Slashdot Mirror
35 Million Google Profiles Collected
Orome1 writes "If you are one of those individuals that made their own Google Profile, chances are that you knew and agreed to the fact that the information you included in it will be available for anyone who searches for it online. But, maybe you haven't thought about the possibility of this information being harvested and indexed in order to make mining of it easier. Whether you have or not, it is ultimately irrelevant — you have shared the information with Google, and it does not forbid the indexing of the list."
Why wouldn't you think about the possibility of the information being harvested? That's a main part of Google's business model.
because i made sure my profile was complete with my address and everything since everyone on the internets is friends and cool
Isn't it something we all agreed to: trade ease of use and functionality with a little bit of privacy loss?
Decide what the world sees when it searches for you.
Create a public profile to display the information you care about and make it easy for visitors to get to know you.
Seems pretty self-explanatory.
Let's get a petition together to get Google to put up a robots.txt on Google so that Google can't Google Google.
I8-D
How is this news?
This! Is! Slashdot!
You! Are! Not! Captain! Kirk!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-12/facebook-busted-in-clumsy-smear-attempt-on-google/
I'm glad no one started harvesting any of my Facebook Profile.
GOATSE.
Which is not shocking anymore, kiddo. Get a new Schtick.
These days, anyone who hasn't been living in a gave for the last 15 years knows that this kind of data is not private.
The bigger issue for having no searchable online presence is stuff from the early days of the internet, like 1980-1985. Back then, everyone posted (to usenet - this was long before the web) with their real names. Furthermore, nobody had any idea that someday all that would be archived retroactively. At the time, posts were considered ephemeral - once they decayed off servers, they were thought to be gone forever.
But it later turned out that archives of this stuff were saved by one person. It wasn't clear at the time - remember, home computers then commonly had 4 *kilo*bytes of memory, and no hard drives, and storage space was bloody expensive. Most people were online using big iron, and those accounts were attached to your real name by whatever organization owned the machine. Fortunately, I never posted anything under my real name that I'd be upset for anyone to find now, but some people did, and that stuff is traceable to them forever. Yes, you might be convince google (who bought the archives, originally made by Henry Spencer) to delete *your* posts, but not when what you wrote was quoted by others.
I don't have much sympathy for anyone now who isn't aware that anything you post is going to be data-mined out the ass, but in the early 80's, nobody knew - it was just a single individual in the entire world who was saving the stuff.
We've allowed our bed to be made. Now will we continue to use services that require us to give up our privacy while we complain loudly at the loss of privacy? Come on everyone. Pick one.
Agile Artisans
You know, I'd never really thought about it like that before. Thanks for your valuable and insightful contribution to this discussion!
They need a new compass the points to "evil" when they do stuff like this.
Just because they can, doesn't mean they should!
In a world where being anonymous is getting difficult these examples are something you expect. I am sure it's a bit too late to do anything but I think I should make everything private but I am sure Google has already cached my profile.
What is the point of creating a Google Profile if not for it to be indexed such as someone else can find you and read about you in relevant queries?
Missed! The! REFEREEEEEENCE! *kicks h4rr4r down a well*
which is totally what she said
>> my profile was complete with my address
Ernest Borgnine, you're at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Isn't that a pretty rough neighborhood?
at all. I'm just waiting for the day when I sign up for some google social network, only to find that they already made my profile for me, full of all of my interests, contact information, relationships, and even pictures.
Zuck is always glad to add value to a discussion. :-)
That's what Google Images is for.
which is totally what she said
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-opens-up-your-profile-to-search-engines/1158
Google opens up your profile to search engines
By Garett Rogers | October 15, 2008
That's the point of a Google profile! To let people more easily find you. I would certainly hope that they allow indexing of this information.
Why would you want a private profile? Like Creed from The Office, I can make a private profile with Microsoft Word.
And probably anyone can access it through OpenId (S/A/L), same for Facebook, Yahoo, and anyone who supports OpenId.
"OpenID is rapidly gaining adoption on the web, with over one billion OpenID enabled user accounts and over 50,000 websites accepting OpenID for logins. Several large organizations either issue or accept OpenIDs, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, MySpace, Sears, Universal Music Group, France Telecom, Novell, Sun, Telecom Italia, and many more.
Who Owns or Controls OpenID?
OpenID was created in the summer of 2005 by an open source community trying to solve a problem that was not easily solved by other existing identity technologies. As such, OpenID is decentralized and not owned by anyone, nor should it be. Today, anyone can choose to use an OpenID or become an OpenID Provider for free without having to register or be approved by any organization."
http://openid.net/get-an-openid/what-is-openid/
"openid.ax.required
(required) Specifies the attribute being requested. Valid values include:
"country"
"email"
"firstname"
"language"
"lastname"
To request multiple attributes, set this parameter to a comma-delimited list of attributes.
