8. pontiac solstice
      9. ufc
      10. wholphin
    33. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Seumas · · Score: 1

      They ARE tracking everyone. Duh. Haven't you been implanted with your RFID yet?

    34. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by pipingguy · · Score: 1


      I think I've asked this a couple of times here and never got a reply.

      It appears that an index.dat file (Windows only?) retains cookie info even after the cookies are deleted. Open one up with a text editor and see what's in it. Deleting index.dat is almost impossible, so the whole point of removing cookies manually would seem to be a false, feel-good, "I'm-protecting-my-own-privacy" privacy action. I leave the Google and Slashdot cookies, but some sites want to set up to 3 or 4 (yes, I know many of these are 3rd party advertising servers - those get denied). Yahoogroups users seem to get seven (yes, 7) Yahoo cookies placed.

      Maybe someone else has more information about this.

    35. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The next logical step will be to add historical searching as well. Such as being able to search archive.org's wayback machine and show older pages.
      Good for: Sites you've seen before but no longer exist (even in Google's cache). Old versions of software that you can't get any more from the mfr. website. ad nauseum.

    36. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by jimmyCarter · · Score: 1

      Thank you. Thank you for pointing that little nugget out or I would never have shot soda out of my nose upon seeing that at least two people have googled for: "grittney spears".

      Classic.

      --

      -- jimmycarter
    37. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by alassiry · · Score: 1
      How about if they integrate history of all google services (web search, image search, local, gmail, blogger...) sending you ads according to:
      • your latest blog entries.
      • keywords in your emails (emails that you tagged will have a higher ranking)
      • keeps track of the last places you used in google maps, and sends you ads based on location.

      --
      _________________________________________________ Just another Crazy Linux/Perl Maniac
    38. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by weopenlatest · · Score: 1
      Point taken, but the IP doesn't have to be the unique identifier. You can always come up with as big of a key as you need to make a dictionary attack impossible (on current computers).

      My point was that it is technically possible to get meaningful statistics without compromising privacy. The difficult part is verifying it independantly in a corporate environment. Still, I think it's doable.

    39. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by mce · · Score: 1

      For several years now, I've had a nightly cron job that ramdomly changes the id information in my google cookie. So even though they are logging my searches, they sure as hell are not going to be able to find them back.

    40. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by wootest · · Score: 1

      It doesn't stop there. If I cancel my account, will my history be history?

    41. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      tivo is never wrong why not try a lifestyle change?

    42. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Their privacy policy basically states that they will used aggregated information for anything they like but user specific information only by legislation (which means that it's pretty much up to the government wishes concidering the recent laws passed).

    43. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Politburo · · Score: 1

      They already target ads to people based on location, which they guess from the IP address.

      Note that Google isn't the only one doing this.. I usually get ads on Yahoo! for the NJ lottery.

    44. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by moonbender · · Score: 1

      Maybe you should take the hint...? =)

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    45. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You stupid ass-clown! give us a reg or copy the relevent info into your post, don't ask us to register at some stupid worthless pile of trash just to read about how you turned gay.

    46. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by billcopc · · Score: 1

      Government ? HELLOO!

      Imagine your pron searches falling into the hands of your live-in girlfriend.

      Sheeeeeesh. That crazy bitch was already sniffing my browser history.

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    47. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by 4of12 · · Score: 1

      What would be a nice feature is not just my search history, but an Amazonian-like correlation like

      "Others with search keyword spaces similar to yours have also looked at these other keyword groups that you may have overlooked."
      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
    48. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Now I don't think that'd be a problem given our current government, but who knows what could happen in the future.

      Given that you can imagine a future government that's more interested in your surfing habits than your current one, I'm going to take a mental leap and assume you don't live in the same country Google is from.

      Hell no, your accounts are only as secure as your email account, as anyone with access to that can change just about any of your passwords.

      Typically they would need your existing plaintext password and email address (and account access) to change your existing password (or email address), on most any sort of password-using service I've seen. Intercepting the digested, quoted or obfuscated string that's often stored and transmitted in a cookie won't do either, though it will usually provide mere account access (without knowing the plaintext password - slashdot is an example of this scheme).
    49. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1

      Typically they would need your existing plaintext password and email address (and account access) to change your existing password (or email address), on most any sort of password-using service I've seen

      No, they'd just need access to your email account, and some public information, like your mother's maiden name. Then they'd just need to go to your bank account (or whatever), and click on "Forgot password".

    50. Re:Paranoid here we go.. by SphericalCrusher · · Score: 1

      Either that, or that someone finds a way to log right into the computer containing the log files (either Google's or a user's personal computer) to read what everyone has searched for. This could be used in a curious manner to see what people like to look for, for blackmail (aka a husband with two kids searching for porn), or just for illegal methods of advertising.

      --
      "Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
  2. By the way by KinkifyTheNation · · Score: 3, Informative

    And before you privacy nuts start freaking out, this isn't the start of search logging, as proven here they've been doing it for some time.

    1. Re:By the way by game+kid · · Score: 2, Funny
      98 btitney spears
      ...
      2 birtheny spears
      ...
      2 buttney spears

      Now that makes for an interesting search history.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  3. Finally a Web portal by joshdick · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hello, Web portal.

    They had to do it sooner or later.

    1. Re:Finally a Web portal by oberondarksoul · · Score: 1

      And if anyone can act as a portal well, it ought to be Google. Yahoo's front page? I had to look at it for the first time in years the other day, and it is simply a mess. Google, on the other hand, keeps everything clear and well-ordered - its front page just works.

      --
      And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
    2. Re:Finally a Web portal by game+kid · · Score: 1

      Especially combined with the semi-hidden calculator and that Google Maps Satellite option. It's just *sobs as eyes widen and tear* beautiful *wipes face*.

      Google's definitely not the first to do those things, but it seems easier to do said things, and then put most if not all of them at the grasp of a "command-line" as opposed to a cluttered portal (just look at that other site right now) ...right?

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    3. Re:Finally a Web portal by carlivar · · Score: 1

      Strange. On Yahoo, I don't see a cluttered page here.

      --
      Vote Libertarian
    4. Re:Finally a Web portal by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 1

      Did someone say portal?

      Bingo!

    5. Re:Finally a Web portal by BlueCodeWarrior · · Score: 1

      Or here.

  4. a9 by AnonymousCowheart · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hasn't a9 been doing this for some time?

    1. Re:a9 by glinden · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not just A9. My Yahoo Search, My Ask Jeeves, Findory, and A9 all have had this feature for a while.

      [Disclaimer: I work at Findory]

  5. Is this search history specific to google? by Jailbrekr · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It'd be nice if they eventually integrate this with IEs integrated history. Is it possible to have this level of integration centralized, so for example, if I wanted to monitor my users browsing histories I could do it?

    --
    Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
  6. I forsee by Exitar · · Score: 1

    many privacy related discussions in the next days...

    And surely someone will find some security issue...

    1. Re:I forsee by KinkifyTheNation · · Score: 5, Informative
      Be aware that your Google search history main page contains your last search in the URL (it's a "prev" parameter). Sites you then click on may thus check their referrer logs to get to know what you were searching for previously, which is a potential privacy issue. Google has been alerted to this.
      They already have!
    2. Re:I forsee by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Privacy conscious surfers do:

      1) Use Firefox

      2) Set cookies to expire at end of session

      3) Disable referrers (the web works without referrers, it really does)

      4) Avoid fixed IP addresses (I'm serious. There are databases which link IP addresses to mail addresses. I've experienced strong correlations between spam and things I've searched and visited websites about, and I don't mean porn.)

      5) Avoid logins unless absolutely required (Well, duh)

    3. Re:I forsee by gardyloo · · Score: 1

      Be aware that your Google search history main page contains your last search in the URL (it's a "prev" parameter).

      I think you misspelled 'perv'.

    4. Re:I forsee by ibjhb · · Score: 1

      I don't know why I read that as "it's a 'perv' parameter".

      Maybe thought Google was tracking pervs on the Internet now too!

  7. Yikes! Privacy concerns for the unwary by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can think of quite a few searches I've run that I'd hate to be archived and cross-referenced against my name.

    On the plus side, this always opens the door to hilarious new 'Paris Hilton's hacked t-mobile' type tomfoolery.

