Posted by PJM/MI on 6/4/07 1:28pm
Msg #193558

Ot..CNBC Big Brother Program

Did anyone catch the program on CNBC last night re: Big Brother? Rather interesting program about iID theft and what and who knows all about every person in the USA.
I didn't know that Google saves EVERY single search done on it's website. And they save EVERY single email sent for over 2 months.
That's pretty scary stuff.

Reply by ZeeCA on 6/4/07 1:31pm
Msg #193559

when gmail first came out the tracking and retaining was a huge issue. It is the reason I chose not to open a gm acct......

Google's marketing is based on tracking every single hit to its searches.....

Reply by PAW on 6/4/07 4:21pm
Msg #193580

And this is a bad thing?

I think it is smart for Google to keep all the search commands. It shows them trends and allows them to better tune their product for the way people use it.

Did the article also provide you with their privacy policy stating that they only collect demographic information, not personal information about their users?

Did they also state that other organizations, such as MSNBC, CNN, etc. do the same thing?

And this is not only limited to the internet. Grocery store chains analyze buying habits by reviewing your receipts. Now that's more scary, especially if you used a credit card or debit card! Have you ever received a privacy policy statement from your local stores? Probably not.

I didn't see the show, so I'm only reacting to your statement, not the show.

Reply by PJM/MI on 6/5/07 9:49am
Msg #193671

Re: And this is a bad thing?

Yes.. they DO collect personal information from the users by the IP from each computer.
A man in FL killed his wife and the way it was proved in court was by the searches he had done. Although he had deleted his searches, Google had not. There are a few "pluses" to this Big Brother.
There is a place in Ark or AL that has data on EVERY single one of us..and I mean the entire ball of wax. The FBI uses this company frequently. The newsman for the program asked to see his file and was amazed that it was over 20 pages long. Listed not only his spending habits, but every address he has ever had, every job, etc.
MSN & Yahoo do NOT keep the emails or searches for as long as Google does. AOL keeps things almost as long as Google.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/8/07 12:20am
Msg #194165

Re: And this is a bad thing?

I think it depends on how the info is used - and the potential for misuse is very great. I heard a story about a man who fell and hurt himself at a grocery store. I don't have any first hand knowledge about the circumstances, but the store researched his buying habits, found a number of purchases of alcohol and used that against him to have the case thrown out. It might not be at all relevant. It's the potential for abuse that concerns me.