Well after lots of research, first tym i hav been opposing a face of google for browsing :
juz hav a look on it :)
Search Data Privacy.
The sad/bad news for me this week was that our college has decided to block Facebook.com on all the campus computers. And you can’t imagine how angry I felt. I checked all the PC’s but it was blocked on all of them. And now I was more angry and I started searching for a proxy server that would allow me to access Facebook. I found many nice and wonderful proxies and many other sites that allow us to use and search the web without leaving a trace, one amongst them was the Startingpage.com.
The sad/bad news for me this week was that our college has decided to block Facebook.com on all the campus computers. And you can’t imagine how angry I felt. I checked all the PC’s but it was blocked on all of them. And now I was more angry and I started searching for a proxy server that would allow me to access Facebook. I found many nice and wonderful proxies and many other sites that allow us to use and search the web without leaving a trace, one amongst them was the Startingpage.com.
Well this site is not a proxy to facebook.com but it is more than that, it is a search engine which doesn’t store user information and search data in their database. Startingpage.com provides private search results through Google.com. and the best thing about this site is that even Google.com will not keep your search data.
What’s the risk?
But you may think “What will happen if Google or any search engine keeps my search data?. To answer this let me tell you what will happen. Search engines collect your personal data like your IP address, the search terms, time of your visit and the links you chose and they store these information in giant database. The searches that you make reveal a shocking amount of personal information about who you are, what you like and don’t like and even family conditions, your political thinking and much much more… and this information is Gold for marketers, government officials, hackers and criminals. if the government is using this information then it is OK but what if hackers and criminals get such information, they could probably know more about you than they must know and possibly hack your accounts (bank or email or facebook, like my friend Ankit Puri’s facebook was hacked and misused, and more recently Amit Agarwal’s ).
But you may think “What will happen if Google or any search engine keeps my search data?. To answer this let me tell you what will happen. Search engines collect your personal data like your IP address, the search terms, time of your visit and the links you chose and they store these information in giant database. The searches that you make reveal a shocking amount of personal information about who you are, what you like and don’t like and even family conditions, your political thinking and much much more… and this information is Gold for marketers, government officials, hackers and criminals. if the government is using this information then it is OK but what if hackers and criminals get such information, they could probably know more about you than they must know and possibly hack your accounts (bank or email or facebook, like my friend Ankit Puri’s facebook was hacked and misused, and more recently Amit Agarwal’s ).
Proof???
And it had happened in august 2006 when AOL accidentally released three month’s worth of aggregated search data from 6,50,000 of its users, it published all the details in an online database. and the worst news is that it is still there at Aolstalker.com. (although the site claims that this data to be for research purpose, I ask, will the hackers be so polite?)
And it had happened in august 2006 when AOL accidentally released three month’s worth of aggregated search data from 6,50,000 of its users, it published all the details in an online database. and the worst news is that it is still there at Aolstalker.com. (although the site claims that this data to be for research purpose, I ask, will the hackers be so polite?)
Now what? yes it is better to hide your information than to let it go in wrong hands.
Below is the screenshot of my google history service. you can see google even remembers which link I clicked in 2008, almost 3 years old click!!!.
Last word, friends what you think about such misuse and what are your thoughts about privacy. please let me know, waiting for your comments.
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