The title of this post is the headline from a story in today's Wall Street Journal (non-firewall version here), detailing how the largest web search engines are starting to make changes to how they handle the data collected from their…
Category: Privacy
Ask.com To Allow Users to Control Data Retention
In a bold, unilateral move, the web search engine Ask.com has announced it will soon be implementing a new product called AskEraser which promises to allow users to erase their search history: With AskEraser, people can ensure that their search…
SDP2007 Presentation: The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine
Today I gave an abbreviated presentation of my dissertation research at the OII Summer Doctoral Programme hosted by the Berkman Center. (PDF of slides) Along with a summary of the diss, my talk included a brief meta-discussion of both the…
Read More SDP2007 Presentation: The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine
Microsoft Seeks to Use Application and Hard Drive Data to Sell Ads
Taking contextual advertising to the next logical level, it has been reported that a recent patent filing indicates Microsoft want to develop an advertising framework that uses applications and data on one's computer, rather than one's actions on the Web,…
Read More Microsoft Seeks to Use Application and Hard Drive Data to Sell Ads
Google’s Cookie to have 2 Year Expiration (Because it is of little value after that time)
Google announced today they are changing the expiration date of their cookie from 2038 (the latest possible date) to a rolling 2 year period. Once put into action, users who visit Google today, for example, will receive a cookie that…
Read More Google’s Cookie to have 2 Year Expiration (Because it is of little value after that time)
More of Peter Fleischer Misleading on Google Data Retention
Google's Peter Fleischer is (again) trying to provide justifications for Google's retention of users' search activities. He (again) is misleading. I don't have a lot of free time right now for an in-depth response, (my analysis is here) which is…
Read More More of Peter Fleischer Misleading on Google Data Retention
With SmartAds, Yahoo Finally Joins Google…as a Threat to Privacy
In my dissertation I outline the quest for the “perfect search engine” – a search engine capable of indexing all available information and providing fast and relevant results. The perfect search engine will have to have “perfect reach” to deliver…
Read More With SmartAds, Yahoo Finally Joins Google…as a Threat to Privacy
Data-driven Ethics: Exploring Customer Privacy in the Information Era (now with free irony)
Researchers at Cornell University's Center for Hospitality Research have released a study on consumer reactions to the common practice in the hospitality industry to collect, aggregate, and use customer's personal data. From the abstract: Data-Driven Ethics: Exploring Customer Privacy in…
Scholarship on Privacy and Search Engines
I recently had the pleasure of attending an excellent workshop on "privacy advocacy" hosted by the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley. The goal was to get privacy advocates in the room with academics who work on privacy in…
Function Creep 101: Surveillance Cameras and Social Norms
Jeremy Hunsinger points to this disturbing report about how a dean of students at a Washington high school thought he saw two girls kissing, so he checked the school's surveillance footage to confirm it. He then proceeded to share what…
Read More Function Creep 101: Surveillance Cameras and Social Norms
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