    "From the i-can't-believe-its-not-butter department, Slashdot reader AnonymousCoward writes 'rofl! I haxored google history, and guess what, Linus was searching the net for patches to his Windows 2000 machine! omfgroflolololo!!!OPijsdf0+++NO CARRIER'"

    Well, that, or horse porn.

  8. Safari likes to cache searches too by EvilStein · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's annoying as hell, because it tries to auto-fill your searches. It does it at the worst times, too. I was sitting down with my g/f and was Googling for something and it was happily showing a list of things that I had searched for, giving away the fact that I was looking for restaurants to visit.

    I'm just glad I wasn't Googling for "itch on my nads" or anything like that. Sheesh.

    1. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by Hatta · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was sitting down with my g/f and was Googling for something and it was happily showing a list of things that I had searched for, giving away the fact that I was looking for restaurants to visit.

      Honey, it's not what it looks like! I promise!

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Safari likes to cache searches too

      As does firefox and internet explorer. Real browsers let you empty your search cache (which safari may, I don't use a mac).

    3. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by evand · · Score: 1

      Going to the Safari preferences, selecting the "AutoFill" section, and unchecking "Other forms" should alleviate your problem.

      The Safari problem, that is. As for the other one, might I suggest something from the fine line of Gold Bond products?

    4. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by bergeron76 · · Score: 1

      s/restaurants/Asian Massage Parlors/g

      --
      Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
    5. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by EvilStein · · Score: 1

      heh

      I was using Safari Enhancer to disable all caching, but it doesn't work with 1.3. Otherwise, yes, I do disable "Other Forms" in the Preferences. :-)

    6. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Restaurants... is that what they call Asian spas where you're from?

    7. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by oever · · Score: 1

      Well, Google Suggest is just as dangerous. This is _no_ mock-up, it's a result from about a month ago. Pretty shocking results for a harmless query!

      --
      DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
    8. Re:Safari likes to cache searches too by Jakeypants · · Score: 1

      "I'm just glad I wasn't Googling for "itch on my nads" or anything like that."

      Yes you were.
      -Google

  9. Oh no!!! by ErikTheRed · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Now your boss can find out which pr0n, mp3s, movies, and other stuff you've been Googling for...

    --

    Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
    1. Re:Oh no!!! by jakel2k · · Score: 1

      Damn... another thing I have to delete on a daily basis.

    2. Re:Oh no!!! by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 1

      Wow, your boss can crack the encryption on the SSH tunnel to your Squid server at home?

    3. Re:Oh no!!! by aussie_a · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, you don't have to delete it. Just don't login. Duh.

    4. Re:Oh no!!! by Trejkaz · · Score: 1

      I've been thinking of doing that for a long time now. It's a shame Google can't use POST instead of GET. :-)

      --
      Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
    5. Re:Oh no!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yes, you're connecting from a system that is completely under his control.

  10. Why JavaScript? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why on earth does this feature require JavaScript (last item)? I've been playing with it and can't see a single feature that would require client-side scripting.

    1. Re:Why JavaScript? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      They use onmousedown on the links to save which links you've clicked on.

    2. Re:Why JavaScript? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 1

      Ok, so when I press the mouse button (should give an onMouseDown event, right?), but then move the mouse away before releasing it (which causes the link not to be clicked), Google will assume I've gone to the page?

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  11. A very useful feature! by Xeroc · · Score: 1

    This should definitely save me some headaches when I try to find a particular page, but can't find it again!

    Especially when search ordering changes, and the one useful page that was #1, is now #20. Doesn't happen often, but has happened.

    Can't wait to see what the next thing is that google comes out with!

    --
    "Real programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write it should be hard to understand."
  12. Interesting by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When this feature is enabled, Google adds an "onmousedown" event to the search result links which makes you hit their servers first, and then they redirect you to the page you requested. You might not even notice this is happening since you can't see in the status bar that the URL you are visiting is different. (And since they are not using any status bar text changing tricks to fool you, the Firefox settings to prevent people from changing the status bar text would have no effect, obviously.)

    I think this feature is pretty damn cool, and I have no reason not to trust Google will adhere to their privacy policy and not abuse this information. I am sure the privacy nuts (i.e. those that like to have knee-jerk reactions to anything that even hints at privacy implications ::cough michael ::cough) ought to love this.

    You can turn the tracking off easily by pressing the "pause" button in your Google History page, or by going to your google account settings and selecting "Delete History." I verified this causes the onmousedown code to disappear completely.

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    1. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think what you mean is that it disappeared completely client-side.

      p.s your post got modded up too high

    2. Re:Interesting by nandhp · · Score: 1

      There ought to be a better way to implement this. I've been working on a similar system of my own (link hit counting that doesn't get in the way), and my favorite method is as follows:

      1. Put the real URL in the HREF.
      2. In onclick, go to the wrapper url instead

      This has the following benifit: Copy link location works
      But the following problem: Open in new tab does not count as a hit.

      Google's approach has exactly the reverse effect: New tab counts, copy link location is broken, but the link appears to be normal until (any) mouse button goes down on it.

      Prehaps some combination of ONMOUSEDOWN and ONSOMETHINGELSE would work perfectly?

  13. Not too compelling by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yahoo is apparently rolling out a similar type service soon...don't see much use in looking up old searches frankly. Its probably more useful for these firms to collect data for advertisers than it is for aiding in my future data retrieval.

    1. Re:Not too compelling by mshiltonj · · Score: 1

      don't see much use in looking up old searches frankly.

      Are you joking? This will make bookmarks irrelevant. Hell, I used Google for my bookmarks more and more anyway. It's to let google keep track of all the information and links.

      This search history thing will likely be smart enough to create your bookmarks for you, just by noticing what you search for and what results you click on.

      I think it's cool.

    2. Re:Not too compelling by glinden · · Score: 1

      Yahoo already has a search history feature. See My Yahoo Search.

    3. Re:Not too compelling by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 1
      Are you joking? This will make bookmarks irrelevant.

      Over the long term your search history will features thousands of entries. Hardly a bookmark manager.

    4. Re:Not too compelling by mshiltonj · · Score: 1

      Over the long term your search history will features thousands of entries. Hardly a bookmark manager.

      Unless Google can intelligently organize that information, which is kind of what they do.

  14. Oh great. My history. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really need to be reminded of those times I searched for 'teen lesbian anal sex' and the like. Probably why I turn of all history recording stuff.

  15. History Tab by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So? Internet Explorer has been keeping track of my searches for some time, too. Just one more list to clear off before the girlfriend sees it :-/

  16. Hmm... by thegamerformelyknown · · Score: 3, Informative

    The question is not whether they store it or not, as that can be done in many ways. It's HOW. Think about it. If they store it in their Database, then they COULD use it. But, if they use cookies or the like, then they don't have it. Think about that before getting all freaked out about getting tracked.

    1. Re:Hmm... by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1, Informative

      Cookies are generally limited to 4K per domain. So they couldn't store very many previous searches if they used cookies.

    2. Re:Hmm... by thegamerformelyknown · · Score: 1

      true, but then again, a databse storing something like this would be massive as well.....

    3. Re:Hmm... by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

      But, if they use cookies or the like, then they don't have it

      Why do you make that assumption?

      If anything, a cookie makes it easier to associate an individual with an entry in the database.

    4. Re:Hmm... by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1

      Storing gobs upon gobs of data is what google does well, though. And I think you're missing the point. The limit of 4K for cookies is generally a hard limit set in the browser. It's not just a matter of buying a few more hard drives, you just can't do it.

    5. Re:Hmm... by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 3, Informative

      But, if they use cookies or the like, then they don't have it.

      Well... they're not going to use an HTTP cookie to store your entire browsing history. No, they'll use a cookie to store a unique ID token, and use that to query their big backend database of everything that everyone has searched for.

      If you activate this feature, your search history WILL be databased somewhere. It may not be easily identified as YOUR search history, but it's something to weigh if you have concerns over privacy.

    6. Re:Hmm... by VoiceOfRaisin · · Score: 1

      Cookies are generally limited to 4K per domain. So they couldn't store very many previous searches if they used cookies.

      the cookie stores the identifier. the searches are stored on googles servers..

  17. I find Google as interesting as the next person... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but isn't this the third Google story today?

  18. not my image searches, please!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, no, no, I don't want them to show my google/images search results the next time someone sits down at the computer!!!

