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| Science & Technology |
| Google expands tracking to logged out users |
| 2009-12-06 |
| Anyone who's a regular Google search user will know that the only way to avoid the company tracking your online activities is to log out of Gmail or whatever Google account you use. Not any more. As of last Friday, even searchers who aren't logged into Google in any way have their data tracked in the name of providing a 'better service'. The company explained: "What we're doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customise search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser." However, if you've previously been a fan of the log-out method to avoid being tracked, there's still the option to disable the cookie by clicking a link at the top right of a search results page. So, for example, if you search for "Falun Gong", they can now provide your entire search history to the Chinese secret police, not just the searches you did in Google. Better not say anything nasty about Obama, either. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #3 Log out of google. Google something. Click on 'Web History' link on upper right. Click on 'Disable customizations based on search activity'. |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-12-06 22:25 |
| #2 Bing and Yahoo are my search engines - I don't use google for the reasons cited in this and other posts |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-12-06 15:39 |
| #1 Switch to Bing. At least you'll be dividing your search info up between the two companies. |
| Posted by: lotp 2009-12-06 15:33 |