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Online Privacy Worth Less Than Marshmallow Fluff Six Pack
nonprofiteer writes "With a program called Screenwise, Google is offering a total of $25 in Amazon gift cards to anyone willing to install a Chrome browser extension that will let the search giant track every website the user visits and what they do there over a year-long period. Google says it will study this in order to improve its products and services. Forbes points out that $25 in Amazon credits isn't quite enough to buy a six pack of Marshmallow Fluff ($26.75)." The money isn't much as a pure trade for privacy, but I suspect that many people would like to have their preferences be among those that shape how Google — and other companies, too — actually organize their interfaces. (Note that the tracking can be selectively turned off by the user.)
I'm surprised they even bothered to offer the gift cards. Most people will gladly give up their privacy for free.
I'd happily do this. Of course, I don't actually use Chrome, so after the extension was installed they wouldn't get very much useful information...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The vast majority of people might just do less weirdo shit on their computer than you? What exactly is wrong with Google having access to my entire search history with my consent? Microsoft Windows has a similar feature where you can turn on performance counters in the OS and aggregated data is then used to make features shaped more like the user wants them.
It's not like they're saying "We'll read your entire search history, tough shit", they're offering people to willingly give them that information, and for the bother, they are compensated with a minor bonus.
Dear Google,
I am not the average user. I am a technical user that is intelligent and values privacy. Please make me a google that gives relevant technical results for my queries instead of the hodge-podge that the average illiterate user can understand and click-through. xxx-answer or some similar should never be a result.
The results from the 25$ incentive will most likely be skewed in an unfavourable direction when compared to the search results I am looking for - due to the demographic (which I foresee) partaking in this research experiment. Please reconsider.
Signed: The guy that is always finding google harder and harder to use.
PS - Give me the option to search using an older algorithm.
Hope you guys like watching a lot of midgets shitting on grannies. And I mean a *LOT* of midgets shitting on grannies.
It's people like you that will completely skew the results and ruin the Internet.
When I search for Mickey Mouse I don't want to come up with Debbie Does Disney, I want some family-friendly, pre-censored search results. And I don't want any Catholic priests or evangelical preachers signing up just for the 25 dollar giveaway. There is enough perversion on the Internet without search results being based on the sexual fantasies of religious leaders.
Since the big corporations have, wrongly, labeled copyright infringement with "piracy", perhaps we should consider to label corporate privacy intrusion with the term "voyeurism" or something similar.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
2. Create the following AppleScript and use a cron job to run it once a month or so:
tell application "Google Chrome"
set URL of active tab of window 1 to "http://www.google.com"
activate
quit
end tell
3. Make Firefox your default browser
4. Profit!
5. Repeat steps one through four on another computer
Why does this seem oddly like mining bitcoins...