on-line privacy, google and me...
tuuttu...@home.nl
I guess you all heard what E. Schmidt (CEO Google inc.) said about
people who are worried about their privacy... He basically thinks that
anyone in this NG is a sick twisted perv or a terrorist or at least a
vile criminal :-) So after long deliberation I decided to abolish google
as much as possible. I installed ghostery(1) and found out who is
watching me (quite a few honestly, including Google) and a proper cookie
blocker. So that`s that taken care of. Yeah, call me a wrongdoer, I
don't really mind :-)
Now a question remains: What search engine to use. First I thought of
Bing and considered AltaVista and Yahoo. Problem is that they are all
M$. The other possibility is A9 from Amazon, but I don't trust them a
lot either... So...
-1- How do you guy`s manage? What search-engine do you use.
-2- How do you keep you're privacy on-line
-3- Did anyone find a 'find-engine' yet?
-4- What`s a good alternative for youtube? (I tried redtube, but the
content is a bit unilateral :-)
All feedback is welcome! Thanks in advance!
Gr. Ruud
Keith Keller
>
> I guess you all heard what E. Schmidt (CEO Google inc.) said about
> people who are worried about their privacy... He basically thinks that
> anyone in this NG is a sick twisted perv or a terrorist or at least a
> vile criminal :-)
Wow, how did he know?!?
>So after long deliberation I decided to abolish google
> as much as possible. I installed ghostery(1) and found out who is
> watching me (quite a few honestly, including Google)
ghostery didn't see Google's search engine using any tracking sites. I
can imagine their other products doing so, however (which is one reason
I don't use them).
> Now a question remains: What search engine to use. First I thought of
> Bing and considered AltaVista and Yahoo. Problem is that they are all
> M$. The other possibility is A9 from Amazon, but I don't trust them a
> lot either... So...
> -1- How do you guy`s manage? What search-engine do you use.
I still use google. I haven't yet found a good alternative.
> -2- How do you keep you're privacy on-line
I clear my cookies from Firefox after every session. So I don't use a
cookie blocker, but (if Firefox is working properly) those cookies don't
exist next time I start up Firefox anyway, so I don't bend over
backwards to restrict cookies otherwise. I also try as much as possible
not to divulge personal information to organizations that don't need it;
for example, for a site that wants my phone number, I either use
000-0000, or, for sites that check the validity of the number, I make up
a number in 555-xxxx. (I've yet to see a site that thwarts both styles
of dummy phone numbers.)
--keith
--
kkeller...@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us
(try just my userid to email me)
AOLSFAQ=http://www.therockgarden.ca/aolsfaq.txt
see X- headers for PGP signature information
Cork Soaker
You should get out more.
tuuttu...@home.nl
In... You mean IN!!! I walk to and from my work (01:15 HH:MM total) each
day, and then I have these thoughts. Maybe I better stay home, sell my
PC and buy some Haloperidol from the $$ :-)
Cork Soaker
You're a real hero.
Wanna-Be Sys Admin
> Hey All!
>
> I guess you all heard what E. Schmidt (CEO Google inc.) said about
> people who are worried about their privacy...
I don't know who that is, or why you think this person's opinion carries
any weight to bother mentioning it?
> He basically thinks that
> anyone in this NG is a sick twisted perv or a terrorist or at least a
> vile criminal :-)
Sources? Relevance?
> So after long deliberation I decided to abolish
> google as much as possible.
I can think of better reasons, but that's fine.
> I installed ghostery(1)
Never heard of it, I don't see the point.
> and found out who
> is watching me
There's no such thing as anyone watching you (unless you really are of
interest to some authority), so I suppose you mean online tracking
methods.
> (quite a few honestly, including Google) and a proper
> cookie blocker. So that`s that taken care of. Yeah, call me a
> wrongdoer, I don't really mind :-)
Who cares if you block cookies? Cookies offer no threat whatsoever.
Just like the rest of the Internet, it's only the data you
submit/output or post that makes you who you are, and I just don't see
that information being a threat.
> Now a question remains: What search engine to use.
Whatever one I feel like, whatever one finds the information I seek,
hopefully with the best, most relevant results.
> First I thought of
> Bing and considered AltaVista and Yahoo.
So, what's wrong with google, too? Why get less likely good results
because of a rumor about a CEO? Do you know the guy? Is the person
real? Did they really say it, and if so, did they do something to block
access/results for this news group that make you want to boycot google?
If so, just say so, though I can't imagine it's worth boycotting the
whole 5 posts per month we see here if they did block (and are they
even blocking it?) I use google for searches, nothing else, I have no
interest in any of their other services, including gmail or google
groups, so what is the point?
> Problem is that they are all
> M$.
Are they? So what? You don't have to use a Microsoft system to
access/use the search service, so if it gets the results you want, use
it. If you don't like them, don't click on any of the paid ads/links
they display and they get nothing from you other than bandwdith usage
on their end that they pay for. Isn't that a good thing from an
Anti-MS mindset?
> The other possibility is A9 from Amazon, but I don't trust them a
> lot either... So...
Never heard of A9. I've never used Amazon for a search like I do with
Google or others. Are you sure Amazon would offer the same WWW search
that google and Yahoo, etc. do? I don't think so, or they just use one
of the major SE backends anyway. And, why don't you trust Amazon?
> -1- How do you guy`s manage? What search-engine do you use.
Any of them, they are all just as safe (and they are all 100% safe), and
just as biased as any other. Don't use their ads, they make no money
from you.
