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Search Engine Privacy Explained

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the watching-the-watchmen dept.

Kesch writes "Zdnet has a posted a FAQ describing the storage of personal information done by the search engines of AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and, of course, Google. They describe what information is stored, how it is stored, what laws protect it (none), how you can attempt to protect your privacy, and what Congress is doing with regards to the issue."

5 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Speak for yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They describe what information is stored, how it is stored, what laws protect it (none)

    As a company operating in the UK, and as I am a citizen of the UK, m privacy is protected by the Data Protection Act. I have the right to demand access to my data, and they are legally obliged to give it to me. If I find it to be incorrect, they are obliged to correct it. They can only use this data in the manner in which they are registered to use it with the Data Protection Registrar, and they can only share it with others under strict rules.

    As I understand it, the rest of the EU have similar laws.

    1. Re:Speak for yourself by Ph33r+th3+g(O)at · · Score: 5, Insightful
      What do you bet that if you invoked this, Google would say "But we're not a UK company!" Of course, when it comes to appeasing the ChiComs for a shot at the billion-enslaved-Chinese market, "We have to comply with Chinese law because we do business in China."

      Google's "Don't be evil" veneer has worn off even quicker than I expected.

      --
      I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
  2. opt out... by mytrip · · Score: 5, Informative

    Google lets you remove your phone number from their database so other people can't look you up. They ought to let you remove your search history from their databases as well. I'm going to suggest this in their support forums.

    --
    Contrary to popular belief, Unix is user friendly. It just happens to be particular about who it makes friends with.
  3. Nothing new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    They had this back in 1984: Memory holes.

    If you recall, all information placed in memory holes was supposedly destroyed, but it turned out that the government actually retained every item, and they came in handy for interrogation sessions.

  4. But wait! There's more! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There's still no mention of Macromedia Flash. Flash applets are very popular on most pages nowadays. They are used for ads, interactive demos, forms and more. But, people don;t seem to realize that they are also highly effective for storing information that can and is used for tracking purposes on your computer.

    Have a look at
    ~/macromedia/Macromedia/Flash\ Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys

    or on Windows

    C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys

    Did you know that all of that was there? Do you know what's stored in all those files? Did you know that those files are accessible by any flash applet that runs on your system and that the flash applet can and does report back to its creator?

    Then of course there are the problems due to Java script. Google has one for their analytics service that's all over the web tracking everyone. It's called Urchin and it's even in this page. Just look at the source for this page and search for "urchin.js".

    People don't realize that they are totally OWNED!