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Personalized Search From Google Now Opt-Out

Posted by Soulskill on from the escort-on-the-road-to-enlightenment dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNet reports that 'Google now intends to deliver customized search results even to those searching its site without having signed into a Google account.' This may be what finally drives me to seriously experiment with cookie-free browsing. I consider non-personalized search results to be of value. They quasi-subconsciously give me a better perspective of the full range of information and ideas on the net. That, and I'm also a bit paranoid about a coming world with push-button infrastructure for personalized mis/disinformation."

2 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Re:oh c'mon by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd like to see Google make their far-forward cookie and personalization tracking service be opt-in. If someone wants to have Google looking over their shoulder almost 100% of the time they're on the web (remember, it's not just google.com but every site with a Google ad) ensuring that they are effectively advertised at, then it should be something you ask for, not ask to have taken away.

    If they made their tracking "services" an opt-in proposition, *that* would prove to me and probably all other Google skeptics that they truly were out to do no evil.

    As it stands, I'm convinced they're as evil as the next megacorp monopoly.

    --
    I hate printers.
  2. Re:oh c'mon by iwaybandit · · Score: 5, Interesting
    That's easy, set the cookie file permissions to read-only. I've been running the browser this way for a few months, and it has been a bit of a hassle at times. Overall it seems to be worth the trouble, since each time I start the browser, there are only the cookies for site preferences and login status.
    • start browser
    • go to every site that you frequently use
    • log-in, set preferences, whatever it takes to make the site set the cookie that you want to preserve
    • use the cookie manager to delete unwanted cookies
    • close browser
    • set the cookie file read-only (0400)

    Next time you browse, the cookies will accumulate like always but disappear whe you close the browser. However, if you change site preferences, those changes will be lost also.