  19. Google amazes me. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 0


    Google amazes me. It is the only well managed technically oriented company of which I am aware.

    1. Re:Google amazes me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Google amazes me. It is the only company which could get away with stuff that is so rife with privacy problems as this.

    2. Re:Google amazes me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what about apple?

    3. Re:Google amazes me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yeah, search history. Wow, what an amazing feature. I could have never thought of that. Blows my mind.

    4. Re:Google amazes me. by wootest · · Score: 1

      Google saves history anyway. I'd be very surprised if Yahoo and MSN didn't do this too. They've been doing this for years. IANAL, but it seems to me that Google's privacy policy (http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy.html) details that they'll only share the info within the company (between different data centers), when required by law and in aggregate (where all personal info is effectively lost). This seems perfectly reasonable unless some dreadful laws pop up all of a sudden - but would Google really be the entity to blame for that?

      Letting you view your own history is completely opt-in, you can 'pause' the recording of what appears in your history at any time, and you can clear the history at any time, never mind logging out to hide it. The only privacy issues that can surface here are those that surface because the people using this don't know how to turn it off. How's this any different from the guy surfing porn not knowing how to empty his cache and clear his history? This doesn't seem any more "rife with privacy problems" than your ordinary web browser.

  20. Clickety Click by Stanistani · · Score: 1

    *examines your search history*

    *retches*

  21. Internet appliance anyone?? by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 1

    Why have a computer?
    Just have a terminal that boots into the all new Google OS 1.0

    Isn't that what Google is shooting for anyway?

    1. Re:Internet appliance anyone?? by rdwald · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, that's what I've been doing for the past school year. My main machine's hard drive died, but all the computer labs have some brower, some IM client, and some word processor; with Gmail for email and data storage, I don't need a personal machine.

    2. Re:Internet appliance anyone?? by Red_Icculus · · Score: 0

      I for one welcome our informative stalker overlords.

    3. Re:Internet appliance anyone?? by peezer · · Score: 1

      you mean Google OS BETA .1, .2, etc. Anyone have any Google OS invites?!

    4. Re:Internet appliance anyone?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because a) it's unlikely to play starcraft and b) I like to use my computer when it's not connected to the net. Especially the laptop.

  22. Search History? by Bloodlent · · Score: 2, Funny

    Attila the Hun... Thomas Edison... Hoover Dam... Aha! Jenna Jameson!

    1. Re:Search History? by jakel2k · · Score: 2, Funny

      Your search should have stopped at the hun as for Thomas Edison... I'm not sure if I want to google that one.

  23. Most used feature: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clear history.

    "Eh, honey, you see, my friend started this band named 'hot asian sluts,' so I was looking for their Web page."

    "Every day for three months??"

    "Um, yes. Sometimes well into that night. (Cough.)"

    1. Re:Most used feature: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hm... do you listen to "Busty Long-haired Blondes" too? :)

  24. Delete the My History Option by kjfitz · · Score: 1

    Google requires that you have an account (you can use your GMail account) before you can access the history. They even offer you the option of deleting the My History feature from your account. But reading the privacy statement and FAQ shows that deleting the account does not delete the data or your history. The history is still collected it just isn't available to you anymore.

    1. Re:Delete the My History Option by glinden · · Score: 1

      Might try using Findory instead. Findory keeps search history for news, blog, and web searches without any account or registration, so you're effectively anonymous when you use Findory. You can also delete your entire history permanently any time you want.

      [Disclaimer: I work at Findory]

  25. Spiffy by imag0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ok, privacy concerns aside, that's a pretty spiffy thing to have. I've wracked my brain for old searches and old sites for technical data, bits of code, and so on and came up short a lot of the time. (who hasn't surfed to Google, typed in one letter and scrolled down the list looking for something you've typed in before?)

    Hell, i've written my own browser cache downloader for Safari and Mozilla (with snazzy search engine and all the trimmings) just to keep all the places i've been to current. Remembering all the places i've been to using Google helps a lot.

    Keep it lean and popup free, Google, and I will use it every day.

  26. Cover your ass by Bullfish · · Score: 1

    I blow away all my history, caches, etc before I shut down each and every time. I run a virus update and scan each evening while running my spyware catchers. I never give my real info on the net, I only ever give out my hotmail address except to a few friends and wouldn't you know it, my ISP mailer never gets spam, I've never had a virus hose my machine and I don't sweat too much on privacy.

    In a world where the consumer's rights are constantly being eroded in favour of corporate and governmental rights, you'd best cover your ass.

    1. Re:Cover your ass by MrAnnoyanceToYou · · Score: 1

      They're just toying with you while they steal all your credit records. They've looked up your IP, hacked into your ISP to get your credit card numbers, looked those up and found your SSN, applied for more with that and found your bank account numbers in your credit report, and are just waiting for you to make enough to make all their hard work worth it.

      :>

    2. Re:Cover your ass by Bullfish · · Score: 1

      Which is why deception is becoming a necessary part of your consumer tool kit

    3. Re:Cover your ass by jensen404 · · Score: 1

      As soon as Google abuses their power, I'll switch to another service.

    4. Re:Cover your ass by Politburo · · Score: 1

      I don't sweat too much on privacy.

      I blow away all my history, caches, etc before I shut down each and every time. I run a virus update and scan each evening while running my spyware catchers. I never give my real info on the net, I only ever give out my hotmail address except to a few friends

  27. Now, I will no longer use Google... by barfy · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The last thing I want, is a subpoenable search history. I search for a lot of things. I honestly do not want to be accountable for the things that I might search for, whether I get results of not.

    1. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by Gamzarme · · Score: 0

      Can I have your Gmail account??? =)

      Seriously, though. It's not like to have to use this. It's just another nice piece of code that aids the world in "organizing their information".

      --
      Pat
    2. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by barfy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No it's not. It is a history of my behavior on the Internet. A behavior that because it now exists as a history that is personally identifiable to me. Means that I can now be *profiled*. Maybe because I like to look at DeCSS code, or lock smithing information, or how do you make a bomb out of fertalizer, and yeah maybe I did even search for some pr0n. Not that I did any of this, but lets say I did. I did nothing but search for information that exists.

      One only needs to look at the Patriot Act if you do not believe that if this information is all neat and nicely packaged up that I would not recieve way more scrutiny in my life than I want. Sorry, I guess I use google via anonymizer, but no one asked me if I wanted them to do this. (And whose to say "opting-out" just keeps me from seeing what they are saving.

    3. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Disable cookies for google.com

      If you use gmail use IE and enable cookies but don't use IE for anything else. For your browsing and searching use Firefox/Opera but keep cookies disabled.

    4. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by Gamzarme · · Score: 0

      All I'm saying is that if you want to take advantage of this nice feature, you have the choice. Google doesn't just 'decide' for you.
      Additionally, if you would follow the links and read the article then you would see that it asks to to enter your Gmail password to log into this feature.

      If you don't want to do this then you can just shun the idea of of global (Internet) O/S because that's what it's all about, putting your information on the Internet. This is similar to if you were to upload your entire O/S (probably Windows) on the Internet and have it able to be accessed anywhere, anytime.

      This of course has it's own set of problems...you can probably guess them. So, all I'm saying is that if you want the convinence of an "always there" desktop, you have to be able to accept the fact that your are using a service provided by others and that has it's own set of limitations. One's that you may not be able to embrace and consequently be left out of the future.

      --
      Pat
    5. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by barfy · · Score: 1

      Seriously, have you read the article?
      Google keeps personally identifiable search data on you, regardless of your account settings.
      ( do not want ANYONE to keep personally identifiable information on me on the Internet.
      If you don't understand this, then Orwell and Franklin were both right.

    6. Re:Now, I will no longer use Google... by Gamzarme · · Score: 0

      How are you 'personally identified'? You just go to http://google.com/ and type in a search! It's not like they know your name...or anything like that. You, are, anonymous.
      Except for your IP address. And even that changes.

      --
      Pat
  28. Cute by M3wThr33 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find this funny because I've been using A9 for the longest time and it already does this. I wonder how many other features they'll borrow from A9?

    1. Re:Cute by glwtta · · Score: 1

      It's not like "search history" is a complicated concept, on the order of "one click ordering" - you don't exactly have to be a genius to come up with that one.

