• Registered: 2004-08-19

Topic: Google seemingly increases information gathering

I just noticed that search results on google.com (google.nl seems not yet affected) no longer directly link to the site, but link to a script on google.com that will redirect to the specific site. So now in addition to knowing what you search for, Google can now also know which of the search results you accessed. A possible (temporary) solution might be to use a local Google site (such as google.nl or google.fr) and configure it to English or another language and hope it does not redirect you to google.com (clicking the Goto Google Nederland/France/etc. link might help); or of course to stop using Google.

On the other hand, from an global elite perspective, they can probably gather all your internet traffic anyway so in that aspect perhaps nothing has really changed (they already knew what sites you accessed in addition to what you searched for), it has only perhaps become slightly more efficient for them to gather information specifically on your search behaviour.

Yet another solution would be to simply stop caring that "they" know what you are doing, and just continue to produce happiness (or positive loosh, or however you want to call it).

  • lyra
  • lyra
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  • Registered: 2004-03-25

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

Aprogas wrote:

Yet another solution would be to simply stop caring that "they" know what you are doing, and just continue to produce happiness (or positive loosh, or however you want to call it).

Well yeah, that's what I was going to say.   I mean, who cares if they know what sites we go to or not?  It doesn't affect anything.  Unless you're up to illegal activities (kiddie porn, terrorism - real terrorism -  etc.) then really, why worry?  Let 'em gather information.   I know some people feel that it's the principle of it, which I can understand, but the other view is that we have to realize with something like the internet, of course the gov't will want to spy and get involved.   It's the risk we agree to take and the game we agree to play everytime we log onto the 'net.

"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "Holy shit ... what a ride!"  - Anonymous
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"I get by with a little help from my (higher density) friends."
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lyra's Website

3 Reply by montalk (edited by montalk 2005-05-29 14:23:02)

  • montalk
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  • Registered: 2004-03-24

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

Sometimes trying to circumvent monitoring becomes so cumbersome that your productivity slows to a stop. And sometimes being so careless with monitoring gets you rounded up or knocked off. So in between is a state where you make haste slowly toward your goal, using speed and intelligence to stay beyond the ability for monitors to head off.

After all, they gather information to know if you are a threat and how to stop you from being one...often they resort to visible harassment to get you so paranoid that you stop yourself from doing what they would otherwise be powerless to stop. Anything else would require arrests, roundups, and assassination -- the first you can avoid by being smart, the second you can sense ahead of time, and the third requires metaphysical protective measures.

My protocol is to be careful enough to avoid getting thrown in jail, but daring enough to plow right through the scare tactics. That means being careful in the causal realm (3D, laws, physics, collisions, violence) and absolutely driven in the acausal realm (metaphysical laws, psychology, emotions, hyperdimensional barriers, reality engineering, liberating knowledge, intent/meditation/prayer, positive awareness, destiny). The second takes precedence over the first and metaphysical laws can override lower ones when necessary.

So another point behind visible monitoring is to get you into a scattered fear state so that you cannot reach the spiritual safeground where higher laws take over and protect you from the law of the jungle.

The way I see it, time is limited and the job must be done as efficiently and timely as possible, so let them monitor all they want and by the time they finally have crunched enough data to know when, where, and how to spring an ambush, we won't be there.

As for search engines, there are other ones like http://www.alltheweb.com that work well ... you can also access google through a proxy.

Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.

montalk's Website

  • Registered: 2004-08-19

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

I also just came across the following Firefox extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/m … amp;id=743
Just one of the things it does is: "Avoid the possibility of Google building up a cohesive profile about you. Anonymize the Google UID."

  • Registered: 2004-10-26

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

That's why I use alltheweb.com. 
Google was exposed as government spyware by the Casschat group.
So all you people who think Google is cool, well, too bad.
TP

6 Reply by Aprogas (edited by Aprogas 2005-05-30 15:15:01)

  • Registered: 2004-08-19

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

If many people switch to using alltheweb.com, that will also become a major government spyware/censor search engine, if it isn't already. It is currently a Yahoo! company, and Yahoo! doesn't score high on the privacy meter usually (web beacons and such). Just a quote from the Yahoo! Privacy Policy:

Yahoo! general privacy policy wrote:

Yahoo! collects personal information when you register with Yahoo!, when you use Yahoo! products or services, when you visit Yahoo! pages or the pages of certain Yahoo! partners, and when you enter promotions or sweepstakes. Yahoo! may combine information about you that we have with information we obtain from business partners or other companies.
[...]
Yahoo! collects information about your transactions with us and with some of our business partners, including information about your use of financial products and services that we offer.
[...]
We provide the information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with Yahoo! under confidentiality agreements. These companies may use your personal information to help Yahoo! communicate with you about offers from Yahoo! and our marketing partners. However, these companies do not have any independent right to share this information.

Yahoo! AlltheWeb.com specific privacy policy wrote:

When visitors conduct a search on alltheweb.com, their search terms are recorded on Yahoo! log files.
All links on Alltheweb.com provided by Yahoo! are redirected through Yahoo! servers.
When visitors conduct a Web or News search on alltheweb.com, Yahoo! keeps track of which search terms are popular through Yahoo! Search Technology.
[...]
The Sponsor Results may contain tracking URLs provided by Overture to identify clicks from the search results page.

Alltheweb.com seems to already be doing what Google is doing now too. Basically, if the US Government is one of the trusted partners of Yahoo!, and if Yahoo! and the USgov have a confidentiality agreement, it will be legal for Yahoo! to send the information they collect on you to the USgov.

And then there's always government spying equipment.

  • Registered: 2004-10-26

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

Aprogas---whew!  Thanks for widening my viewpoint on this.
It's easy to fool oneself into thinking that you've got something
figured out--until someone points out that you DON'T!
Thanks, I needed that!
Regards,
TP

  • Registered: 2004-08-19

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

It seems Google suddenly went back to their old method of direct links again.

  • Registered: 2004-10-26

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

You must've caught 'em in the act and they thought they'd play it cool for now.
TP

  • Registered: 2004-08-19

Re: Google seemingly increases information gathering

Nah, some further search on this (using Google) revealed Google does this sporadically. Probably not for everyone all at once, but for specific (probably random) user id's. I guess that way it is noticed less, and also requires less computing power on the side of Google (when you have millions of users, polling only 1/1000 of them will yield pretty much the same statistics as all of them). I'm sure it's in their terms of service somewhere that it's legal for them to do so.