"
http://code.google.com/intl/hu-HU/apis/accounts/docs/OpenID.html
Holy shit, dude! I just found out about this thing where the phone company (those evil fuckers) put your address in this large book with white pages. It even has your name and phone number too. How will we ever survive in this modern world where we have all these totally new privacy issues that have never come up before?
No ... this ... is ... Captain ... .... Kirk.
This! Is! Leonidas!
I am officially gone from
The Internet is not secure.
This is my google profile:
Introduction
At first I was just two cells, one of which won an informal swimming competition. Then, a blastula. Then an embryo, a fetus, a baby, a really, really annoying child with a guitar, a totally out of control teenager with several guitars and amplifiers, a reformed young adult, an engineer, then finally, I matured into the sexual tyrannosaurus that I am today. Tomorrow, however, I may be senile, not to mention that whole sexual thing depending on drugs. Possibly there will be drugging to avoid depends, too. If you need more information, you're advised to ask me soon, before I forget entirely who I am. Wait, what was the question?
Occupation
Pondering
Employment
I ponder conundrums
Previous employers
Many
Education
University of Life
Ph.D in Hard Knocks
Masters of Reality
Bachelors in Dating
Associates in Matters of Degree
Honorary "Get off my Lawn" with "Or I'll Shoot" cluster
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
This!...is CNN...
because i made sure my profile was complete with my address and everything since everyone on the internets is friends and cool
LoL, you just described the Facebook Friendlist phenomena.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Anyone know of any alternatives that will let me sync my Android phone with all the information I do now? Calendar, phone book, installed applications, bookmarks, etc. It is really handy whenever I wipe my phone or get a new one, everything just magically transfers over. I was even able to cross devices when I switched from Symbian to Android, because I was using the Symbian Google syncing stuff.
I hate that Google has all that information but it's just so damn handy. There is no reason why I couldn't run my own server for that though. Something open source and Linux based would be good.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
You mean...data I choose to make public on Google is... PUBLIC ?!?!?!
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
It's so rough, they put snipers on the roof!
You're providing content for Slashdot and Facebook; more content attracts more users who might eventually be more profitable than you are. Google can collect your search terms and click-throughs to provide bulk data for market researchers. The value of these things is negligible but multiplied by hundreds of millions of users it might be worth something.
This! Is! Jeopardy!
You could also consume the service, be it google, facebook, slashdot, or whatever, give out no useful information even your name, and block every single advert served.
How am I the product exactly?
Google and Facebook make money several way - you may try to avoid some of them, but if you use the services you can't avoid all of them.
1) Selling ads to you. If you explicitly block ads, you may be violating their terms of services. Still, most users do not block all ads or it's a pain to block 100% of them. Perhaps you miraculously block all ads.
2) Selling User Data to advertisers. Anything you upload or post may be used for advertising. Facebook will use your pictures to advertise to friends unless you navigate some hard-to-find settings and explicitly opt out. Perhaps you do not post to FB and have enabled all you privace settings correctly.
3) Encouraging viral links with pay per view hits. Example: Everytime you watch a youtube video that has a small video ad in front of it, you are an "impression" for that ad and they are getting paid. Perhaps you never watch YouTube though.
4) Every action you do on these sites from pages you view, links you click, and search terms you enter is saved with IP address. If you are using these services at all, even anonymously, they are still collecting and aggregrating data about your usage and that data can be sold. They may be counting view impressions on associate sites (that are not even the main google or facebook sites). Just being here and posting snide comments like your previous one is adding to the data being collected.
Because of #4 if you even visit these sites (or any associated sites), they are somehow incorporating your input into their business model. The only way for you to claim 100% freedom from being a product is not to play - and not playing today involves not connecting to the internet at all.
How is this news?
by not entering a bunch of information in the first place. People need to read the terms of service, and think about what kind of information they put online.
If information is claimed to be private (e-mails, your contacts, messages etc...) is compromised then it's a privacy violation
Information that is announced to be public designed to be easy to access for anyone, then it is PUBLIC, there is no privacy violation.
In 2003, Arlene Corpuz did a Google search for "microsoft word class handout". She found my website where I had teaching handouts I wrote. Arlene was in the Philippines, emailed me, and I provided the documents she wanted.
She had a Geocities homepage in her signature. I read it, and we corresponded.
In September of 2004, I landed in Manila. In June of 2005, Arlene and I were married in the USA. In March of 2008, our daughter, Athena Corpuz Gregerson was born.
This was the advantage, for us, of sharing information about ourselves online. We have not experienced any disadvantages yet.
www.cgstock.com
My Google Profile consists of my name, e-mail address and an avatar of the "Awesome Smiley" for GChat. They can mine that all they want.
Holy shit, dude! I just found out about this thing where the phone company (those evil fuckers) put your address in this large book with white pages. It even has your name and phone number too. How will we ever survive in this modern world where we have all these totally new privacy issues that have never come up before?
I'm not calling BS on this but do you have any proof of your claims? What's the name of the book?
Grammar nazis are to this community what excrements are to gold.
Why is this news?? You make a profile online, not for yourself, but for others... for public consumption. So... huh?