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
    2. Re:Cute by thesupermikey · · Score: 1

      ...inasmuch as a9 already hijacks googles data bases already

      --
      Mikey
      I've always been the kinda guy to fall for the girl dressed like an eskimo.
    3. Re:Cute by generic-man · · Score: 1

      A9 is a partner with Google. It doesn't "hijack" anything.

      --
      For more information, click here.
    4. Re:Cute by tyler_larson · · Score: 2, Funny
      I find this funny because I've been using A9 for the longest time and it already does this. I wonder how many other features they'll borrow from A9?

      Thieves! Scoundrels!

      I did some extra research, and it turns out that they stole the search engine idea from Alta Vista, the GMail idea from Hotmail, and the whole Internet idea from Al Gore.

      Can't they do anything original?

      --
      "With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea...."
      RFC 1925
    5. Re:Cute by glinden · · Score: 1

      There's plenty of other people doing search history. My Yahoo Search, My Ask Jeeves, and Findory, to name a few.

      [Disclaimer: I work at Findory]

  29. I like this feature. by whitetiger0990 · · Score: 1

    Slowly... you shall see... Google will rule!
    but nyeeeh I've known about this before it was slashdoted... come on. You can be faster.

    but really. I like this feature. I've always accidentally closed the browser after finding something and going "oh crap I needed that". This will solve that problem.

    I for one will continue to embrace our Google Overlords

    --
    You have been warned.
    1. Re:I like this feature. by Tongo · · Score: 1

      Well YMMV with this but, Opera 8 has a neat new feature to help with this. On the very far right side of the tab bar, there is a trashcan icon. When you click this, it shows your 20 or so tabs that you had open.

      This is great for me, because I would inadvertantly close a tab using a mouse gesture or something and couldn't remember what site I was on. It also show you blocked popups and allows you to "empty trash" to clear the history.

  30. Never! by raehl · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If google tracks search terms, they've been hiding it very well.

    1. Re:Never! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Hmm, hard to tell if you're being sarcastic, but note that Google Zeitgeist claims not to be tracking search terms, just recording them:

      We should note that in compiling the Zeitgeist, no individual searcher's information is available or accessible to us.
  31. About time! by bluephone · · Score: 1

    I wanted a feature like this in Firefox/Mozilla for searches from the URL/search bars. So if Google does it themselves, this'll be GREAT. Yes there are "privacy" issues, but if you ask for it, like I am, then you kinda know that going in.

    --
    jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
  32. Re:Another google "innovation" by Keamos · · Score: 2, Funny

    To quote a recent Penny-Arcade news post:

    "This next statement could sort of open up into a tangential discussion on modern game design, but suffice it to say, there are no truly original games. There can't be, at least with modern console games, and I refuse to accept "What about Katamari Damacy?!?" Bullshit, I've played enough Super Monkey Ball and Marble Madness to know better. But you need to know recent games, landmark games, the major flops, and the highly expected upcoming releases, because we all copy game design from each other, in every game, going all the way back to Pong and SpaceWar. You need to be able to say "Well, that idea seems like a whole lot of work, when I know that we could just copy the scheme from Super Virtua Soul Machine 9 to do the same thing!""

    The same could be said about computers and computer applications of all sorts. Nearly everything has already been done in one way or another, but it's just being built onto and made better (or in some cases, worse. [Insert mandatory MS bashing to get +5 Funny...]) This is a great idea as long as you're not some tinfoil-hat motherfucker.

  33. Google uses cookies. Google sells advertisements. by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

    Who the heck didn't alredy know this?

    Google uses cookies with a unique identifier.

    A unique identifier allows you to you build a profile of the person(s) who are associated with that cookie.

    Google sells advertisements based partially on your profile. It's called "Know your audience".

  34. Re:I find Google as interesting as the next person by lars · · Score: 1

    No, it's the fourth.

  35. Search History for the Search History? by rsteele19 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So you can search for previous searches, but does it keep a history of your searches for previous searches? Can you search for previous searches for previous searches?

    --

    This sig is umop apisdn.

  36. Let me be the first to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I, for one, welcome our new robot camel-jockey overlords!

  37. actually useful by __aaitqo8496 · · Score: 1

    despite the paranoia that will undoubtably be associated with this, i much like the ability to go back and find not only a search result set, but also the particular link i clicked. it makes re-discovering information much easier

    note to self: no more porn searches :(

    1. Re:actually useful by mlk · · Score: 1

      Use your OSes "Run as different User" feature.

      --
      Wow, I should not post when knackered.
  38. Google google google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what, the 10th Google story of the day?!?

  39. What if... by inertia187 · · Score: 0

    What if two different browser are behind a NAT. Is it possible for Google to attribute one broweser's search to the other? How potentally embarrasing! I'm a bad speller and find Google is way better at figuring out what I'm trying to mash into the keyboard.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
  40. People are paranoid. by natrius · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you don't want to be tracked on the Internet, there's a simple solution: don't have a static IP address and turn off cookies.

    With that said, if you think this feature is a privacy issue, you should probably have your web browser history and cache disabled. I can't wait for a virus that emails the victim's history and cache to everyone in their address book. Hilarity would definitely ensue.

    1. Re:People are paranoid. by ticktockticktock · · Score: 1
      If you don't want to be tracked on the Internet, there's a simple solution: don't have a static IP address and turn off cookies.

      On some cable providers, changing one's IP address is a pain in the ass since it requires changing your NIC's MAC address and rebooting the cable modem each time.

    2. Re:People are paranoid. by cokemaster · · Score: 0

      Parent is right... I know of some who think this is a big improvement, but they don't realize the dark side of it.

      The thing that I try and tell them is that although you can look at your previous searches now... think of the information google and other search engines are getting from this.

      What is scary for me is that how many people just put in their names for their google accounts etc. Before they could collect your search results and tie it to a computer, now they know who you are.

      As its been covered before many sites collect information, many try and assocate it with a name.

      Now of course, some thing its going overboard etc but would you really want your searches assocated with your name (providing you used that to sign up), your email (gmail)?

      Who knows, I'll probably be modded down or marked as a troll.

    3. Re:People are paranoid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Having a dynamic IP doesn't protect you, since any provider is going to keep a log of what account was using any given IP at any time. All it does is add another layer of indirection that an organization like law enforcement would have little trouble rendering moot.

    4. Re:People are paranoid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if people are paronoid of proprietary search companies tracking their info, why not look into an open source search engine?

    5. Re:People are paranoid. by rbarreira · · Score: 1

      That doesn't solve the paranoias. People would then say - how do I know that the software being run on their servers is the same software for which source is available?

      --

      The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
    6. Re:People are paranoid. by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1

      What you'd need is an open content search engine, not an open source one. Doing the search is easy, building the database/index is the hard part.

      It's not even clear whether or not such a thing would be legal. You'd have to release a cache of the internet for anyone to download, and that would be a copyright violation if not considered fair use.

  41. The dangers of Google and slashdot policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Don't panic"

    "They are upfront...read their privacy policy"

    "They have been logging all searches for ages therefore it's ok"

    Listen. Most people don't read privacy policies, so remain blissfully unaware but what they are doing when they use Google. Most people don't even think about cookies, many more don't even know or care what they are. You could argue therefore that by inference they don't value or care about their own privacy. Well, hell maybe they don't. But actually that argument alone is not good enough.

    Some of us have been passionately arguing that Google is a just kind of global Carnivore type project or at least with excellent potential to be one. No one knows really what Google actually do with the data they collect; how they link it together to form individual portfolios or how they treat it, manage it, or store it. No one knows how many times they have been asked by government agencies to supply information about their users and no one knows about the integrity of Google's employees, apart from romantic fluff generated by their most avid fans.

    On another note Slashdot's obsession with Google is really quite unhealthy, and concerning, and I for one have submitted several Google critical stories here only for them to be rejected, but immediately a pro Google story will appear, giving an extraordinarily one-sided view about Google. If you only read Slashdot, you would think Google are something from heaven, but if you read other sites and news sources you will know that is simply not true.

    And ok that is a seperate subject, but I just wonder what this site gets out of making a news item of every single thing Google do, and yet rarely or never a critical story on Google appears. It's actually quite creepy and very noticable.

    1. Re:The dangers of Google and slashdot policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. Slashdotters are obviously very pro-Linux and they think Google is on their side because they use a lot of open source technologies.

