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How much does Google know about you?
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
alot, thats google business, collecting data and its all indefinate. Everything from web habbits (googlebar, google accelorator, desktop search.. they all call home) and lets not forget gmail (none of your email gets deleted EVER and all email is scanned) as well as its main search engine which stores a cookie till 2038 I think it is and uses that unique ID to differ your particular searches from someone elses.
Couple all this with the fact that thier ad scheme is not only profitable but allows them to extract information about you whether you're on their site or not and whether you want them to or not and you have a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Of course not everyone cares if google knows all about them but the thing is google will seell this data its how they make money, they dont need to sell your email address mind you, just your statistical data they assimilate over time (age, sex, interests)
Couple all this with the fact that thier ad scheme is not only profitable but allows them to extract information about you whether you're on their site or not and whether you want them to or not and you have a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Of course not everyone cares if google knows all about them but the thing is google will seell this data its how they make money, they dont need to sell your email address mind you, just your statistical data they assimilate over time (age, sex, interests)
Interesting questions - but they seem to be being raised over and over with nothing much happening.
I was being relatively careful with my gmail address, but my "real life" has crept in there.
I've asked for advise on web design ideas and give the link of a specific website which is now live. It would take 2 minutes to find out my company name, my name and my telephone numbers.
Finding my address wouldn't be possible, because I make sure that my home address never gets onto any official documentation, my last address always does and my last landlord never knows where I'm moving to.
But still, I'm traceable via gmail, then again, a 10 minute investigation into my nickname here will soon reveal my real world details...
I was being relatively careful with my gmail address, but my "real life" has crept in there.
I've asked for advise on web design ideas and give the link of a specific website which is now live. It would take 2 minutes to find out my company name, my name and my telephone numbers.
Finding my address wouldn't be possible, because I make sure that my home address never gets onto any official documentation, my last address always does and my last landlord never knows where I'm moving to.
But still, I'm traceable via gmail, then again, a 10 minute investigation into my nickname here will soon reveal my real world details...
eye_suc
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Its business i guess. And they are in the business of information.
If they used this information against their users (i.e. to cause them harm) i am quite sure they will lose them as supporters. And that just wouldnt be smart, cause isnt it the supporters (the googlers and the gmailers) who keeps their huge boat floating?
I also dont mind them mining my information. Go for it google, i dont have anything to hide, and the little that i do have to hide i dont mind if it gets out.
PS: My head feels like i've been sniffing glue since 6am. Ouch
If they used this information against their users (i.e. to cause them harm) i am quite sure they will lose them as supporters. And that just wouldnt be smart, cause isnt it the supporters (the googlers and the gmailers) who keeps their huge boat floating?
I also dont mind them mining my information. Go for it google, i dont have anything to hide, and the little that i do have to hide i dont mind if it gets out.
PS: My head feels like i've been sniffing glue since 6am. Ouch
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its not about what google will do, you know secure institutions get infiltrated all the time, google knows all so if you want to get dirt on someone you go to google. Plus remember google the companies ideals aren't the same as Jeffrey on the 3rd floors ideals who got shafted out of a promotion and was demoted to night shift.
It's not that google are bad, they may or may not be (you do realise people and companies that are bad don't just come out and say, hello there I am bad, right?) its about the consequence or danger of having all that information in one place.
OK so you being some common web developer working for some crappy small company in South Africa have not too much to worry about, but google communicated with goverments, it has to. So if you're Joe Average in China and search for "human rights" or "civil action" and the like (which are all filtered by google in china) the goverment knows who you are, it can use that information to target you as a person capable of treason or something.
Also remember one thing, your data starts out and lives at google but once its 3 months old (anything, from your gmail to web habbits) can be accessed by the US goverment, so sure you trust google with all that data because they "don't do evil"... but do you trust any goverment with it?
Don't get distracted by shiny toys while some company collects all your data (imagien all the conclusions you can draw on someone from web habbits and emails etc) I don't care if its mother flipping teresa who has the data, if its all in one place, its a bad thing.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutley
It's not that google are bad, they may or may not be (you do realise people and companies that are bad don't just come out and say, hello there I am bad, right?) its about the consequence or danger of having all that information in one place.
