Disturbing Facts About Google

[cancer10]

1. Google’s immortal cookie:
Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it’s years later‚ and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines ; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page‚ you get a Google cookie if you don’t already have one. If you have one‚ they read and record your unique ID number.

2. Google records everything they can:
For all searches they record the cookie ID‚ your Internet IP address‚ the time and date‚ your search terms‚ and your browser configuration. Increasingly‚ Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as "IP delivery based on geolocation."

3. Google retains all data indefinitely:
Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.

4. Google won’t say why they need this data:
Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information‚ he had no comment.

5. Google hires spooks:
Matt Cutts‚ a key Google engineer‚ used to work for the National Security Agency. Google wants to hire more people with security clearances‚ so that they can peddle their corporate assets to the spooks in Washington.

6. Google’s toolbar is spyware:
With the advanced features enabled‚ Google’s free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf‚ and yes‚ it reads your cookie too. Their privacy policy confesses this‚ but that’s only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing‚ and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet‚ Google’s toolbar updates to new versions quietly‚ and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed‚ Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors‚ and even Microsoft‚ ask if you’d like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.

7. Google’s cache copy is illegal:
Judging from Ninth Circuit precedent on the application of U.S. copyright laws to the Internet‚ Google’s cache copy appears to be illegal. The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache‚ but webmasters don’t. Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites‚ only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google’s cache. The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters‚ not "opt-out."

8. Google is not your friend:
By now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. Webmasters cannot avoid seeking Google’s approval these days‚ assuming they want to increase traffic to their site. If they try to take advantage of some of the known weaknesses in Google’s semi-secret algorithms‚ they may find themselves penalized by Google‚ and their traffic disappears. There are no detailed‚ published standards issued by Google‚ and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time Google doesn’t even answer email from webmasters.

9. Google is a privacy time bomb:
With 200 million searches per day‚ most from outside the U.S.‚ Google amounts to a privacy disaster waiting to happen. Those newly-commissioned data-mining bureaucrats in Washington can only dream about the sort of slick efficiency that Google has already achieved.


Source: http://focusinterview.com/articles.php?id=4

[fun2sh]

really shockin news for me.i knew that google stores personal info but i didnt knew all this.

[iMav]

there is a reason why its being dubbed as the next MS

[azzu]

^^ ha ha

[Pathik]

Even Apple is being dubbed the next MS.
As you grow big evy1 ll try to pull u down..

[Gigacore]

and the 10th fact is missing

Google was actually planned to be named as "Goggle", but while the investers wrote the cheque they wrote "Google"

[tgpraveen]

this is OLD news and today it is INCORRECT as google has changed their policies to delete all user information after 18 months or so a time period which is necessiated by US laws
pls dont just copy paste without checking up the facts.

really.
I donot now that.
It is very bad.

[The_Devil_Himself]

Google owns internet but IMO it is trustworthy unlike some other monopolies.

[Gigacore]

^ when did the google own the INTERNET

[iMav]

since the time os x and linux over took windows as the best os out thr

[The_Devil_Himself]

@gigs:Google is The company.Most of the net is p2p and the rest is google.

Tell me how many people don't use either google search engine or gmail?

[Gigacore]

Originally Posted by The_Devil_Himself

Tell me how many people don't use either google search engine or gmail?

Microsoft Guys

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ you think so??!

[Gigacore]

^^ ballmer said

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by iMav

since the time os x and linux over took windows as the best os out thr

you mean 10 years back?

[cool_techie_tvm]

Originally Posted by tgpraveen

this is OLD news and today it is INCORRECT as google has changed their policies to delete all user information after 18 months or so a time period which is necessiated by US laws
pls dont just copy paste without checking up the facts.

Yes, google periodically deletes user data from their database.

[fun2sh]

thats y i never use google search wen i m logged in to my google accounts!!

[Faun]

3rd ww reason seems obvious

[a_k_s_h_a_y]

this was suppose to happen ... after all people at google are humans and not saints

[ravi_9793]

yes I read about this in digit ....long time ago.
They store all our data.So, don't take panga with google

[iamtheone]

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

you mean 10 years back?

PJ??

[NucleusKore]

They grew on their own strengths, not by robbing others code, did they? Thankfully they don't charge you to search. I use one of their "offline" products, Picasa. And off course I keep clearing my cache and cookies, so much for being immortal. People should learn, you can set your firefox to clear your cache and cookies automatically on exit, its not like you have to remember. I guess they know public weaknesses well.

[praka123]

google is not what it is written on OP.they flushes the data periodically.and google is anytime better,not to say the worst is M$ reg privacy,60+ holes so that US and M$ can probe into ur vista and not to say the hated DRM cr@p

[naveen_reloaded]

Ya sure ways to rule the world by 2020..

[ax3]

these facts are very very very very OLD ........

bt i wonder whot does gOOgle do with these cOOkies & do they have that much space 2 store ALL of it ?

[Gigacore]

^ yeah may be old.. but its hot news for those who dont know...

cookies wont cost more space...