      However, I think a lot of Slashdotters are either too ignorant or too stupid to realize that Google USES open source technology they rarely contribute to it. With the exception of code.google.com and some white papers, Google is not contributing to the open source community -- not any more than Microsoft or any other proprietary software company.

      In fact, I often find Google to be more secretive and elusive about their technology than most other companies.

    2. Re:The dangers of Google and slashdot policy by Mant · · Score: 1

      Lots of Slashdotters user Google, so news of a new Google feature is useful news. I know I'm interested in it.

      As for one sided, every Google story these days has people bitching and moaning about how they are doing other things when search could be improved, how they are taking control of the internet and how the info they have could be abused. It you just read /. it would be pretty damn impossible not to realise not everyone like Google.

      Problem is most criticisms I've seen tend to be on a par with the insane ramblings of Google watch. I can understand why some people choose not to use Google, but it's hard to find a coherent argument why Google is bad in general.

  42. Here come the custom searches by rjelks · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While the privacy issues were the first thing on my mind, something else occurs to me now. If Google is keeping track of search histories, aren't personalized searches the next step. If Google can tell what type of sites you like to use, couldn't they lean the search one way or the other?

    This will drive the seo guys crazy.

    1. Re:Here come the custom searches by La+Camiseta · · Score: 1

      Isn't that just an extrapolation of what Google Sets is?

    2. Re:Here come the custom searches by glinden · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. Charlene Li at Forrester Research posted about this today, calling personalized search results the "Holy Grail of search" and giving an example from Marissa Mayer at Google of how Google's personalized web search might work.

    3. Re:Here come the custom searches by rjelks · · Score: 1

      I actually think personalized searches would save a lot of time. I would imagine, with this search history, the could use something very similar to Google Sets to implement it.

  43. Last saturday by timka · · Score: 0

    is totally missing... Can it find that one? - hopefully not, at least for my wife...

  44. slashgoogle? by diegocgteleline.es · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Someone should start it. Seriously, google seems to produce new things every two days or so.

    1. Re:slashgoogle? by houghi · · Score: 3, Informative

      Someone should start it. Seriously, google seems to produce new things every two days or so.

      Posted some time ago: http://googledot.org/

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    2. Re:slashgoogle? by Teja · · Score: 1

      In the month of april so far, slashdot has been posting around 1.04761904 entries concerning google per day. I don't mind all the entries on google, but if you are going to post entries on google, why not make them breaking news? Take for example, the gmail with rss feed reading ability, that's a week's old news.

      --
      - Teja
  45. Good job google! by skomes · · Score: 1

    Good one, at the same time, providing a generally useless feature, WHILE discouraging multiple gmail accounts by transforming yourself in to a portal where people don't want to change accounts.

  46. In related news... by KipCas · · Score: 1

    iWon.com usage skyrockets after adding a new feature which not only stores all past searches, but renames anything about porn to such things as "how to pop the question" and "how to be the perfect husband".

    --
    Turk: Let's play Steak. J.D.: What? Turk: Steak. The 1st person to finish their steak is the winner of Steak. -Scrubs
  47. oh GOOD by wcitech · · Score: 0

    oh GOOD, now I have to clear my GOOGLE history too before my wife gets on the computer. Yay!

  48. Search History (Beta) for [my account]@gmail.com by lbmouse · · Score: 1

    Welcome to My Search History!?????

    I, for one, welcome our new Internet overlords.

  49. Re:Another google "innovation" by MushMouth · · Score: 1

    Now you know why people want software patents, so giants like google do not profit from their ideas (pagerank was protected by a patent, and I assume that Amazon/A9 has a patent pending on this one)

  50. Hmm.. by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just another piece of information to be subpoenaed.

    Lawyer: "Ladies and gentlemen of the supposed jury, according to Google's records, the defendant clearly searched for 'download Briteney MP3,' which makes him guilty not only of attempted copyright infringement (punishible by up to three years in prison), but stupidity in the first and second degree, and one count of poor spelling."

    Jury: "We find the defendant, Mr. John Dumas, guilty as charged."

    Defendant: "It's pronounced Doo-maas!"

    Judge: "Sentenced to time served closing popups."

    1. Re:Hmm.. by Jesus+IS+the+Devil · · Score: 1

      People who download Britney Spears ARE stupid in the first and second degree...

      --

      eTrade SUCKS
  51. Google What? by StikyPad · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Am I the only one who saw Google Adds and thought, "typo..."

    1. Re:Google What? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you're the only one.

  52. A9 does it with a plugin by Eustace+Tilley · · Score: 1

    A9 implemented search history with a plugin. Google does it cross-browser. That makes server-side search history available for Opera.

    1. Re:A9 does it with a plugin by image · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just to clarify (disclaimer, I'm a happy A9 employee), A9 saves the search history on the server. The A9 toolbar (for both IE and Firefox) does allow you to access your history, but it is entirely optional. You can sign in to A9 using your Amazon account and try out that (and many more features).

    2. Re:A9 does it with a plugin by illuin · · Score: 1
      re: "A9 does it with a plug in"

      I think I hear a new line of T-Shirts on the way ;-)

    3. Re:A9 does it with a plugin by danila · · Score: 1

      It's disclosure, not disclamer. It would have been a disclaimer if you said: "I haven't used A9 ever and I am not even sure I know what it is"

      --
      Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
    4. Re:A9 does it with a plugin by artifex2004 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Just to clarify (disclaimer, I'm a happy A9 employee), A9 saves the search history on the server.


      Okay, so tell us honestly: when you delete old searches, they stay recorded on the server, don't they?
  53. Marketing Research and Evil Sales Tactics, Typical by v3xt0r · · Score: 0

    Google sold out when it went IPO IMHO, now it is just another evil empire hiding behind the corporate branded 'trustworthy little guy' image that people still embrace.

    Now, with this sort of 'search log' feature, they can easily analyze and sell your information to whoever they want, including annoying spammers, and the typical 'marketing research' firms.

    Not that it relates to you personally, aside from your IP (unless you are stupid enough to reveal personal info on your google/gmail account).

    This is as much of a pointless and evil tactic to collect/analyze user data as their useless desktop search utility.

    seriously, wtf!

    --
    the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
  54. Google helps trolls on slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe google cache... except it isn't a google cache, it is an easy way to have the [google.com] tag appear before a link that takes you to goatse.

  55. Your Gay?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Not that there's anything wrong with that.

  56. Just americans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here comes the paranoia that google is tracking EVERYONEs searches

    Nope, it's just tracking .com searches. I use .co.uk and .ca and it doesn't enable that feature at all (in fact, .com redirects to what it thinks you should be at).

  57. What about employers by protolith · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use Google at home, I use google at work.

    Will google differentiate between my work box and home box. Will I get porn ads and what not showing up on the google screen while at work (potentially embarrising at best, could place my job in jepoardy based on my employers anti-porn/ anti things that don't belong in the workplace policy). The ads might be based on what I do in the privacy of my home, but this would be like a big electronic google cum stain showing up at work.


    I probally should have posted this anonymously...

    1. Re:What about employers by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Does google have porn ads in the first place? In any case, if you're worried about your employers in this way I'd suggest you don't log in to Google at work in the first place.

      Personally I wouldn't log in to any account from work, or from any computer that I don't own. Maybe it's paranoia, but I don't trust that my computer at work doesn't have a keystroke logger. I'd call it a good security practice.

    2. Re:What about employers by latenitejava · · Score: 1

      Since it would be like the gmail account, just send yourself 50 invites and have categorized google search accounts... one for work... one for travel... one for porn...etc

    3. Re:What about employers by Sepodati · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't log in at work. Or have a work account and a home account. How hard is that?

      ---John Holmes...

    4. Re:What about employers by Infinite+Entropy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, Google has plenty of porn adds, but oddly enough they will NOT accept any adds for guns at all. Very strange. Maybe an insight into the founder's politics.

    5. Re:What about employers by lamasquerade · · Score: 1

      How the hell do you link those two things together? I mean I know that the unthinking wretches that control our culture link them as 'sex and violence' but the obvious difference to my mind is that one turns you on (good) and one is perpetuates violence (bad). Any ethical (not polluted by religious distortions) person would see no problem with the former and a whole heap of problems with the latter.

