A large majority of Internet users search with Google.  After all, it appears to be a search engine superior to most others.

But is this really the case?  And what price do you pay for searching with Google and using Google tools on your PC?

The answer to both of these questions relates to how Google is designed, so that it can ‘be the best search engine’.

Google spies on you.  And nowadays, so sure is the ‘big G’ of its status, that it tells you this is for your own good.

Once you have Google Toolbar installed on your PC, you are being spied on.  Even worse if you use Gmail, or any other Google ‘tool’, ostensibly ‘to make your life easier’.

Have you done a search with Google lately?

When the results page opens, look at the top, right hand side.  You will see a small notice which tells you that your search results have been adapted to reflect your interests.

WTF!  How does Google know what my interests are? 

Because your searches are being monitored.

Click on the link the notice provides.  It will take you to a page describing Google’s policy and how it is giving you ‘a better search experience’ (my words, not theirs – which are just as cloying).  And you will discover that Google thinks it is right to filter your search results according to your ‘interests’ which they have discovered by monitoring your activity online.

How does Google do this?

Simple.  They follow your activity all over the Internet using cookies.  Whenever you are using their toolbar, or logged in to your Google account, whatever you search for, whatever link you click on, will be monitored, and stored for future reference.

That’s really nice of Google isn’t it?  They are making your search experience so much better, aren’t they?

I think not.

How do you feel about Google tracking your every online move and keeping a record of it?

And if you are one of those smart asses who say, "This will only bother you if you have something to hide.  If you have nothing to hide, why worry?"  Just remember this; everyone has something they would rather certain people did not know about.

And anyone who uses your PC account to make a Google search, will have their search affected by the places you have visited.

It won’t take a genius to work out why he or she is being presented with certain search matches, will it?

For instance, perhaps you like reading erotic stories online, but prefer your partner doesn’t know, in case they think you are not getting enough sexual satisfaction from them.  This could cause a hell of a row.  All for nothing really.  So why is it necessary for Google to keep a record of this?

Perhaps you have put on a little weight and you are searching for diets or exercises.  But your partner likes you the way you are.  If he finds out you have been searching for dieting help, he may get upset.  You don’t want him to know.  So why should Google keep a record of this?

Perhaps you are interested in playing war games online, but your partner thinks it is stupid.  Do you really want her finding out you have been at World of Warcraft, while she has been down the shops?  No.  Then why should Google keep a record of this?

And so on.  There are millions of ways you may wish to have privacy online.  All of them legal and many of them personal.

But now Google is openly keeping a record of this, ‘for your benefit’.  Why?

Because Google wants your money and it wants to find the best way to get it.

Go to any site which has Google Adsense adverts.  That site should have a ‘Privacy Policy’ (if it doesn’t, it is breaking Google Adsense rules).  Read the Privacy notice.  If it is up to date (and it should be), it will leave you in no doubt that your search patterns are being watch.  And that Google considers this is for your own good.

What it is really about is trying to ensure that the Adsense adverts appearing on the site are going to appeal to you.  That they will be in line with ‘your interests’.  In other words, so that you are much more likely to click on one of those links and buy the advertised product.

Now, I don’t know about you, but apart from the sheer Orwellian nature of this project, I for one would like to be able to search with a clean slate each time I go online.

For example, just because I looked up a particular subject the other day for my work, does not mean I want that counted as one of my interests.  But the next time I search with Google, that previous search will be added to my ‘interest list’.

Perhaps my brother has used my side of the PC to search for details about the latest PS3 game.  Do I really want my next search for ‘latest movies’ influenced by his interest in Street Fighter 1V?  Hardly.

Is there Anything We Can Do About Google Spying On Us?

Not a lot.

Google has recently re-written its Privacy Policy.  No longer do you have the option to opt out of certain areas.  If you go to the ‘updated policy’ from that page, you will see that you have options to delete cookies (particularly the ‘double click’ which Google uses), but more will be added the very next time you go online.

Google makes it very clear, that by using any of their services, whether you are signed in to your account or not,  you are bound by their rules.  And that includes having your online activities monitored.

Here’s a small section of the ‘new privacy policy’:

Google only processes personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy…

The top one on the list is:

Providing our services, including the display of customized content and advertising.

Sure, Google will not give out any personal information about you to other third parties, without your consent.  But what Google considers personal information may be vastly different that what you have in mind.

A Drastic Solution Would Be To Uninstall All Google Products From Your PC.

Of course, that means not using your Firefox browser, your Google Desktop, deleting your Gmail account (so large that you can store almost anything in there – so handy in fact…), your Google Earth application, Google Docs, and so on, and so on….

Not a choice many people want to make.

But it still wouldn’t hurt to remind Google just how much you dislike their invasion of your privacy. 

Let’s face it, in the modern World, privacy is being eroded every day, but does that make what Google is doing right?  I, for one don’t think so.

Google is getting bigger and mightier by the day.  And your personal privacy is diminishing in relation to its strength.

So just remember, when you next go online, browsing with your Google Toolbar, or signed in to your Gmail account, or simply visiting the places you frequent on the net, Google Is Spying On You.

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