more on Privacy tip: be wary of Google's "personal history" feature [priv]

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "W.B. McNamara" <whitney () absono us>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:53:34 -0400 (EDT)
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Privacy tip: be wary of Google's "personal history"
feature [priv]


I guess where I'm veering off from some others on the list is in my
feeling that the privacy concerns associated with Google's addition of
an *explicit* search history pale in comparison to many other privacy
issues; I won't disagree that there are signficant (potential) issues
there, but will contend that these concerns are getting more attention
because it's "don't be evil" Google.

Some thoughts:

Do you know what the data retention policy for you ISP is, and under
what conditions they'll disclose information on your online activity?
If you've got a static IP address, ask the same question about *all* of
the Web sites that you visit.

By the tone of some of the comments, I'm assuming that most people here
practice safe computing, but have you ever been infected by a trojan?
Do you know exactly what information was sent to whom by that program?
Are you sure -- really, really sure -- that your computer is currently
secure?

Are you aware that Microsoft is pushing a "black box" for upcoming
releases of Windows, that will retain information on your computer, what
software you have installed, and what you are doing when errors occur,
and that this information is to go back to MS that they may debug their
errors more effectively?  Do you know what privacy policy covers this
information, and under what circumstances they would disclose it,
voluntarily or otherwise?

And just for an oldie but a goodie, let's remember that for those of us
living in the USA, the Federal government can request and search your
travel, phone, financial, and medical records, in addition to any
records maintained by libraries, religious institutions, retailers
(think Amazon, bookstores, video rental stores) without having to
disclose anything to you.

Does any of that lessen the potential privacy issues associated with
using Google?  No, absolutely not.  But if we take threats to our
privacy seriously, it would seem wise to remember that Google has the
*potential* to present a broad and far-reaching threat to privacy, but
there are already some broad and far-reaching threats to our privacy in
place today.

- Whit

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005, David Farber wrote:

> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 22:58:14 -0400
> To: <politech () politechbot com>
> Subject: [Politech] Privacy tip: be wary of Google's "personal history"
> feature [priv]
>
> [Imagine the type of personal information that a subpoena to Google
> could unearth in a criminal prosecution: every search query you've ever
> made on that computer with that browser. If you "log in" to other Google
> services, your queries can be tracked across computers. Can this
> information be obtained by opposing counsel in a divorce case? I don't
> know, but I can imagine some instances where it could be seen as
> relevant. I'd invite someone with more knowledge of family law to reply.
> --Declan]
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [IP] more on BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK -- Google Launches Personal
> History Feature
> Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 11:53:02 -0500
> To: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
>
>
>
> ------- Original message -------
> From: Trei, Peter <ptrei () rsasecurity com>
> Sent: 21/4/'05,  11:31
>
> "W.B. McNamara" <whitney () absono us>
>
> > Could you provide a little more detail on what elements you feel are a
> > bad idea?  With Amazon/A9, AskJeeves, and Yahoo all offering a search
> > history feature, I'd argue that Google has no choice but to offer
> > something similar.
> >
> > With Google only storing history if you log in, as well as offering a
> > "pause" functionality to allow users to keep certain searches out of
> > their history, this strikes me as a pretty reasonable implementation
> > (though I'll admit that I've only played with it a very little bit).
>
> Google retains logs of *every* query. I refer you to the following
> NYT story.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/28/technology/circuits/28goog.html
>
> It's far from clear if 'pause' actually stops logging, or just
> marks any queries made as 'not to be returned in History'.
>
> Google also places tracking cookies on your machine, and
> presumably uses them to identify the queries of a given
> user.
>
> If you setup some google service which requires you to identify
> yourself, that cookie can be used to link all of your queries
> to your identity.
>
> At that point, the privacy implications become immense. While
> some will always respond 'If you have done nothing wrong, why
> would you want to hide?', in the real world, there are many,
> many values for 'something wrong'. Actions and interests
> that you, today, may feel are ethical and legal, may by some
> one else or at some future time be used adversely against you.
>
> Its a matter of privacy.
>
> Disclaimer: The above reflects my personal opinion only.
>
> Peter Trei
>
> _______________________________________________
> Politech mailing list
> Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
> Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
>
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>
>
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