      --

      // It had been Fat's delusion for years that he could help people. --Philip K. Dick, Valis

    6. Re:What about employers by Niten · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hmm... but is there really anything odd about that? Their corporate mantra is "don't be evil". Guns kill people; porn, unless you suffer from some very extreme medical condition, does not.

    7. Re:What about employers by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      Sex, in my opinion, is a lot better, and much less harmful (In most cases), than most weapons.
      Of course, it's fine to show a guy shot to death on primetime TV, but a single breast anytime is a no-no.
      I don't think I will ever understand that logic...

    8. Re:What about employers by Storlek · · Score: 1

      Guns kill people; porn, unless you suffer from some very extreme medical condition, does not.

      But porn, at least indirectly, kills kittens.
      Kittens are people too!

      --
      Bears don't normally eat things that talk and move backwards.
    9. Re:What about employers by pAnkRat · · Score: 0

      Send 50 invites?

      I'm looking for a gmail invite for over a year now,
      never got one....

      It looks like I know only the wrong people,
      or nobody likes me :-(

      --
      we need an "-1 Plain wrong" moderation option!
    10. Re:What about employers by NickHewitt · · Score: 0

      mail me at nick.hewitt@gmail.com I will send you one.

    11. Re:What about employers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      eh, could you elucidate that remark? I missed a meme.

    12. Re:What about employers by Storlek · · Score: 2, Informative

      Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten
      (Please, think of the kittens)

      --
      Bears don't normally eat things that talk and move backwards.
    13. Re:What about employers by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's my exact problem. I can never remember those sites I looked for the night before when I get to work to create some solid 'watercooler conversations.' Nothing has more conversation potential then porn.

      --
      There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
    14. Re:What about employers by madshot · · Score: 1

      and you trust your isp and all the up stream providers.. wow... at some point you need to give up and say 'scew it, nothing important is in my email anyway'.

      --
      Obama = Socialism.
    15. Re:What about employers by erki · · Score: 1

      So, in your mind it is strange not to treat sex the same way guns are treated? Maybe it's just me, but it's not Google that is strange here.

      --
      AhForgetIt tendency rated 39%
    16. Re:What about employers by Bob+Uhl · · Score: 1

      It's rather a religious POV to believe that being turned on is good and killing is bad. On can believe that: a) sex and violence are good; b) sex is good but violence is bad; c) sex is bad but violence is good; or d) both sex and violence are bad. It's more religious than anything else, simply because one's preferences are determined by one's philosophy.

    17. Re:What about employers by Infinite+Entropy · · Score: 1

      Society links them in the phrase "Sex and Violence". Both are controversial political issues, with liberals being generaly pro-porn and anti-gun and conservatives being the latter. Ergo, a window into the politics of Google.Your post is an excellent example of the liberal viewpoint, while the conservative viewpoint would be something like "Porn perpetuates abusive treatment of women and promotes sexual crimes and is immoral (bad), while Guns are a fundamental protector of our constitutional freedoms (good)." Besides, what percentage of all guns are actually used to kill people? They have plenty of recreational use.

    18. Re:What about employers by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1

      and you trust your isp and all the up stream providers..

      No, I access gmail through https.

      at some point you need to give up and say 'scew it, nothing important is in my email anyway'

      As I said, someone with access to my email would have access to change any of my account passwords.

    19. Re:What about employers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Guns kill people; porn, unless you suffer from some very extreme medical condition, does not."
      Tell that to Ted Bundy. On death row, he admitted that porn is what caused him to kill.

    20. Re:What about employers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Guns kill people" about as directly as "porn kills people". Or sledge hammers kill people, or prozac kills people, or cheeseburgers kill people, or any of the other things google does advertise for.

    21. Re:What about employers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, comparing guns to sex is something only an idiot would do. Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun.

  58. At work... by MikkoApo · · Score: 2, Funny

    A fellow worker asked me for help. I started up the browser, went to google and managed to press "m" when the browser helpfully suggested "miss sweden nude". Well, at least I wasn't his wife :)

  59. search calendar, by soupdevil · · Score: 2, Insightful

    but this is not the google calendar we were looking for. Come on, Google -- you know everything else about me -- my shopping habits, my personal emails, what I search for at 3am, don't you want my daily scheduling info as well?

  60. Beta... by indiefusion · · Score: 0

    With some Google services, I can understand the Beta tag, but a history function? How much code can that possibly take?

  61. History Is Available in Opera, But Not Updated by Eustace+Tilley · · Score: 1

    Alas, I wrote too soon. Opera does show the Google search history, but it does not appear to update with new searches. Hmm. Untracked searches with one browser, tracked ones with another.

    Or private searches with one Firefox profile, tracked with another.

    Many variations.

  62. Re:Yikes! Privacy concerns for the unwary by yagu · · Score: 1

    You can not log in, no tracking occurs whilst not logged in AND while logged in, there is a "PAUSE" button which stops any additions to your search history until you RESUME it. Nice touch.

  63. pause feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For all the paranoid people or people searching porn there is a pause feature at the top of the page.

  64. Re:Yikes! Privacy concerns for the unwary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Upcoming feature: Restrict searches to sites which were found when people paused their search history. I think there's another money maker right there.

  65. Importing old searches by Beautyon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmmm can I import all the old searches that Google has stored against my cookie?

    If not, why not?

    --
    ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
    1. Re:Importing old searches by astrosmash · · Score: 1
      Hmmm can I import all the old searches that Google has stored against my cookie? If not, why not?

      No, because there's no way to prove that you're the owner of said cookie.

      Actually, it might be kind of neat to look at the search history of random people in a relatively anonymous kind of way. That would be a cool service.

      --
      ENDUT! HOCH HECH!
    2. Re:Importing old searches by dragonman97 · · Score: 1

      Not against the cookie - but if your browser history is as current as your cookie, you /might/ have most of the relevant information. Perl ought to be able to fill in the rest (parse out relevent data [queries], and resubmit them against the saved search gizmo). Is there anything Perl can't do?

    3. Re:Importing old searches by Beautyon · · Score: 1

      Is there anything Perl can't do?

      Rails.

      --
      ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
  66. Phew.. not completey functional around teh globe. by DirtySnachez · · Score: 0

    Thank god I dont have to put on my tin-foil hat just yet... I am in Australia, and use www.google.com.au (it defaults there, and google.com redirects to .com.au also) and it doesnt seem to track my history. It does track however when I use google.com, maybe the servers mirror later, but at the moment, the instantly available tracking only appears to be done on the 'real' google.com, not google.com.au

  67. similar result? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heya,

    wouldn't the following result give similar results? Keep a history of your sites in your own browser. When you want to search for a pgae in your history, the browser tells the search engine to restrict the search to certain sites. I don't know if you can give multiple site-parameters to google, but it could be ... Ofcourse your history isn't stored on the net unless you could synchronise it with an online server ...

    It's a nice feature anyway.

    Does the program dashboard or beagle have this functionlaity?

    Michel

  68. Re:Yikes! Privacy concerns for the unwary by sTalking_Goat · · Score: 1
    there is a "PAUSE" button which stops any additions to your search history until you RESUME it.

    Reminds me of those crossing buttons they have at Traffic lights. Most of them aren't even hooked up to anything. The lights are completely computer controlled from traffic sensors.

    I've got enough placebo buttons in my life...

    --

    My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...

  69. Maybe they... by JAppi · · Score: 1

    ...just want to find out what all the good porn sites are?

  70. Includes a Search Count, too. by dfm3 · · Score: 1

    As a plus, this service finally provides an easy way to keep count of just how many Google searches you do by way of a counter on the "My Search History" page. Previously, my homespun solution involved creating a PHP script on my personal site which generated a counter graphic that I stuck onto the search result pages using a custom filter for Privoxy. It would even include a list of my searches in my site stats, but I eventually filtered it out because it added alot of noise to the list of google searches that led other people to my site.

    One interesting thing I noticed is the number of times throughout the course of an average day that I toss something into Google. Not sure about the definition or correct spelling of a word? Just Google it. I found that it isn't unusual for me to use Google 20+ times in just a few hours.

  71. Tracking by IP address only by green+pizza · · Score: 1

    AFAIK, Google only logs the IP address, search query, and time/date. This helps the company track usage, patterns, and gives them a huge database of real-world search strings for testing.

