Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box
The auto-suggest feature of Google's new Chrome browser does more than just help users get where they are going. It will also give Google a wealth of information on what people are doing on the Internet besides searching.
Provided that users leave Chrome's auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser's Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.
What's more, Google has every intention of retaining some of that data even after it provides the promised suggestions. A Google representative told CNET News that the company plans to store about 2 percent of that data--and plans to store it along with the Internet Protocol address of the computer that typed it.
In theory, that means that if one were to type the address of a site--even if they decide not to hit enter--they could leave incriminating evidence on Google's servers.
Information typed into Google's Omnibox bar could end up on Google's server--provided Google is your default search engine and you have Chrome's auto suggest-feature turned on.
(Credit: CNET News)That said, individuals have a clear way to use Chrome and avoid having this occur. Turning off the auto-suggest feature means that Google will neither get nor store this information. One can also select a search provider other than Google as their default to avoid having their search queries stored by Google. (Update 11:45 a.m. PDT: Switching to Chrome's Incognito mode also switches off the auto-suggest features, the Google representative said.)
Beyond the individual level, though, there is the question of what Google will be able to do with all this information in aggregate. Folks already concerned about how much data Google has from its Web search history may well have another reason to worry. That is in addition to separate concerns raised by the product's End User License Agreement (EULA).
Assuming Google finds a way to use this data to make its Web search even better, it could also make Microsoft's job of catch-up even harder than it already is.
As I wrote before, Chrome's threat to Microsoft goes far beyond Internet Explorer. It puts pressure on the Windows team to innovate faster and, apparently, could also make life even tougher for the Live Search folks.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina.
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Just like some brainless pop singer saying she is going to "keep it real".
If people are dumb enough to use this, then they deserve everything that can happen to them.
Besides it's not like Google is browsing your hard drive for data and uploading useful information for it's business when you use their browser.
If you are going to support this, at least understand it.
It gets even better with one line in their standard services EULA which this falls under:
"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services."
So... be careful in viewing artwork online. If you can see it on the screen, Google now reserves the right to do whatever they want with it, including selling it, modifying it, etc. Your continued use of the product is all the permission they need. Now I expect that has yet to be tested in court, but it's a dangerous thing indeed.
They track just the Omnibox, not every textbox. Looks like I read just fine. People see Ina talk down "auto-suggest" and forget that he/she is speaking in context of the Omnibox. If google wants to know where I want to go or thought I might want to go that's fine by me. Hell they already know what I search on when I use their search engine.
Good job, Google. You just made it even easier for identity theives to steal information- you'll let them search for it.
Not good at all.
It is pretty scary what Google hacking and normal searches can bring up right now. With people using this browser, even more info will be available to anyone.
Google needs to clean up this trace if they want to continue become an angel that's always watching people and tracking what we do. If not, then bye2 Google, i'm moving to Cuil. (Which already wants to kill me anyway)
Open source or not, that doesn't mean it isn't malware. Google seems to believe that its users will accept any privacy or invasion, sadly they are correct.
If they had any ethics or morals, everything, including web spiders would be opt-in.
Imagine the chaos this could cause if you worked at a health care company and used the browser to search for internal sites. Those sites and names may not be publically available normally outside the company, but with this they now are. It's a HIPAA nightmare right there alone. As a result, corporations may have no choice but to ban any and all Google usage on their systems and that would include search and email.
Granted, a lot of this is 'the sky is falling' sort of thing, but with Google's blatant policy that there is no such thing as privacy, it becomes a bit more scary.
So not as bad as it could be, but privacy is still an issue.
If you use google mail, google knows your email address and your IP. Now you decide to search from the same IP, and google knows what email address did the search.
My ISP is legally bound to keep what I do private except if a warrant is produced. My ISP(Qwest) has proven its commitment to privacy. Google is different, they are looking to trace what you do and say for its profit.
If you can't see the difference, then don't come here crying when Google has a cached page of your bank account records with your name, account number and SSN on it.
I received this from a security officer of another organization, and I believe it to be worth consideration.
?The Google Chrome Browser has been put on the banned software list. If you have it installed please remove it from your system. Google has included some extremely harsh terminology in their user license that gives them ownership of content you view through the viewer. In our environment that could include source code, proprietary information stored in pdf?s viewed on line and other [companyName] property. Until we can research the impact, this browser will remain on the ?do not install? list.?
The section of the license agreement in question is:
?"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."
This 'organization' you got this email from woudln't happen to be in Redmond or Cupertino, would it?
Using a Google browser means that EVERYTHING you do online can be cached and used in any way, including making it public.
This is a significant difference.
After reading this article there is another good reason not to switch.
The ONLY way to surf anonymously is via an anonymizer like Tor, and the use of a VPN to an anonymized server. Even then, I'd bet the government has figured out to track you (maybe the built in NSAKEY in the Microsoft security DLL?) Google NSAKEY for THAT info.
*Sigh*...whatever happened to the USA I once knew?
It never existed. It was a self-perpetuating myth; a dream. The natural consequences of waking up from it is disapointment, which is probably what you're feeling. Welcome to the waking state!
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by TV James
September 3, 2008 2:19 PM PDT
- So how often do we type something incriminating into our address bar and then not do anything with it? It's not like I'm typing "I'm going to steal a car from the Google parking lot at 3 pm today." and then erasing it and going to CNN.com.
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See all 75 Comments >>Or type "playboy.com" and think "oh, wait, I meant playskool.com"
Of course people are going to raise a stink, and yeah, I'm sure people more paranoid than myself are going to flame me with responses, but frankly, I'm not sure I understand all of the hullabaloo.
Granted, I will concede that it doesn't sound entirely "not evil" and do they really need my IP address? But I'm not ready to go running around "The sky is falling."
Especially for a browser that doesn't do true full screen, doesn't offer searching inside fields, doesn't do Firefox add-ons and pretty much fails to run Remember the Milk. It's a shiny new toy that stole the Pokemon logo, but it's not something the world is going to be turning to any time soon.