Google gets a bit closer to evil...

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall () gmail com>
Date: August 11, 2005 1:10:42 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
Subject: Google gets a bit closer to evil...
Reply-To: joehall () pobox com


<http://josephhall.org/nqb2/index.php/2005/08/11/g_hrefs>

Google has some sort of new private, desktop search thing coming out.
I think.  At a minimum, they've just increased their ability to
monitor what search results you click on.

If you're using FireFox, go to [Google] and do a search.  Like [this  
one]:

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=modest+mouse&btnG=Google+Search>

Right click on the first link and select "Copy Link Location".  You'll
notice that the `href` no longer points to the URL of the first site
but is passed through Google as a redirect.

The URL I see looks like this:

<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A// 
www.modestmousemusic.com/&ei=TYL7QpHLLa2YYJn-qZYN>

Besides the fact that Google has just increased it's ability to
monitor what I click on, this is especially frustrating for bloggers
like me as I use Google to get links for things I'm blogging.
Curiously, this doesn't happen if you use Safari with Google cookies
enabled (but if you don't have cookies enabled in Safari, you do see
the redirect).

It would be great if I could turn this off.

[Google]: http://www.google.com/
[this one]: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;q=modest 
+mouse&amp;btnG=Google+Search

--
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
UC Berkeley, SIMS PhD Student
<http://josephhall.org/>


-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/