    I recall hearing about this when Google first spoke up about its massive server farms and distributed storage. From what I recall, their logs are spread across all of their servers as well.

    I think it would be neat to bring up a list of all of the Google search queries requested via my IP address. It would be fun to see what sort of stuff I was looking at several years ago... "Windows 2000 Reviews", "linux 2.4 kernel new features", etc.

  72. uh oh by Craig_P92669 · · Score: 2, Funny

    olsen twins nude
    angelina jolie nude
    Natalie Portman nude
    Bill Gates nu....oh wait

    --
    http://xs4.xs.to/pics/04481/p556222.gif
  73. I think it's real cool by NorthDude · · Score: 1

    Just yesterday, I was ready the Ask Slashdot question about which applications or services was best for managing bookmarks.

    Lots of peoples told the guy to just do the searches again on google or that it would be cool if a browser could cache all your searches or things like that.

    I just tried it, it is way cool. You can selectively delete entries you do not want to keep, keep the one you want to and search them. I did not read or found how the information is stored but I hope that it reside on their server so that I do not have to worry about losing it if I erase my cookies/cache or just reformat my hd.

    And sorry to all the tinfoils hat over here, but I have my mails on their servers already and do not mind it so do you really think I care about my search history? Anyway, THIS will be how I manage my bookmarks from now on. All the relevant search I made kept where they were made. Great idea, even if I read they were not the first to do it.

    --


    I'd rather be sailing...
  74. Confusing Privacy FAQ by Amadawn · · Score: 3, Informative
    I normally trust Google, but I must admit that their 4th bullet in their My Search History Privacy FAQ is confusing to say the less. From their FAQ page:

    4. What happens when I pause the service, remove items, or delete the My Search History service?

    You can choose to stop storing your searches in My Search History either temporarily or permanently, or remove items, as described in My Search History Help. However, as is common practice in the industry, Google maintains a separate logs system for auditing purposes and to help us improve the quality of our services for users. For example, we use this information to audit our ads systems, understand which features are most popular to users, improve the quality of our search results, and help us combat vulnerabilities such as denial of service attacks.

    Enphasis mine.

    They don't give any information on what they do with that "separate log" when you delete your search history. Their unclear wording gives the impression that even if you delete it they still keep it in their "separate log". So how is that different than not deleting it at all, other that you will not see it anymore?

    That is pretty confusing and very un-google like, IMHO.

  75. An easy fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Connect a bot up to a dictionary, and randomly pull words out of the dictionary and run google searches on them. There'll be so much noise associated with your searches that it'll be hard to separate out useful information.

  76. Re:Yikes! Privacy concerns for the unwary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Of course I speak for all of us on Slashdot when I say, I do not need another way for mom to find my pr0n.

  77. Hey Editors! Re:slashgoogle? by identity0 · · Score: 1

    No kidding, there are 4 articles on Google on the front page right now.

    Hey editors - how about condensing all that into a single areticle, huh? Maybe a Daily Google Quickie will cover all the submissions you guys get on them?

  78. which is good by adpowers · · Score: 1

    I love how Safari saves my searches. It has every search I've made since I got my computer in August. It is fun to look through and see all the variations of one search I have made, and such. Also, it is amazing how many times I can spell something wrong before Google corrects me :).

    I say it is a good feature, if you don't like it you can always turn on Privacy Mode in Safari 2.0 in Tiger.

  79. What else is new? by 2078 · · Score: 0

    It would be naive to think that Google has so far not been associating searches with Google IDs already. That is the whole idea behind there huge "takeover" of the world, isn't it? To borrow from what I read somewhere when Gmail was released, they know what your interests are, what you buy, who your friends are etc etc.

    They're sitting on a gold mine of information. Gmail was the carrot they offered to everyone to get them to sign up, because not everyone blogs but, surely, everyone needs email. And boy were they right! Everyone's moved to gmail and viola - you can now map every little thing they do.

    I'm sure they use it internally in one form or the other - evil or otherwise i.e. to give me "better" ads - exactly what I need :roll: Only now they've decided to "open" part of it to the public - "we have all this information with us anyways, let's give some of it to the public and win some more brownie points in the process"

    Of course, Yahoo! does that as well, and I'm sure MSN too. They've had the "IDs" all along - Google had it the hard way - they HAD to come up with Gmail or they had no chance.

  80. Note to self by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  81. Turn it off? by front · · Score: 2, Informative

    From : Turn it off

    8. Once I've signed up, how do I stop storing my searches in My Search History?

    If you don't want any of your searches to be saved by My Search History, you can either log out of your Google Account or simply pause the service by clicking on the "Pause" link in the blue title bar of your search history page. You can then "un-pause" it whenever you want your searches to be saved again by clicking on the Resume" link. You can also edit or remove specific searches or results from the service by clicking the Remove items" link.

    To permanently stop using My Search History, you can delete the service by clicking the "Delete My Search History" link on your My Account page, which is accessible through the "My Account" links in the upper-right corner of your Google home page and search results pages.

    To learn more about what happens to the data from your search history, please read the My Search History Privacy FAQ.

  82. Gmail Link by amokk · · Score: 0

    What I'm wondering is how far the tracking will extend. The second I read the synopsis of this story it occured to me that I frequently forget to sign out of gmail. Instead, I often just close the browser tab and am too lazy to go back to gmail.com to properly sign out. I wonder if google will then consider your logged on to your google account and start tracking searches without your knowledge.

    The only reason I'm really concerned about this is that it could lead to a few embarassing situations. For instance, once when we were at university we were using my web-browser to look up, among other things, leper porn (note: we didn't find any). A search like that, or say, "erotic furries" (for legitimate quasi-research) could really ruin a lot of things for a lot of people.

    Ahh well, here's to "living dangerously," as it were.

    --
    I think, therefore I am an Atheist.
  83. Not sure about A9, but Ask Jeeves has for a while by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Ask Jeeves has had this feature for months now, in addition to being able to selectively save your searches and results (instead of storing all of them like google does).

    But if it ain't google, it ain't news.

    http://myjeeves.ask.com

  84. Kind of pointless if you use Google Desktop Search by RotJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    GDS keeps track of your Internet history, so you can actually search (and view) the cached contents (from multiple dates) of the sites you've visited with Firefox or IE. I only use GDS for this function, as I'm organized enough to know where I've put specific files on my HD. I don't use AIM or email much either. It also only searches the first 5000 words of a textfile, so it's useless for my IRC logs as well.

    Google Search history keeps track of which pages you've visited through Google, but Google Desktop Search keeps track of every page you visit.

    As a sidenote, I discovered that GDS merely takes a system screenshot to generate its website thumbnails.

  85. Re:Another google "innovation" by Keamos · · Score: 1

    Why? If they don't want Google to profit off their [great] ideas, why not just do the Capitalistic thing and make yours better, so people use it?

  86. Consperacy theories by Kingofearth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    First people saying that the Google guys are trying to avoid taxes by cutting their salary to $1.00 a year, now people are paranoid that providing an option to save your searchs is part of some big consperacy to create a profile on everyone. You don't have to log in when you search. Besides, they'd be able to make a much better profile by reading your Gmail account than by saving your search history in your account. In fact any email provider could do that.

    Are some people just pissed that Google can be such a big company and still be (semi) reputable?

  87. Easy way to anonymize google's cookie by hypergene · · Score: 1

    Instead of flushing my cookie all the time, I've been using GoogleAnon

    1. Re:Easy way to anonymize google's cookie by hypergene · · Score: 1

      kuro5hin has a piece on GoogleAnon, too.

  88. Redundancy!! by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    "Google has released My Search History (Beta)."

    Yeah, that kind of goes hand-in-hand :P

    You know, if they do ever become "the new Microsoft", it's safe to say that we can expect to see this on Google's main page:

    "New! Google attempts world takeover (beta)".

    You know... so they can back out if it doesn't fare well.

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  89. do no evil by goon · · Score: 1
    • '... We do not rent or sell your personally identifying information to other companies or individuals, unless we have your consent. ...'[0]

    mod cookie, still use google
    Its well and good to add cynical `people are paranoid` posts. How about a technical solution to side step google cookies? Here is one reference from www.google-watch.org where you can disable the cookie tracking ID , google [1] inserts in your cookies.

