Michael Zimmer, PhD, is a digital privacy and data ethics scholar at Marquette University
This is unbelievable. Google recently released SearchWiki, deployed on the masses without much apparent foresight regarding usability or privacy. While some tweaks have been made, this remains an odd and surprisingly poorly-planned "feature". So, what have the great minds in…
Read More Proof Sergey Brin is Bored: Google SearchWiki with Sound
Google recently launched SearchWiki, allowing users logged into their Google Account to customize their search results by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results. Google states this is an effort to improve user experience, and I'm sure some will…
If I were still in New York City, I'd be excited to attend a debate tomorrow on the proposition that “Google violates its ‘don’t be evil’ motto.” Debaters include Jeff Jarvis, Esther Dyson and Jim Harper (against the motion), and…
Read More Debate: Does Google Violate its “Don’t Be Evil” Motto?
Google announced a new tool, Google Flu Trends, that purports to track flu activity across the United States. By analyzing flu-related search trends, Google has been able to map a close relationship between the frequency of flu search queries and…
A collection of information and communication companies, advocacy groups, and academic centers have announced the formation of the Global Network Initiative, aimed at protecting free expression and privacy on the Internet on a global scale. From the announcement: In an…
Read More Global Network Initiative Promises to Protect Privacy and Freedom of Expression Online
I’ve been ridiculously busy lately, and need to quickly catch up on some recent items of note: Scientific American has a nice special issue dedicated to "the future of privacy." Nothing new here for most privacy scholars, but it is…
Quickly, as I'm rushing out the door to teach: Google has announced it will (reluctantly) shorten the amount of time it holds fully-identifiable information, and will “anonymize” search records after 9 months, rather than the current 18 months. This is…
Some former Googlers have launched a rival search engine named for the Gaelic word for knolwedge, Cuil. Cuil (pronounced like "cool"), which claims to have an index three times the size as Google and ten times as Microsoft, aims to…
Read More New “Cuil” Search Engines Decides User Logs Aren’t Necessary
Following up on Google's recent decision (over the 4th of July holiday weekend) to sneak a link to its privacy policy onto its homepage and SERPs, Ted Byfield did a quick analysis of the realative visbility of the privacy policy…
Read More Visibility of Googe’s Privacy Policy Depends on Where you Live
After coming under attack for refusing to add a simple hyperlink to help users find their privacy policy, Google has added the word “privacy”, with a link to its privacy policy, to its home page (image via Google): Google, for…
Read More Google (Quietly/Oddly) Adds Privacy Link to Homepage
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