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Filed under: Security, Search

Hide your Google tracks with BlackDust

by Grant Robertson Jul 27th 2007


Have you ever stopped to think how much information Google has about you? It's baffling. Fight back and take a chunk out of their data picture by searching Google anonymously with BlackDust.

There isn't much to describe about BlackDust. It works just like a regular Google search; Type your query and click the search button. The only difference is, Google won't have your precious personal info attached to the query.

Tags: privacy, search data, SearchData

Filed under: Internet, Security, News, Web services, Google

Google takes baby step to protect your privacy

by Grant Robertson Jun 12th 2007

Got data? Google does. When you search the web using any search engine, you probably know that the search terms you use are archived -- possibly for an incredibly long amount of time -- and sometimes it's not as safe as you'd think.

Google announced late last night that your search data will soon sit idle for a much shorter period of time, theoreticly protecting it more from the prying eyes of potential hackers, lawsuits and subpoenas. In aid of compliance with EU rules on privacy, Google's new policy will see them retain personalized search history data for 18-24 months, and as they claim, makes them the "first leading company to publish a data retention policy".

While we're not sure they're the first, it is nice to see the monolithic and often mysterious Google come forward and display a bit of transparency on a subject that's near and dear to us as avid search users. While we'd prefer that everyone's search data disappear into the ether just as quickly as it once came -- giving you the user ultimate control over your level of privacy -- this is an important step and one that rival search providers will most likely follow. Who knows, maybe we'll start a privacy war and the length of saved search history will drop to nil. Not bloody likely, eh?

Tags: privacy, rata retention policy, RataRetentionPolicy, search data, SearchData, serach data, SerachData, user data, UserData

Filed under: News, Google

EU says Google may be violating privacy laws

by Brad Linder May 25th 2007

Google anonymous dataThe European Union's data protection advisory group sent a letter to Google this month asking why the company keeps records of user searches for up to two years.

The underlying issue here is whether Google and other search engines are violating users' privacy rights by maintaining search records, even if those records are used to improve the user experience by offering personalized search options. European Union investigators are also looking at the way Yahoo! and Microsoft store data.

Google is well aware that there are privacy concerns associated with its retention of search data, and is taking steps to anonymize data that is kept for more than 18 to 24 months. In other words, for about two years, the company will be able to track a particular user's search results. After that, the data will still be available, but there will be no way to associate it with a specific user.

Tags: EU, european union, EuropeanUnion, privacy, search data, search engine, SearchData, SearchEngine

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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