Slashdot Mirror
Privacy Winning Search Engine War
amigoro writes "Privacy is emerging as the real winner of the Internet search engine war as companies aggressively compete with one another by offering stronger protections for user records, a report published today by the Center for Democracy and Technology concluded. The report notes that until recently, most of the major Internet search engines kept detailed and potentially personally identifiable records of their customers' searches indefinitely. But today the companies are trying to outdo each other in privacy protection by announcing steps to delete old user data, strip the personally identifiable information out of stored search records, and, in one case, give users the option to have all of their search records deleted."
I haven't actually looked, but I'm POSITIVE that Booble is leading the way here.
The Schwartz space ain't from Spaceballs.
expansion of privacy rights is needed for people as well as the reduction of rights for corporations. allowing the full deletion of records is a move in the right direction.
EVERYONE has something they've searched for that they don't want anyone finding out about and probably don't want advertisers knowing about especially. I mean really, anything from looking up diseases you might have to really obscure things or trying to find out information that "everyone" knows to something sexual to your purhcase histories to just about anything else. I can't think of any serious internet user who be okay with every search term they've ever typed seen by anyone else in the world at all.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
I don't like the idea that a simple google search results in my personal information being stored on someone's server out there in cyberspace. There's a reason its called personal information
how do the search engines communicate these privacy options to the user? If it's not easy to opt-out, it won't matter.
Privacy is emerging as the real winner of the Internet search engine war
No. Google has emerged as the winner. Why? Because they offer a good search engine product. The results are very, very likely to be relevant. No one else comes close. The average person doesn't know or care about privacy issues. But they do care about quick & easy searches.
The report notes that until recently, most of the major Internet search engines kept detailed and potentially personally identifiable records of their customers' searches for as indefinitely.
And in some countries, they are required by law to do exactly that.
But today the companies are trying to outdo each other in privacy protection by announcing steps to delete old user data, strip the personally identifiable information out of stored search records
And how do you know this? Do you have any real proof they do this aside from them saying so?
a report published today by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)
This is just wishful thinking trying to get attention. Sort of like a Gartner report.
4. Your check is in the mail.
3. I won't come in your mouth
2. I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.
1. We'll delete your personal information.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
"Aggressively competing"? It's pretty damned lax competition for privacy that results in most search engines storing complete IP-to-query correlation data for 13-18 months.
I also saw no mention of companies' nonexistent respect for users' privacy once the government comes knocking. Do you really think they're going to demand a warrant, especially now that they'd be threatening their own hides to defy spy agencies gone mad fighting "terror"? And what good is it to you that records of your personal (and non-criminal) behavior are discarded after a year and a half, when the NSA has a back-room tap on the live feed?
No, this is far from aggressive. You'd do better printing out your search queries with your name on them and stapling them to telephone poles around town. At least then the wind, rain, and band announcements would wipe them away within a few days.
For some actual privacy, use something like TOR.
- erase all your cookies
- use a new browser/version to change your USER_AGENT (or hack it)
- reboot your modem to get a new IP address.
How in the world is anybody going to verify that the data is actually being "shredded"? I don't believe this for a second.
What?
I sure as hell don't want ALL of my searches available to anyone...
"Thank you for using Stop-n-Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008"
1. We'll delete your personal information.
Eh. I'm inclined to believe that, given how datacenter space ain't free and user data is a bit of a liability, they're happy to dump your data after a month or two. If they haven't aggregated it and sold it off to another company by then, they probably never will.
I think this is simply marketing spin on a sensible business decision: namely, someone realized they were getting everything they needed within hours or days.
Please help metamoderate.
I really REALLY doubt the "big winner" is privacy, as long as there is money to be made from knowing as much as possible companies will find a way.
No one is going to give up personal information thats worth billions of dollars in terms of market research and increasing profits for many industries.
Pick your engine and don't give them the information in the first place.
That's OK, the NSA will record our searches on their way :-/
to the search engines, so it doesn't make any difference
if the engines don't store as much as they used to
The report is actually here:
It looks like the most privacy-friendly, hands-down, is ask.com with their opt-in "ask eraser". A distant second is aol.com. But both of them share their data with Google, which appears to have the worst policy.
Everybody seems to hang onto most everything for more than a year; better than forever I guess, but a pretty big window for, say, subpoenas.
... and sold it off to another company by then ...
... if it weren't, this entire discussion would be pointless.
Which pretty much makes whatever point it was that I was trying to make. The reality is that once information has been recorded somewhere, if it's valuable then someone, somewhere, will try to keep it. That's because personal information is valuable
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I just happen to be an internet user and I thought the google was the only search engine.
Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
I call it progress. But it's not a win. Considering I today saw an invitation to have Google track my browsing history, I don't think we're even on the right track. Until search engines take proactive steps to prevent collection of individually-identifiable data, it won't be a win.