OK so you being some common web developer working for some crappy small company in South Africa have not too much to worry about, but google communicated with goverments, it has to. So if you're Joe Average in China and search for "human rights" or "civil action" and the like (which are all filtered by google in china) the goverment knows who you are, it can use that information to target you as a person capable of treason or something.
Also remember one thing, your data starts out and lives at google but once its 3 months old (anything, from your gmail to web habbits) can be accessed by the US goverment, so sure you trust google with all that data because they "don't do evil"... but do you trust any goverment with it?
Don't get distracted by shiny toys while some company collects all your data (imagien all the conclusions you can draw on someone from web habbits and emails etc) I don't care if its mother flipping teresa who has the data, if its all in one place, its a bad thing.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutley
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eye_suc
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Well, if its not google mining our information, then some other company will. This search engine became so powerful because of its usefulness. If another company comes along and dethrones google then THEY will be seen as evil. Google are just the biggest now (hopefully a very long time still) and can be replaced, but whoever takes their place could do the same.
It's definately a concern and an invasion of privacy if your surfing habits and email gets into the wrong hands.
You don't want to be a victim of identity theft - not pleasant at all.
Identity theft is a real problem lately and is set to get worse, simply because the majority of black hat hacking going on these days is for financial gain. Black hats - I'm not sure is even the right term anymore, because it refers to hackers working for chaos and destruction, as opposed to financial gain, anyway, whatever.
Just don't ever use your gmail account for anything financial (DUH) or private.
In fact, don't use ANY email account for anything financial or private.
In fact, don't even go online - disconnect now ! - become a luddite !
At least you'll be a private luddite, because nobody will want to know you, because you'll probably smell too.
You don't want to be a victim of identity theft - not pleasant at all.
Identity theft is a real problem lately and is set to get worse, simply because the majority of black hat hacking going on these days is for financial gain. Black hats - I'm not sure is even the right term anymore, because it refers to hackers working for chaos and destruction, as opposed to financial gain, anyway, whatever.
Just don't ever use your gmail account for anything financial (DUH) or private.
In fact, don't use ANY email account for anything financial or private.
In fact, don't even go online - disconnect now ! - become a luddite !
At least you'll be a private luddite, because nobody will want to know you, because you'll probably smell too.
eye_suc
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yeah, gmail stores all your email. every email you ever sent. just like any other mail service, right? i'm quite sure they have to save mail for security reasons. our company sure as hell does that.
Every single sms you send, where does that end up? a place called ********** where every single attribute of your communication gets logged (the time, the sender, the reciever, the message itself, the phone attributes, which tower it came from, which tower its going to, bla bla bla). so now we cant SMS anymore?
My reasoning is, if you have nothing to hide, why would this be a bad thing? its the people that have sneaky dealings who fear invasion of privacy, isnt it?
Every single sms you send, where does that end up? a place called ********** where every single attribute of your communication gets logged (the time, the sender, the reciever, the message itself, the phone attributes, which tower it came from, which tower its going to, bla bla bla). so now we cant SMS anymore?
My reasoning is, if you have nothing to hide, why would this be a bad thing? its the people that have sneaky dealings who fear invasion of privacy, isnt it?
Celemasiko
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So we will have one day the USG....United States of Google....
Its scary what you can find out about people on google. Have you ever done a search for some of the usernames you use on forums, etc, on google? Things I have forgotten about years ago sometimes show up.
Part of the guild I play online gaming with had a situation where we had a new member who was well.. Just plain fishy. Being an admin we had access to his IP address'es used, email address to registor, etc. With a few searches we soon found other names he used, RL address, and so on. In about an hour we had tracked this guys gaming history back 6 years, the number of guilds he had been banned from, all the trouble he had caused everywhere and even found a copy of his drivers license on the net..
Google can be evil yes.. But I dont know how I would be able to study through Unisa part time with out it
Part of the guild I play online gaming with had a situation where we had a new member who was well.. Just plain fishy. Being an admin we had access to his IP address'es used, email address to registor, etc. With a few searches we soon found other names he used, RL address, and so on. In about an hour we had tracked this guys gaming history back 6 years, the number of guilds he had been banned from, all the trouble he had caused everywhere and even found a copy of his drivers license on the net..
Google can be evil yes.. But I dont know how I would be able to study through Unisa part time with out it