What Google knows about me
January 19th, 2008 by Sita ! 730 viewsEverything. ok, almost everything.
I was a reading a post on “Google To Become Open Source Science Repository” at Techcrunch. While this is a really nice gesture by Google, what made me uneasy was Ducan’s observation that “We thought Google knew everything, now it will know even more“. So I just made a list of Google’s products that I use and what google knows about me. The list was really scary. Read on and most probably you will be scared too.
Google Search :- all my searches (interests, hobbies, plans). May be my profession too.
Google Desktop Search :- all the content on my laptop
Google Toolbar :- the web sites I visit, frequency of visit
Gmail :- All my emails. Even if you do not use gmail, if the person you send mails, uses gmail then google knows the content of the email sent by you.
Orkut :- myyour freind list, the communities I belong to
Blogger :- frequency of my blog post, all those post that I never published
Adsense :- my complete address, my online income, which posts on my blog are more popular
Adword :- my credit card information
Analytics :- details about my users, where and how they come from
webmaster tools:- the search term I target
Personally I love google and I use their products because they are the best ones available. But the thought that one company knows too much about me sometimes worries me. Just in case they become evil someday !!! I think we desperately need an alternative, may be an open source search engine.
The following links will explain exactly why I am uncomfortable.
AOL search data scandal
US regional bank hacked
AT&T hack exposes 19,000 identities
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6 Responses to “What Google knows about me”
By Everett on Jan 19, 2008 | Reply
It sounds scary at first but honestly other than Google, the banks, the credit companies, the government already has this knowledge of us. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t plan on doing anything illegal so it doesn’t really bother me if one more entity knows something about me.
By SoniaC on Jan 19, 2008 | Reply
Sita, I’m not sure there’s any turning back on this. What baffles me is that while most people know this personal information is out there and yet, they continue to pour their content online. All because Google was able to act as our global filing secretary.
By Sita on Jan 19, 2008 | Reply
@Everett
Yeah you are indeed right. And do not worry, I am not planning anything illegal either. :)Just the thought of someone having so much knowledge about me makes me uncomfortable.
By Free iPod Touch on Jan 20, 2008 | Reply
Wow, never realized how much of my information they really have
By Dempsey on Jan 21, 2008 | Reply
Slight correction: “…the content of your email.” should read “… the content of that email (or those emails).” Your version reads like if a non-gmail user sends an email to a gmail account, then all their email is known to Google. That’s not true…. yet!
Keep on keeping on.
By Sita on Jan 21, 2008 | Reply
@Dempsey
Thank god that it is not true yet
Good observation though. Updated the post to reflect the fact that content of only that email will be known to google. Thanks