I allowed them to index my socks and underwear drawer, but not before I bought new underwear so's as to show off my spiffy skiveys. Now, no matter my mood, the right undies are no more than 0,.27 msecs away. And to think all that is even available now via my phone (or yours). Great googly moogly we have arrived.
We always just called it the BAB, a shortened acronym for Big Azz Book That Won't Fit On A Shelf.
I wish it was only one book, they leave 12 different editions on my porch every year.
Cheap storage VM.
Wear a rubber, I hear Google's a bit of a slut.
How much is Facebook paying for slashdot stories? News flash: Public Profiles are . . . Public! Welcome to teh webz.
Exactly... he's saying he's not the product but if he considers his comment to be "useful" it's potentially drawing other people to the site and those visitors might not be blocking ads. Just by posting he's contributing to their business model.
I guess no one bothered to look in the options when they created their Google Profile and uncheck the "Make my profile visible to search" box. Don't blame Google for your own misdoings.
But the point of facebook, and all social networking sites is to stay in contact with peope you know.
If you can't find them, and they can't find you then the whole point of using the site at all breaks down.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Your anonymous data can still be aggregated. It's still a product, as are you.
Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
You can opt out of that. Call the phone company. It's free.
Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
Does Zeljka Zorz make articles about the obvious?
And if so, howmuch canyou earn?
"Sun emits heat"
"Images relay information"
"Computers consume energy"
"New agencies accept quantity of quality"
From the google website
"
The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public.
Keep in mind that your full name is the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share.
If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011.
"
Oh I love those guys, well at least they won't change my profile to public without my consent
The whole purpose of creating a Google Profile is so that your profile will be included in Google's index.
In fact the Google Profile mission statement says exactly that. The whole thing is geared around you wanting to be returned when people search for you.
What a non story this is.
Well, I'm not worried then. Personally, I'm not connected to the internet. I type all my messages on a computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. I then pass the flash drive to a trusted courier, who heads for a distant Internet café.
At that location, the courier plugs the memory drive into a computer, copies the message into Slashdot and sends it. Reversing the process, the courier copies any incoming email to the flash drive and returns, where I read messages offline.
Why I go though this amount of security for slashdot, I don't know.
I'm pretty sure this has been done before. Though I can't remember by who...
"Coffee is for closers."
It turns out that if you intentionally and explicitly put information into a public database, it will then be available in a public database.
We all know what happens then. First they get the information from profiles, then they get the money, then they get the power, then they get the Real Dolls.
I still have a some of the free Google Profile business cards that Google gave away to promote this when it first came out. I thought it was a pretty cool way to control the information that appeared when someone googled you. And the reason why I thought that was because it was pretty much how Google sold it.
Does this
Though I can't remember by who...
RMS?
LoL, thanks idiot. But I've done far more than that. And, I do what makes me happy. Next time you want to take a pot shot, dont hide behind AC status and log in. Or send me an email.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Yeah loser... I was actually a tech manager, with a 74% profit margin in my shop (far higher than the 50% required). Keep hiding behind your AC badge... you really arent hiding very well. Expect nothing else from me... TB
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
LoL, grow up. Then again, I guess you always were an idiot.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Worked - past tense. 74% of my gross profit was (past tense) profit. We were required to reach 50%. And it was from new methods of doing things that *I* implemented - ones other tech shops started implementing in our district (also to increased success). Sadly, the rest of the company wasn't in quite as good shape. By the time I was fast tracked into management and started initiating changes, even with the increase in profits from the tech shops that jumped into it, it wasn't enough to save the rest of the company.
But, you of all people should know how that works... takes forever to convince upper management the right way of doing things from people who actually work in the field and... you know... do those things. That's what sank CompUSA to begin with. New management of bookkeepers and accountants who didnt know anything about computers, tech stuff, business sales, etc. 6 months before they decided to give up, they replaced those people, planned on implementing a bunch of our plans, but then realized they didnt even have a fraction of the money they needed to do so (over simplification: they were hoping Slim would give them another chance with the new management team - he didnt).
Funnily enough, most of my posts have been humor of late... like the one you first responded to above. So, what's the chip on your shoulder for?
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
(1) expenses are the same (except our portion of rent, which is MORE expensive).
(2) that includes parts, labor etc
(3) pay rates were the same in all stores
(4) It wasn't on Long Island. Bad guess. Irrelevant anyway
(5) Profit is: labor and parts markup income minus expenses. Location changes none of that. I never said we made more or less than a certain store. I said our profit percent, as in MARGIN was 74%.
Now, let me help you with that. If a shop makes $7400 out of $10,000, then they had a 74% net of gross. If they made $740,000 out of a MILLION dollars, it's STILL 74%.
Got it?
BTW, visiting my links and stalking me here isn't smart.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Shot down? I've got excellent karma, and virtually all my posts are modded 2-5. And no, White Plains, #537. And plenty of proof. About a lot of things. See you soon.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!