Unit Structures: Google Toolbar: Trading Privacy for Convenience

Google Toolbar: Trading Privacy for Convenience
Posted 12/13/2007 07:28:00 AM |

I've long been skeptical of the Google Toolbar (and most other "toolbars", for that matter). In utilizing the Google Toolbar and any of the "advanced" settings, you allow Google to track every webpage you visit. The Toolbar has always been a coup for Google - in creating this friendly, helpful tool, they're able to collect clickstream data from hundreds of millions of people. No wonder they're winning the search wars.

With the release of Version 5 of the Toolbar, Google has solved a critical problem with Toolbar data. That is, if you use a shared computer (or use Toolbar in a computer lab or library), Google has a hard time knowing who is actually using the computer. In the name of "portability", Google has synced the Toolbar with your Google Account. You're now able to carry all of your settings with you, and Google gets the benefit of knowing exactly whose data they are collecting. We're now correlatable across computers.

Google is marketing these features with a very cute new video, which I think we're supposed to believe is the work of three employees, and not an advertising firm. The message is clear: use our awesome new features, and benefit! Of course, if you use the new features, you've opted in for full-on data collection.

Facebook's Beacon raised eyebrows because it forced us to confront that our data was being sent around, from place to place. The little Beacons reminded us that Facebook was watching and collecting. What if every time you loaded a webpage, the Google toolbar flashed a message "Google just recorded that sarah@gmail.com just visited http://espn.com at 11:30AM on December 12. 2007, Thank You!" I suppose we'd feel a little differently about things.

Permalink | | to this post
View blog reactions | Post to

5 Comments: (Post a Comment)

At December 13, 2007 12:20 PM, Mike said...: Are there any firefox plug-ins that could mitigate this?
At December 13, 2007 2:09 PM, fred said...: No, I dont think that any plugins would block the Toolbar, I think it operates at a different level in the stack.

If you're interested in protecting your data from Google at the browser level, using the customizegoogle plugin, and using either Noscript or BlockSite to block Google Analytics or Syndication will help.
At December 15, 2007 12:47 AM, terrell said...: I feel like my influence is finally taking root. Fred doesn't trust anything anymore...

Excellent...
At December 15, 2007 11:24 PM, beroal said...: >What if every time you loaded a webpage, the Google toolbar flashed a message "Google just recorded that sarah@gmail.com just visited http://espn.com at 11:30AM on December 12. 2007, Thank You!"

Google Toolbar actually record if you have enabled PageRank. You can see visited pages in Google Web History.
I've modified Toolbar to record only if I press a button because I want to use Google Web History. I record a page only when I like it. :)
At December 17, 2007 9:25 AM, fred said...: @terrell, yes, I'm officially scared of Google.