> -2- How do you keep you're privacy on-line
That question doesn't even make sense. There is no threat to your
privacy with any of those services. If you want to give information
about yourself to them, that's your business. Not only do I have
nothing to hide, and I don't care what people see I was searching for,
but you don't have to give them any personal information, and hence
there's no actual threat to your privacy even if you were concerned
with anyone knowing what you're doing. No such tracking methods exist
and they can only use what you give them. Or, does a network of sites
all showing an IP address that could belong to any single anonymous
person out of the billions in the world somehow concern you, even if
it's a dedicated (non dynamic) IP?
> -3- Did anyone find a 'find-engine' yet?
Don't know what that means?
> -4- What`s a good alternative for youtube? (I tried redtube, but the
> content is a bit unilateral :-)
Never heard of redtube. I don't have any use for Youtube.
> All feedback is welcome! Thanks in advance!
>
> Gr. Rudd
Honestly, your post just sounds like you're so new to computers or the
Internet, that you are unjustly paranoid about things that aren't an
issue. You should consider starting with a more simple new to the
Internet type of group that's more your speed. You probably got these
worries in your head because someone that also had no idea what they
were talking about, said something that you heard or read that got you
all worked up. Take a deep breath and know this isn't a computer
conspiracy. Unless you break into systems (or try) from your home
system direct, where your ISP can track who you are, then no one has
any interest or care to know what person is connecting from your IP.
Don't do anything illegal and you will be fine so long as the Internet
exists in the current state its in, and it'll be this way for quite a
while.
--
Not really a wanna-be, but I don't know everything.
tuuttu...@home.nl
Well... New... I use BBS since 1992, and the internet since 1993.
recompiled my kernel the first time it supported IPv6 (2001 if I
remember correctly). Right now I train technicians at an ISP
tech-helpdesk. So does that count as "a bit of experience"? Thank you.
Now, I personally distrust large organizations who are able to gather a
whole lot of info about me. I don`t care what they do or dont do with
that, I just like my privacy. What I do on the web is nobodies business
but mine and the sites I visit.
I don't like trackers, much as I don't like stalkers.
That is the sole reason I posted this. I was wondering what other
security-minded-folks think of this and whether anyone could give me a
good tip...
> issue. You should consider starting with a more simple new to the
> Internet type of group that's more your speed. You probably got these
> worries in your head because someone that also had no idea what they
> were talking about, said something that you heard or read that got you
> all worked up. Take a deep breath and know this isn't a computer
> conspiracy. Unless you break into systems (or try) from your home
> system direct, where your ISP can track who you are, then no one has
> any interest or care to know what person is connecting from your IP.
> Don't do anything illegal and you will be fine so long as the Internet
> exists in the current state its in, and it'll be this way for quite a
> while.
Its a matter of principle to me. And yes I know they are probably not
really interested in me. Never the less I think the net should be
neutral. Its not, and it bothers me.
Thanks for your down to earth approach.
Ruud
Wanna-Be Sys Admin
<snip>
>
> Well... New... I use BBS since 1992, and the internet since 1993.
> recompiled my kernel the first time it supported IPv6 (2001 if I
> remember correctly). Right now I train technicians at an ISP
> tech-helpdesk. So does that count as "a bit of experience"? Thank you.
Just using systems for a long time doesn't mean much. If you're this
worried, you are new to this area of it. I didn't mean that as an
insult, but I don't like seeing such ridiculous paranoid propagated on
usenet, so I responded the way I did.
> Now, I personally distrust large organizations who are able to gather
> a whole lot of info about me.
A "whole lot"? Are you putting a whole lot of information about
yourself out there? If not, then there's nothing they can use or pose
a threat to your privacy. If you have an infacted system or some
keylogger or other that's sending data from your system to a
destination you don't know about or want, that's one thing, but normal
web surfing and using sites isn't a threat to your privacy, and unless
you provide those sites, including google with information you don't
need to provide, they are irrelevant.
> I don`t care what they do or dont do
> with that, I just like my privacy.
I enjoy my privacy just fine, those sites aren't a threat to my privacy.
> What I do on the web is nobodies
> business but mine and the sites I visit.
That's fine, and that's the way it is now.
> I don't like trackers, much as I don't like stalkers.
Different things completely. Anyway, there's nothing a "tracker" can
do, unless you submit private details to a site that happens to share
that data, in which case a "tracking system" isn't needed to be a
threat. The site will either be a threat, or not, either
intentionally, or not. It really has nothing to do with Google, Yahoo,
MSN or other sites.
> That is the sole reason I posted this. I was wondering what other
> security-minded-folks think of this and whether anyone could give me a
> good tip...
But, that's just it, there's no actual threat, and there's therefore no
real valid topic, and nothing to really think about or discuss.
<snip>
> Its a matter of principle to me.
I agree, it's not because it's always a worry, sometimes it's a matter
of principal, but there's nothing those sites are doing that are a
matter of principal either, is my point.
> And yes I know they are probably not
> really interested in me. Never the less I think the net should be
> neutral. Its not, and it bothers me.
> Thanks for your down to earth approach.
Well, I'm not sure what to make of your recent response, but I do agree
that some companies seem to have a hold on the Internet and its usage,
access points and how that access is done. Sometimes that's a good
thing, sometimes it's a bad thing, and sometimes it's neither here nor
there. I dislike monopolies, but I don't give any site on the Internet
any information I'm concerned with (intentionally or unintentionally).
I'd not worry about it, to be honest. Not that there aren't situations
or scenarios that aren't cause for concern, but in general, there
really isn't. Also, as I stated previously, the only causes for
concern are the type that really aren't related to these matters, it's
more of a site being the issue itself if you submit private details by
you own will (a membership, ordering something, etc.) or an infected
system or such things, which have nothing to do with google or any
tracking (and it's a problem regardless then).