Joe_in_RP Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Google knows more about you than any organisation in human history. It can give you a bird’s eye view of your house, allow friends and family to track your every move through their mobile phones, and through its search engine - knows your likes, dislikes and even your vices. Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced today that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users' individual tastes. The move was met with fierce criticism. MPs described the new system as the introduction of “big brother” advertising, and leading privacy campaigners said the development was “dangerous”, calling on the government to launch an investigation into the activities of the company to see whether it was becoming too powerful. Google’s new system, which launched today, can track users who visit hundreds of thousands of sites that show Google advertising. By following users through these sites, Google is able to display advertising that is relevant to each individual user. The company said in a statement: “If you love to travel and frequently visit travel-related websites, you’re more likely to see interest-based ads about vacations and travel deals as you surf the web.” “If you visit a website that sells pet supplies, you might see an ad from that particular pet supply website the next time you browse other sites showing interest-based ads from Google.” Other companies in the online industry have already embraced behavioural advertising of this sort, but privacy campaigners have consistently fought against tracking for advertising purposes. Google calls the system “interest-based advertising”. The way the system works is that Google will use a “cookie” - a small piece of data inside a web browser - to track people as they visit one of the sites that display Google advertising. Google will then assign those users to categories based on the content of the pages they visit. For example, someone may be pigeon-holed as a football fan, a car owner or soon-to-be parent, based on the information gathered by Google. Google said it would not categorise certain “sensitive” interests which including race, religion, sexual orientation and personal medical information. However, privacy campaigners lambasted the system. “Google might well hype their targeting system as a boon to pet owners, but the reality is that the service will track just about everything you do and everything you’re interested in, no matter how personal or sensitive,” said Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International. He added: “The privacy threat from Google is growing by the day. It is now time for parliament to launch a full investigation of the company.” In response, a Google spokesperson said: "This is completely untrue. We will not serve ads against sensitive categories full stop, and users can easily opt out of receiving any interest-based adverts entirely." [Yes but they are still tracking us] http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/...m=1236832239359 Who could have imagined this 10 years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatLakesGramma Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 [Yes but they are still tracking us] Not if you block their cookies. It's easy enough. Quote Catherine God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26. "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." -- C. S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True-believer Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING US--THE ANTI-CHRIST OF TODAY'S WORLD--THE DEVIL... BE ON GUARD............. Quote Luke 4:19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If Google is the Devil ... I'm glad to meet him. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlbyrd Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 If Google is the Devil ... I'm glad to meet him. Haha... nice. I personally do not see anything wrong with that they are doing. Unless you are visiting some unsavory sites, why does it matter if they know what you like to look at on the internet? They are only using this information to better advertise products you will likely be more interested in. It seems very useful to me as most advertisements are incredibly annoying and unrelated to anything I am interested in. Quote www.reviewandherald.tumblr.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 The “nothing to hide” argument and its variants are quite prevalent in popular discourse about privacy. Data security expert Bruce Schneier calls it the “most common retort against privacy advocates”8 Legal scholar Geoffrey Stone refers to it as “all-too-common refrain.”9 The “nothing to hide” argument is one of the primary arguments made when balancing privacy against security..... In this essay, I will explore the “nothing to hide” argument and its variants in more depth. Grappling with the “nothing to hide” argument is important, as the argument reflects the sentiments of a wide percentage of the population. In popular discourse, the “nothing to hide” argument’s superficial incantations can readily be refuted. ... Everybody probably has something to hide from somebody. Read this and you will understand fully why the the founders would be alarmed. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565 Its free. Just download at the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Are you a conspiratist Joe? I think that as Christians ... we know that we can't hide ANYthing and we should have nothing to hide. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlbyrd Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Joe I agree with the article you posted, but I don't see what Google is doing as falling into the same category. The government has been keeping tabs on people, trying to find individuals who are guilty of, or know information regarding, terrorism activities. It has definitely been an invasion of privacy and a direct contradiction to our justice system creed. Google is merely trying to make pop-up ads less random and more focused on you as a consumer. They could care less about you as a person and your daily activities, they just want to try and sell things based off of web site visits. But I realize that some may view this as a thin line. To me they're completely different. Quote www.reviewandherald.tumblr.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 Its more than privacy. Its surveillance. History has shown that every time privacy and liberty are abused, ternary follows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreatLakesGramma Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Blocking Cookies with IE 7 How to Manage Cookies in IE 6 Managing Cookies with Mozilla and Firefox For earlier versions of Internet Explorer, there's a link on the IE 6 page. Quote Catherine God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26. "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." -- C. S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolaa Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Are you a conspiratist Joe? I think that as Christians ... we know that we can't hide ANYthing and we should have nothing to hide. It's not really a matter of if you have something to hide or not. What if President Obama decided that people who visit conservative websites are unpatriotic and need to be monitored? It's just wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SivartM Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 You're probably in more danger from Google Health than targeted advertising. Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 13, 2009 Author Share Posted March 13, 2009 WOW http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager02.html A website can turn on your camera or microphone without your permission. I have heard about this but I never believed it. Until now. Click on the first tab in left to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SivartM Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 WOW http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager02.html A website can turn on your camera or microphone without your permission. I have heard about this but I never believed it. Until now. Click on the first tab in left to change. I see two options: Always Deny, and Always Ask. I don't see anything there that says that a website can access your camera or microphone WITHOUT asking. Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmin M. Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 Funny indeed. Why? Right under your post Joe, there was and advertisement about Google. Ha. O.o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 If they have the power to access, then someone has the power to do it without permission. The tools are there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 15, 2009 Members Share Posted March 15, 2009 I agree with that Joe. pk Quote phkrause By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near. {5T 451.1} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SivartM Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 If they have the power to access, then someone has the power to do it without permission. The tools are there. But they would have to go hack the flash plugin so that it would automatically allow access to your microphone without asking permission. Not only would that kind of thing be illegal, there are probably much easier ways to eavesdrop. If they cared at all. Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 If flash has the access points in their program, then MS provided it in the OS. So it's been there for a while. Now Flash may be nice and ask permission, but another program may not. Another program may also override the flash permission system. Now A reputable company like Macromedia is not going to spy on us. But less reputable companies like malware, virus's and even our own government might just do that. You see its no longer illegal for the government to eavesdrop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SivartM Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Of course spyware and such can spy on your computer. I'd like to know exactly why the government is less reputable than Macromedia, though. And why the government would be spying on anyone without reason. Yes, they CAN, but I doubt that unless they already suspected you of something, they would be spying on you, so it's not that big of a deal. Quote "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde�Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." - Jesus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_in_RP Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 I wish I shared your viewpoint. Just google "government spying". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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