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What MSN, Google, Yahoo and AOL Know About You

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the know-me-better-than-i-know-myself dept.

hotgist writes "America's top four Internet companies, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft's MSN, promise they will protect the personal information of people who use their online services to search, shop and socialize. But a close read of their privacy policies reveals as much exposure as protection. The massive amounts of data these companies collect, which can include records of the searches you make, the health problems you research and the investments you monitor, can be requested by government investigators and subpoenaed by your legal adversaries. But this same information is generally not available to you."

11 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Cum on, sue me by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ok, if I can't find out what records they are keeping about me, but legal adversaries can, someone please sue me and then subpeona them for me.
    BTW, TFA appears to have gone though a buggy porn filter. It has words like "cir*****stantial" and "do*****ents"

    1. Re:Cum on, sue me by Otter+Escaping+North · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ok, if I can't find out what records they are keeping about me, but legal adversaries can, someone please sue me and then subpeona them for me.

      Try downloading some music - I hear that works pretty good.

      --
      Running Windows^H^H^H^H^H^H^H OSX and Linux in the home. (I don't have time for Solitaire any more.)
  2. surprised by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 4, Interesting

    yawn...nothing you do online is private. The real problem here is that people *think* they cannot be seen.

    TFA made an interesting point, though...searches are as close to reading our thoughts as is possible. That is pretty scary. I'll bet there's all kinds of predictive software that could use that search data to profile us, even anticipate our next move. That's pretty scary.

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    blah blah blah
    1. Re:surprised by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Funny

      yawn...nothing you do online is private. The real problem here is that people *think* they cannot be seen.

      Ceiling google is watching you masturbate?

    2. Re:surprised by blueZhift · · Score: 4, Informative

      Absolutely! There is no such thing as anonymous on the net. So the real solution is not going to be getting Yahoo, AOL, or whoever to stop collecting data. They never will because it makes them too much money. The real "solution" is spreading the word to users that they are not anonymous and behave accordingly.

      BTW, the Chicago Police already use an Oracle based data mining system to produce crime forecasts for the city that they use to decide how to deploy forces from day to day. I first learned about this system years ago, so it may be safe to assume that there have been improvements since that time. The future is now.

      --
      To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
    3. Re:surprised by LordOfTheNoobs · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's a bit muggery out there today folks, with a thirteen percent chance of homicide over on 5th. So remember to don those kevlars. Back to you, Tom.

      --
      They're there affecting their effect.
  3. Same problem, new technology by loafing_oaf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Were things really much more private before the Internet as we know it today? You had to approach actual experts like doctors for any questions you had. That leaves a trail. And if you had checked out library books as research, I'm sure the government could trace those records as well, even before computerized systems. Technology simply makes the process shorter.

    --
    Always someone has power over you. The thing to consider is this: Is the power good, or bad?
  4. and cookies too by homer_ca · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't forget to clear your cookies or block them from Google. The default Google cookie doesn't expire for 30 years, and with it Google can track all your activity on Google sites, from maps to gmail to search.

  5. Which is why I suggest "GoogleAnon" by I)_MaLaClYpSe_(I · · Score: 4, Informative
    Copy the code below and bookmark it as if it was an ordinary url. Then, when you visit google the next time, anon your google.


    javascript:x='Nothing';y='preferences';try{if(conf irm('OK: Zero it\n\nCancel: Do_'+x+'_(e.g._already_zeroes?)\n\n'+unescape(docu ment.cookie.replace(/;/g,'\n'))))h=location.host.m atch(/\.google\.((off|com?)(\...)|..|com)$/)[0];do cument.cookie='PREF=ID=0000000000000000:LD=en:TM=1 115409441:LM=1129104254:S=kSuablMgN8pP9-91;expires =Sun, 17-Jan-2038 19:14:07 GMT;domain='+h;location='/'+y+'';alert('Zeroed:\n\ nNow_reset_your\n'+y+'\n\n')}catch(e){alert(x+'_do ne\n\n(e.g._not_Google?)\n\n')}void(0)


    Or else, google for GoogleAnon :-)

  6. Re:Google allows you to see past searches... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do you really think that Google doesn't keep track of your past searches, just because you disabled it?

  7. Re:Google allows you to see past searches... by Billosaur · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If my legal adversaries want to find out that I searched converting 3.5 tablespoons to teaspoons while cooking on Saturday, good for them. The rest of it is protected.

    Which brings up an interesting idea - fake search patterns. On the one hand, you could perform all sorts of irrelevant, meaningless searches to clutter up your search record. On the other hand, imagine you wanted to make it appear that someone was searching for certain information, information that might prove incriminating. Assuming you could somehow gain access to their computer(s), wouldn't it be possible to "plant" searches in a person's search history? How many people who use the major search engines every day know they are being tracked?

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network