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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
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.
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.
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 Yes, you might be convince google (who bought the archives, originally made by Henry Spencer) to delete *your* posts, but not when what you wrote was quoted by others.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
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?
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.
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.
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...
It's so rough, they put snipers on the roof!
This! Is! Jeopardy!