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.)

Comments

Yes

[Anrego]

This is one of those statements we need to hear from time to time to shock is into realizing that the vast majority of people out there do not value online privacy to the degree that the Slashdot crowd generally does.

The vast majority of people out there probably rank "letting a company mine my browsing history" somewhere around "filling out a survey".

Re:Yes

[eln]

I'm surprised they even bothered to offer the gift cards. Most people will gladly give up their privacy for free.

Re:Yes

[TheRaven64]

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...

Re:Yes

[Anrego]

I don’t equate it to stupidity. It’s not that people don’t understand the implications of this. It’s made fairly clear.. “every site you visit will be known to us”. It comes down to having different priorities.

The Slashdot crowd is privacy sensitive. It’s important to us. The fact that it’s not important to others is something we have to learn to accept. We can’t always write it off as “well, they are just stupid.. if only we could explain it to them in the right way..” because they have a valid opinion. They’ve chosen to live a certain way, and privacy is not a priority to them.

Re:Yes

[gparent]

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.

Re:Yes

[Hatta]

âoewell, they are just stupid.. if only we could explain it to them in the right way..â because they have a valid opinion. Theyâ(TM)ve chosen to live a certain way, and privacy is not a priority to them.

We can tell this is not the case, because when people get bitten by the obvious consequences of surrendering their privacy, they complain. If they knew and expected those consequences, they wouldn't be bothered when it happens. And yet we still hear stupid people complain about how facebook shared their data in a way they don't approve of. Tough shit, that's what you signed up for.

Maybe Google can get my age and gender right

[sandytaru]

Since they got it so very wrong, wrong, wrong on the first go round.

Re:Maybe Google can get my age and gender right

[Oswald McWeany]

Sorry, I trust google more than some random person on the web. How do you know you're not wrong about your age and gender?

I think you should accept the fact that you're not what you think you are.

Great idea

[Megahard]

I'm installing it on the wife's computer.

Re:Great idea

[Oswald McWeany]

Install it on the library computer.

I hate this trend!

[governorx]

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.

Re:If any google employee can stomach what I surf

[Oswald McWeany]

Google would show good humour if "marshmallow fluff" were the name of the next Android OS release.

Re:If any google employee can stomach what I surf

[windcask]

Perhaps "Height-disadvantaged persons defecating above the long-lived?"

New nomenclature

[StripedCow]

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.

Solution

[guttentag]

1. install the Chrome browser extension
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...