    • '... Google's expiration date is a barometer of its insensitivity to privacy issues. ...' [2]

    are cookies & uniqueIDs evil?
    The simple url *hack* allows users to maintain their preferences via a modified url rather than the cookie. At the same time google doesnt get to use its unique id with your search patterns.

    • '... My Search History saves information about your activity on Google, including your search queries, the results you click on, and the date and time of your searches. ...' [3]

    an experiment to try
    As the original author(s) noted this is an more of an experiment to see how much google value their uniqueID by noting how long it takes for them to notice and rectify the cookie beahaviour. You can read more about the steps needed to do this at http://www.google-watch.org/cgi-bin/cookie.htm

    • '... Google does not collect any unique information about you (such as your name, email address, etc.) except when you specifically and knowingly provide such information. Google notes and saves information such as time of day, browser type, browser language, and IP address with each query. That information is used to verify our records and to provide more relevant services to users. For example, Google may use your IP address or browser language to determine which language to use when showing search results or advertisements. ...' [4]

    references
    [0] Snippet of current google privacy policy on information sharing

    • http://www.google.com/privacy.html
    [1] Explains about googles use of cookies and possible intention
    • http://www.google-watch.org/cgi-bin/cookie.htm

    [2] Read here about the implications of googles privacy policy on data collection
    • http://www.google-watch.org/krane.html

    [3] Snippets from Privacy FAQ for My Search
    • http://www.google.com/searchhistory/privacy.html

    [4] Snippet from current google policy on data collection
    • http://www.google.com/privacy.html

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    peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
  90. I'll never use this (list of searches included)... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Frequently, I blow away my browser's list of things I've searched for. I search for a TON of stuff, and I wouldn't want the less enlightened of my friends / coworkers (ESPECIALLY coworkers) to see things like these, pulled out of a weeks worth of searches:

    suicide
    "leaky hose" underground
    "angel swords" living steel magic
    titanium chain
    wizard robe
    actual jedi
    canon aperture mode
    child model
    bobby fischer hates jews
    book of shadows
    erection paraplegic

    Every single one of these has an entirely legit explanation, from curiosity ("what comes up when you search on basic nouns like suicide") to advice from other netizens ("Seach for 'child model' and see what sick shit comes up"), to vague recollections ("Isn't there a group that actually takes Lucas's fictional religion as their own actual religion?"), to verifying a story I heard from a friend (the "erection paraplegic" one), to news stories or just odd things I thought of (how antisemetic is that chess player?).

    I have none of the fetishes implied by the list, no particular belief in the metaphysical stuff implied, or anything else. And of course, there was a lot of normal sounding, legit searches thrown in there. But tell me, when you saw the camera search right next to the child model search...

    What did your brain think? You know, the pattern matching one? Those two were real close in the alphabetical list, too.

    So I'll never use a list like that on a remote server, because it just plain looks bad. Hell, I'm a couple days overdue for a local purge and I look terrible just from that.

    One of the other problems is the misappropriation of words used in a search. For instance, if you were researching Naziism, you wouldn't just search on "Nazi" or "Hitler". You might at first, and when you find out more about the area you are researching you might find yourself typing in phrases that you would never say in public.

    The assumption is that knowing about something makes you believe in it, or in favor of it. This is a stupid assumption that people make *ALL THE TIME*. But just try explaining a search for "Heil Hitler" or "holocaust exaggeration" and they'll believe you... but subconsciously at least, they'll be marking you as a potential Nazi.

  91. Appears to only work for Google.COM by Ronnie+Coote · · Score: 2, Informative

    Localised sites, like www.google.co.uk or www.google.co.jp do not seem to have implemented this feature yet. Search terms that you enter at these sites don't appear in your Search History - just those from www.google.COM

    RC.

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    Candygram for Mongo!
    1. Re:Appears to only work for Google.COM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And google.COM redirects to .CO.UK if you're in the UK. *grumble*

    2. Re:Appears to only work for Google.COM by e_xworm · · Score: 1

      Just click on the "Go to google.com" link

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      X~
  92. Re:I'll never use this (list of searches included) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you surf to https://www.google.com/ for all these searches? Cuz unless your queries are end to end encrypted, sorry son, but your queries are right there in the URL. Think your employer cant pick those up without you using a proxy? Think again.

  93. My Gay?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    His gay?! Her gay?! No way!

  94. Very cool feature!!!!!!! by cesarbremer · · Score: 0

    Some months ago i suggested to the Google people to have this kind of feature. I asked more, to store the searched page at the moment of the search. Sometimes we want to find a previous information and we need to do all the search again in order to find it again, or after some months the previous information searched was changed or not available. The best solution for this problem isin't storing all our searches, but storing the pages we want. For example, creating a button inside our browser that, after opening the page could allow us to store that information in our repository. In this way we could create our information repository, like our internal search library with usefull information. I think google could come with this kind of feature in the future.

  95. Desktop, the next step by TuringTest · · Score: 1

    I guess that soon this feature will also interact with Google Desktop and provide a "recent documents" view organized by calendar.

    This is what Microsoft promised for Longhorn with the name of Stuff I've Seen. Google will be able to bring it into XP. Interesting.

    --
    Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
  96. "requires ... a personal login" by Senor_Programmer · · Score: 0

    So you can save your history at google, if you want to. This is handy if you don't use the same computer all the time. It's also good for google as it adds just a tad of stickiness to this class of user.

  97. google unlimited by marafa · · Score: 1

    ok
    google seems to be on a roll here: churning out products and features one after another. yesterday it was maps n local .co.uk.

    i dont know exactly how many prodcuts and features they now have but i know their next realise shoudl be a my.google.com where u can bookmark all the google products u like to use and it can give u a summary ala my.yahoo.com

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    _ In Egypt Networks: Network Solutions with a Twist
  98. Their next product: by harris+s+newman · · Score: 0

    A search of your searches of your searches of your searches.

  99. Sex and guns by SeanDuggan · · Score: 1
    *shrug* Eh, what's the difference really? They're both recreational activities that have very utilitarian purposes. And they've both been linked to death. I'd say that a substantial percentage of the people who have had sex or owned a gun have died.

    Also, I'd wager it's safer from a legal standpoint. Crazy parents try to sue gun manufacturers for school shootings. I've yet to see someone sue Hustler for inciting their child to sire children upon his underage girlfriend.

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    This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
  100. Plus, you hardly ever seen info from competitors by msbmsb · · Score: 1

    The other search engines really only get article time from individual posters every-now-and-then, like A9 or Yahoo, etc. It's really getting out of hand.

    -msb

  101. Not really turning it off by msbmsb · · Score: 1

    You can choose to stop storing your searches in My Search History either temporarily or permanently, or remove items, as described in My Search History Help. However, as is common practice in the industry, Google maintains a separate logs system for auditing purposes and to help us improve the quality of our services for users.

    They'll have the info, you just can't access it anymore when you turn it off.

    -msb

  102. doesn't track queries to Google Scholar by jshep · · Score: 1

    When I first heard about the search history feature, I was hoping it would track searches on Google Scholar in addition to regular Google queries. No such luck!

    --


    "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - E.W. Dijkstra
  103. Re:Kind of pointless if you use Google Desktop Sea by sean23007 · · Score: 1

    People who aren't running Windows can't use GDS. I had to use Windows for a little while, and did enjoy the features of GDS. But, once I escaped back to Linux, the lack of search features was a little bothersome. I used it for much the same thing you do, so Google adding this feature to the website allows me to get much of the functionality I used in GDS anywhere I go ... not just on the Windows machine I did the search from.

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    Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
  104. The two are quite different by chuck.kahn · · Score: 1

    GDS doesn't organize the results in a handy calendar view. And My Search History has features that GDS doesn't, such as "Related history" and "Searches with no clicked results."

  105. what about images, groups, news? by chuck.kahn · · Score: 1

    And it doesn't track other searches, such as images, groups, news, etc.

  106. Doesn't seem to work for the foreign Googles by P-Nuts · · Score: 1

    I mainly search from google.co.uk, but Google Search History only seems to remember the searches I make from google.com

  107. One of the problems with Gmail by Snaller · · Score: 1

    is that you log into google as we..

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    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  108. Why must you kids forget the Patriot Act? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This isn't just supoenas.

    The feds can get the data via the Patriot Act on a whim.