Google expands tracking to logged out users.

I'm sure not too many will be surprised by this, but it's another thing to have it confirmed.

Soon enough, privacy will be a word that nobody really understands anymore, like "hero" or "terror". We all know what these words mean, but the meanings have lost their "depth", for lack of a better word.

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'.

Spooky........

Source Article

reply to post by Rhetoric


Don't forget words that have also had their meaning changed, words like- right, pro -life, peacekeeper, theater, and yellow cake

Thanks for sharing. S&F.

What about the Automatic Upgrade of Google Earth whit the new lower resolution?

I thought this was already happening, thus the reason I avoided using Google searches... not sure if it really matters though, the other search providers are likely doing something similar.

The article ends with:

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 that's a tiny bit of good news. Still, I don't like it one bit - sure, they can enhance personalized search results, but I'm not even sure I want that.. Time for countermeasures!
Apart from the above solution (according to Google ;]) the easiest approach would be to use a different browser profile (Firefox allows profiles for example) - you could add a profile for Firefox that has the use of cookies disabled, and use it exclusively for Google searches. If you don't trust what the browser is sending to Google, you can use a packet sniffer to see what's being sent. For Firefox there is a selection of extensions available that could help, for example Modify Headers which enables you to change or disable certain fields sent to sites, and NoScript which blocks Javascript and thus all writing to cookies. Using a proxy might not work as cookies remain the same.

A poster on another thread mentioned Scroogle as an option. I haven't had the time to test it, but perhaps some others may find it useful.

Good piece of news