Google’s Persistent & Sticky Memory
Blogging has been light lately as I’m busy (a) finalizing details for the Identity & Identification in a Networked World symposium at NYU, (b) working out the logistics for my upcoming research trip to Europe (which now also includes a stop at Aalborg University in Denmark), and (c) trying to make some progress on the dissertation.
Regarding the diss, I’ve been writing on how web search engine providers have relied upon what I refers to as infrastructures of dataveillance to collect and aggregate data about users across services:
These infrastructures rely on the interconnections between various search engine products and services, including general web searches, e-mail, personalized news delivery, special interest groups, and shopping services. Increasingly, search engine providers are also providing interfaces between the searchable web and our social lives through the integration of calendars, social networks, and blogging and publishing platforms. All these systems, through the use of persistent web cookies and universal logins, provide the ability for search engine providers to collect and aggregate a much wider array of personal information about their users than just their web search queries.
Obviously, much more to say about this when I have more time. For now, see these two related posts over at Google Operating System: Are You Logged In? and Google Persistent Memory
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