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Google Never Forgets

Posted by Zonk on from the elephant-like dept.

downsize writes "CNN.com is running an article that provides some insight into how long Google stores our search, email and overall web activity and posits that it 'could prove a tempting target for abuse.' From the article: 'Some don't see Google's long memory as a bad thing. Weinstein doesn't think so. "There's really no good reason to hold onto that information for more than a few months," he said. "They seem to think that because their motives are pure that everything is OK and they can operate on a trust basis. History tells us that is not the case."' In regards to Google's email service, Gmail, Google may find themselves with many upset users due to 'a 1986 law [that] gives less protection from government searches to messages more than six months old...Even when a user deletes a message it may remain on company servers, according to the Gmail privacy policy.' Same goes for POP mail, just because you download it off the server, it's not 'out of Google's long memory'."

4 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The safest assumption... by HyperChicken · · Score: 2, Funny

    Agreed. I, the anonymous coward, have said some pretty dumb stuff over time and it'll be there... Forever. I'm going to have to live with that.

    Wait, no I don't. /me screams "Honey, I'm going to Wal-Mart to buy a gun and a single bullet. Be back later" /she screams "Bring back milk!"

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    Free of Flash! Free of Flash!
  2. Sorry by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=217 Sorry, search is down at the moment. Until it's back up, you may wish to search Slashdot through Google:

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    rewriting history since 2109
  3. Re:The safest assumption... by DeathFlame · · Score: 3, Funny
    What you can't read encrypted search results?

    www.google.com

    Search: Y%KjkK7u0(l

    Did you mean: Y%kjKK7u0(L?

  4. Re:Overlords!! by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Funny
    It doesn't work like that. Either you write something in the form "I, for one, welcome our XXX overlords" or you do nothing at all. Slight variations simply don't work. The troll is funny, not because it's inherently funny, but because of the very fact that it is a troll.

    There is another path I suppose. You could create a new troll. But few of us are worthy enough to do such a thing.

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    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.