The fact is, we see something we don't like, we complain, and we induce a reactionary response. Reactionary responses are always deficient; They either reach too far or not far enough, and they're always after-the-fact.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Tag request: "yeahright"
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
There should be no user records to destroy in the first place!!!
Great! So they won't be able to track me if I stumble upon another site full of social security numbers! I love how secure the internet is these days!
linuxquestions, linuxforums, slashdot, beeradvocate, myspace, and flickr, in that order of occurrence make up my top ten google hits. The key is keeping my userid separate from my real life name. My real name, in quotes, does not return a single result that refers to me in the top ten. As long as I don't put the two together no one who doesn't personally know me would put the two together.
I also use the customize google firefox plugin to keep my secrets from google.
thats right, I rarely use capitals. deal with it. but don't mistake my laziness for stupidity
No, seriously. This is news to me. Yeah, I can understand why everyone would want there search terms anonymous and not linked together, but then again most people seem to only really know about Google and all google has been trumpeting is more indexing as a new feature. All I've seen after I search with them is "New! View and manage your web history" in the upper-right-hand corner as if it's a feature everyone would want. And gmail. Your email all sitting there, archived potentially forever depending on just how honest Google is with there deletion policy, and this is touted as a feature. I still have yet to hear bad things about Google, or about people switching from Google to another search engine, except in this article. So what exactly is the truth behind this, then?
http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm
or
http://hidemyass.com/ -> google.com
It's TWO YEARS at all major engines. I feel so respected!
After they have already sold it to another (sister) company who's name you don't even know of and who conveniently has no privacy policy. It's just too easy to obfuscate and continue with business as usual.
- no sig, really!
In a stunning finale Privacy has defeated both Corporate Greed, and Governmental Curiosity in a come-from-behind victory. Although Privacy is usually the one approached from behind by the other two contenders, in the Great Search-Engine Race of 2007 Privacy managed to squeak out a win from the competition. This is what Privacy had to say when we approached it about this completely unexpected and unheralded victory:
"Uh...no comment?"
Fantastic words from a fantastic Ideal. Back to you, Bob.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
Looks like the last chink in the magical "Do No Evil" marketing armor has been patched. Breathe easy, sheeple!
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
Point well taken. However, if privacy can be made marketable, that could turn the situation on its head, with businesses standing to lose more from customers fleeing than from missed demographic data revenue. A shame this could never happen in the ISP market.
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
That's funny, because I didn't notice it at all.
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
So, creating an account at /. will get me another hit at google? That's probably why there are so many anon. cowards out here.
And by the way, this ask.com seems to be the best according to the report. They remove user data within hours. But before removal takes place, they send the data to Google, again, according to the report. So actually it's the most evil engine: you let two companies study your behavior.
It is probably better to change to another search engine every now and then. Or perform person searches in Google, work related searches in altavista, and so on.
What makes you think it is better to give the information to blackboxsearch.com instead of Google?
Funny how everyone believes the Government has limitless disk space to record every phone call, email and conversation at your local bar, yet companies like Google, who own huge chunks of the world's recording hardware, can't afford to keep the data.
Such information is far more valuable to corporations than it is to the government (alien spec-ops aside) so if you think the government may be snooping on your private data, then it has to be a complete certainty that companies like Google are!
Although I doubt anyone will care until Will Smith does a couple of films involving being chased by "Google goons" because he has a copy of the youtube video involving Larry Page and an under-age midget!
Privacy is emerging as the real winner of the Internet search engine war as companies aggressively compete with one another by offering stronger protections for user records
No, no, no, no. Please don't propagate this myth. Seriously. Data Privacy is NOT Data Protection. That's corporate bull-crap to utterly change the meaning of data privacy (and, likewise, privacy). As Roger Clarke points out:
'If Christ had tweeted the sermon on the mount, it might have lasted until nightfall.' - John Perry Barlow
There may be no cure. As both Orwell and Huxley noted, selective enforcement of laws guarantees absolute control. Making fun things illegal makes normal people criminals. As a result, the best products are those which take away the risk of governmental or social interference with our lives. Did you hear us, corporate America? We want to hide out and not have to deal with our society. Since drugs are illegal, privacy is a good second best.
technical writing / development
At present the emerging profit center is truly personal data, emails and documents and spreadsheets. Users are putting all these on free services like Google with a thought of what how it will be used. Search data is small potatoes in comparison.
In fact if someone like MS, with money to spend and no need to make an immediate profit, developed a superior search engine and did not use the search query beyond the immediate display of ads along with the search, that site would might likely have a significant competitive advantage.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
They won't let me get it in here any other way so I'll just do it here:
/. citizen. :p
Cotse.Net Privacy Service
Take that mods! Btw, this is where you mod me down for being off-topic or otherwise a bad
Think of me when you shave your legs...
I read that as 'piracy winning search engine war.'
I, myself, love Craagle.
... Larry Page and an under-age midget!
Yeah, but she looked a lot older.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Sure, they'll delete your personal information - but the company they've already sold it to won't.
[SHOW SOME LENIENCY TOWARDS