google spying on you ?
 

although it apparently currently only affects a minority i thought i would post it

google has begun trialing a counter on 1% of users without there knowledge it tracks the amount of searches you have entered in to it and sends the information back to google

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/...292527911.html

maybe a small thing but small things do tend to turn in to bigger issues later on.....

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Big deal, dosn't bother me. If they wanted to log every search I make it would be fine by me. Just as long as they stay free to use :) .

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Yep, fine by me, hopefully it will help them keep ahead of the game ;)

Google is one of the internet sites I feel proud to use, with its british history, it is the only search site I'll go to. :cool:

Re: google spying on you ?
 

I'm against it. Its none of their business and an infringement of people privacy.

(change's default browser settings to www.Altavista.co.uk )

Re: google spying on you ?
 

couldnt agree more i choose to use the internet anonymously as possible yes i know its not really a 'big thing' to get annoyed at but it is stil tracking you maybe not your ip address but who knows what will happen in the future

Re: google spying on you ?
 

It works by using a cookie, just set your browser to reject all cookies from google

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Paranoia sorted then :)

Re: google spying on you ?
 

if you don't like it you can use another search engine, there are loads to choose from, but I find none as good as Google

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Having spent the whole of yesterday trying to find out why I couldn't get connected to Google all I can say there are worse things on the internet than a site trying to be helpful.Like the spybots I discovered that were redirecting me to other sites.I reckon that's a hell of a lot more intrusive.

Incog. :)

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Tried www.altavista.co.uk lately ?

Re: google spying on you ?
 

yep, I put in "what panda thinks" which is the name of a blog I visit, this is what it came up with :

http://uk.altavista.com/web/results?...ls=1&avkw=aapt

and its not in the first few entry's, but when googled :

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...t+panda+thinks

Its the first thing no the list.

I guess its like news papers, you just get used to one style. :(

Re: google spying on you ?
 

What does it mean then? Can somebody explain because im confused. Does it mean that they will log our IP addresses?

Re: google spying on you ?
 

That may have been the Qhosts trojan.

Didn't you download the tool, boot up in safe mode then run the tools as per the instructions?

The hijack program as suggested would have got rid of the registry entries but some of the file could have still been on your PC

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Google may already log your IP in their web stats.

I dont think its harmful ATM but as the original poster says little acorns and all that....

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Yes I did thank you.I was merely pointing out that there are worse things to contend with than whether Google keep records about what people search for.

I'm trying to remember a site that you could visit which would tell you what subjects were being searched for as you were searching.It was fascinating.Perhaps someone can remind me?

Incog. :)

Re: google spying on you ?
 

metacrawler
and yes, it is fascinating :)

Re: google spying on you ?
 

its still one of the best search engines around these days every one is being wached by big brother some one is waching somebody

Re: google spying on you ?
 

Maybe they are just putting a toe in the water to see how people react.

If this is extended to categorising the types of search people make, then this could be used as a marketing tool. Google would know the types of Advert most likely to be of interest on an individual basis.

One could then theoretically make a google driven Adserver, which by using the same domain, could access the cookie with your identifier & allow third parties to generate targeted Ad's.

This is just me rambling on. There is no evidence they intend to do this.

Re: google spying on you ?
 

It also proves the supremacy of Google, IMHO. Try this:

http://www.metacrawler.com/info.meta.../-/0/0/0/1/-/1

It's a search for the word 'news', with results displayed search engine by search engine. The set of results for Google is the only one of the lot that makes any sense. Based on such a generic query as 'news', it's hardly likely that results like "Latest Hair Loss Research News" (courtesy of a search engine called 'Overture') or "Credit News - Small Business Solutions from Dunn and Bradstreet" (Thanks to LookSmart for that one) are going to be of any use to anyone.

Re: google spying on you ?
 

I have no problem with it at all Google is still the best search engine around.