more on Google Redirects (was: Re: Google gets a bit closer to evil... )

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: August 11, 2005 5:10:14 PM EDT
To: joehall () gmail com
Cc: dave () farber net, lauren () vortex com
Subject: Google Redirects (was: Re: [IP] Google gets a bit closer to  
evil... )


> 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
> ...
> 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.

Though I've obviously been very critical regarding Google privacy
issues lately, I must point out that the behavior you describe is
not new and is (as far as I know) only done on a sampling basis.
That is, a certain percentage of Google results and/or result pages
returned (I've unofficially heard 10% on average in the past, but
have not verified this precise figure) will use the "through Google"
redirects, apparently for their analysis purposes.  These often seem
to appear in clusters for a short period of time for any given user.

It should be noted that some search engines have long redirected
*all* results in this way.  Arguably, "slipping in" some redirects
in the manner Google is doing may be a bit more insidious, since
most users aren't expecting it, but at least Google apparently isn't
doing redirects for most results returned.

In general, I believe that all of these kinds of redirects are
potentially privacy-invasive behaviors and should be discouraged for
all search sites.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () pfir org or lauren () vortex com or lauren () eepi org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
  - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, EEPI
  - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com



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