Comments on: Big brother Google is tracking you

By: links for 2007-11-16 « The View From My Window

links for 2007-11-16 « The View From My Window — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:39:11 +0000

[...] Big brother Google is tracking you » Moving at the Speed of Creativity (tags: GoogleTools) [...]

By: Jill Elfering

Jill Elfering — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:44:18 +0000

When I signed in to see my history today, I would have had to start the PageRank and History tracking, so it hasn’t done it automatically since I created an account. If you use the Google Toolbar and enable PageRank there, then I would think it tracks all activity while logged in.

I don’t know, I don’t mind it since I have control over when it happens. My memory is so bad it would be nice to have a reminder once in a while so I don’t have to keep re-searching what I already have in the past.

By: joanna

joanna — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:09:00 +0000

It only tracks your history if you are signed in while you’re searching. Seems kind of like we’re spreading fear here and that’s not necessary at all. Better to be clear, precise, and concise. Tell the clearest version of the truth that you can.

By: Nick Baker

Nick Baker — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:16:15 +0000

It is true that Google tracks your Google searches, but they also make it very easy to opt out of the program and clear your history if you choose. Now whether or not it’s really gone is another question, but it’s not as sinister as it looks at first glance.

By: Wesley Fryer

Wesley Fryer — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:21:07 +0000

You’re right Sharon, and Google History can be a great tool and resource, not only to identify trends in Internet use but also to find websites that you looked up and found in the past, and can’t remember today! As Miguel has pointed out with a link, it is possible to turn off this tracking capacity. Personally, I am leaving it on. I was fascinated to learn about my own Google use trends, and see the value of this tool. So while this does make me think of “Big Brother” I do acknowledge, as you’ve pointed out, that Google is open about this and does directly empower individuals to turn this service on or off. Thanks for pointing this out.

By: Miguel Guhlin

Miguel Guhlin — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:38:37 +0000

use the techniques here to stop Google from tracking:
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-stop-google-from-recording-your.html

Take care,
Miguel

By: Sharon Peters

Sharon Peters — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:46:19 +0000

The fact that Google is capable of tracking our use is not so surprising - I would have been quite a bit more surprised if they could not or did not. And they are up front with sharing this capability with us. It would have been quite a bit more disconcerting if they were surreptitious in their tracking of use - or worse still, selling the results to the government or some other buyer. Now THAT would be better termed “Big Brother”. Actually, perhaps we should be grateful for the service - we might be able to use this as an opportunity to teach appropriate use for these tools to our students and children. After all, this gives teachers and parents a tool for monitoring the use of google searches by users. If we ourselves use these tools ethically and with integrity, we have no reason for embarrassment later when our digital behaviour catches up with us. We should be pointing this out to our students as they navigate and live their lives online.

By: Scott Meech

Scott Meech — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:46:41 +0000

I see educational opportunity. Schools could leverage this technology to help students improve their search skills. This is more data that could be used to assess our students performance. Perhaps we could ask students to use this data in a presentation to evaluate their evolution of research skills, etc.

These brainstorms are coming at the speed of creativity for sure and not necessarily completely thought out. I just see potential as well.