Search Engines – Page 3 – MichaelZimmer.org

Web-search privacy efforts move to forefront

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 23, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines

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…

Ask.com To Allow Users to Control Data Retention

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 20, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines1 Comment

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

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 17, 2007in Privacy, Professional, Search Engines3 Comments

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…

With SmartAds, Yahoo Finally Joins Google…as a Threat to Privacy

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 4, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines2 Comments

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…

Scholarship on Privacy and Search Engines

Posted by Michael Zimmeron June 30, 2007in Privacy, Publications, Search Engines8 Comments

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…

Google Universal Search: Half of the Perfect Search Engine

Posted by Michael Zimmeron May 16, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines3 Comments

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…

Career Announcements

Posted by Michael Zimmeron April 22, 2007in Privacy, Professional, Search Engines3 Comments

Motivated by recent events, I'm pleased to announce that I have completed and filed my dissertation, "The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine: Values, Technical Design, and the Flow of Personal Information in Spheres of Mobility." All that awaits is…

“Privacy in Web-Search” Panel Discussion 3/30/07

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 21, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines

I'm pleased to announce I will be moderating a panel discussion on "Privacy in Web Search" as part of the ITS Colloquium at NYU Law's Information Law Institute. The panelists are: Ramsey Homsany, Senior Counsel, Google Daniel Howe, Ph.D. Candidate,…

Wikiasari, an Open, Wiki-based Search Engine

Posted by Michael Zimmeron December 23, 2006in Search Engines1 Comment

The Times.uk reports that Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia wants to build and open, wiki-based web search engine to rival Google. The search engine will be called Wikiasari — a combination of wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, and…

The Disciplinary Gaze of Web Search Engines

Posted by Michael Zimmeron November 16, 2006in Events, Privacy, Search Engines2 Comments

Blogging has been light (again), as I've been preparing for my final conference trip. This time, I'm in San Antonio, TX for the 92nd Annual Convention of the National Communication Association. I'm presenting on an amazing panel titled "Visualizing Security:…