Tag Archives: Google privacy
Google+: How Paranoid Are You About Privacy?
Posted on 21. Jul, 2011 by Wolfgang Gruener. 
1 Comments
Editor’s note: this article originally appeared on our partnership site ConceivablyTech.
Summary, response, follow up and criticism – We recently ran an article in which we offered an opinion, not just Kurt’s opinion, but an opinion that has been created among our writers, about the security and especially a lack of security in Google’s social network. Of course, it was an editorial opinion, and you may have a different opinion. Google certainly has a different opinion and agreed to give us some of its time today to explain the approach of privacy in Google+. We still do not agree with it in its entirety, but admit that Google has – from its perspective – a case. In the end, it may all come down to the philosophy of how open your information can be and how paranoid you need to be about your privacy.
One of the advantages of having early access to Google+ is not so much the fact that you can engage with others, simply because there isn’t that much engaging happening right now. However, there is quite a bit you can learn about your personal preferences how a social network should work for you as you can compare Facebook and Google+ side by side in a relatively harmless way: There may be an almost silly volume of interest in Google+, but your exposure on the network is still very limited. If you have read Kurt’s article, you know that we are concerned about Google’s approach to handling privacy (as we are about the protection of privacy in all social networks, by the way.)
Not surprisingly, Google believes it has an approach that is reasonable and appropriate to secure privacy in Google+. Google argues that its social network privacy is much more flexible than the tools provided by its “competition” (we assume that would be Facebook.) Google+ privacy relies on (1) your general Google account settings, (2) the settings in your Google Profile, (3) the use of Circles and (4) your ability to understand your conduct and potential impact of the data you post online.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 2/21/11
Posted on 21. Feb, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Is the Acer DX241H display really the first commercial Chrome OS device? TechCrunch doesn’t think so.
Here is a guide on opening PDFs in Gmail using Chrome.
What kind of information does Google have about you if you’re a Chrome user?
Google’s social search update may actually bring you results that you weren’t really looking for.
Google is attracting talent from Oracle in a bid to boost its enterprise revenue.
Google Account Two Step Verification: Is it Worth Your Time?
Posted on 19. Feb, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Just recently Google has announced that they will be rolling out the two step verification security feature for all accounts. Many users have a lot of information stored in their Google accounts, and if you want to get an idea of what I mean check out your Google Dashboard. Scroll down on all those wonderful services that you use, and you’ll see what may look like a digital biography of yourself.
There was a lot of news about this a week ago, and now it’s died down. A lot of people have access to two step verification at this point since it was rolled out, but I’m going to guess that not many people have actually implemented it. The question is: will it be worth the time to implement for most people?
I did it today, and it was pretty easy: you set up one (or two) phones that can trigger a verification code, have the system set up backup codes you can print or write down and set up individual service passwords. The process says it takes fifteen minutes, but it’s more like ten. Here is a walkthrough of the process.
Important Information about Google Buzz Class Action Settlement
Posted on 02. Nov, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
This was sent to me in my Gmail account:
Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we’ve reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.
Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.
Googlesharing Gets Revamp, Will Come to Chrome Soon
Posted on 11. Oct, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 6 Comments
Googlesharing is a service that surfaced last January, offering users the ability to search without Google specifically knowing who they are. One of the most entertaining things about the Googlesharing site is how closely it mimics the Google motif, which is a clever move by its founder, programmer Moxie Marlinspike.
Last week, Googlesharing released a new version of its Firefox add-in that makes private your searches even through the Googlesharing servers that is must go through to use as a proxy. It does this by leveraging Google’s introduction of SSL searches that was launched in May. This way, there is no identifying information using the service even for Googlesharing’s server administrators other than a user’s IP address.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 9/16/10
Posted on 16. Sep, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
What will Google do the next time security has been breached by one of its own employees?
The Dev channel of Chrome browser has been updated for all platforms with minor fixes.
Google’s share of the search market is hitting a flat point, sticking at 65% yet not losing any ground to Bing.
Is the Internet Explorer 9 interface built to appease those who have switched over to Chrome?
Google’s UK chief believes that the mobile revolution will be much bigger than the internet one.
Privacy Watchdog Releases Google Video
Posted on 03. Sep, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
This clip portrays Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a merchant of secrets in this computer generated clip that looks almost like a children’s cartoon. It was created by Inside Google, which is funded by advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.
What do you think? Is Google as bad as this suggests?
Google Snags Mouse-Watching Patent
Posted on 27. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Slashdot is reporting via a blog called Techeye that Google has secured a patent for displaying search results based on the way a user moves their cursor. Called System and Method for Modulating Search Relevancy Using Pointer Activity Monitoring, this process allows Google to display an advertisement based on when someone hovers their cursor over a link, and not neccessarily clicks on it.
We all know that Google makes the lion’s share of money from its ads. I know that other companies do mouse-over style advertising, but this system may be more intricate that those since the patent describes “a client assistant residing in a client computer monitors movements of a user controlled pointer in a web browser”, meaning there is software monitoring mouse movements on a device.
Hey, we’ll see where this one ends up. I better be able to turn this option off in Chrome OS. Just as long as Google doesn’t start making decisions for me. Hm, maybe they already do…
