Is Google Spying!?

[amser]

Hi,

When I browse my site (even into password protected areas) then look at my stats, I notice that Googlebot has "followed me" ! Is this because I have a google toolbar??? How else would googlebot happen to drift exactly where I have just visited? Has any one else experienced this?

Ja think that Google uses this method to follow toolbar users around sites and maybe to index or rank pages???? hmmmmm interesting!

[bhartzer]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the case, as Google gathers a lot of data using the Google Toolbar--a lot more data than you would think.

[cbp]

You agreed to let Google do this when you installed the toolbar. Did you read the terms and conditions?

CBP

[Mel]

I suspect that this is one way Google have of discovering new content.
Do you have the areas of your site that Googlebot is visting restricted in your robots.txt file?

[Dave Hawley]

Is Google Spying!?

Absolutley! However, as cbp has said, you did grant them permission to do so

[sarahk]

And it's also one of the reasons I have the toolbar! I have a low traffic site (compared to CNN.com, say) so I can't rely on viral marketing the way some sites can. If having the toolbar means Google discovers my new content days earlier than it would have without, then I'm really happy!

That said, I might start tracking it on my password protected page and see if "it does get in"!

[Andilinks]

And this "spying" gives them an edge. I do wonder why Google doesn't release a toolbar for the Mozilla/FireFox browser because while the usage is far lower, better informed browsers (the human variety) tend to use Firefox.

I fire up IE on occasion, more often than not it's because of the Googlebar.

But with spyware/adware infestations getting so much worse with IE I am using it less and less. I would install a Googlebar on FireFox though, if I could.

Andi

[xmx]

I use Mozilla on a Linux PC so I never saw the work
of the googlebar in action myself.
I would like to have it available for my browser too.

[techboy]

They collect information from the toolbar, I've had many test pages and tools I've been developing end up getting indexed, not that I care that much. It's all anonymous stat gathering. It's not like there tagging you there's just too much information that would come in.

BTW yea should petition google for that, I use mozilla and firefox all the time and would way rather flush IE :)

[Keimos]

Try avantbrowser,
IE with bells and whistles and free to download.

I have tried firefox but it does not render as well, althouh the form fill does work quite well

www.avantbrowser.com

happy surfing

[ronniethedodger]

Originally Posted by Andilinks

I fire up IE on occasion, more often than not it's because of the Googlebar.

But with spyware/adware infestations getting so much worse with IE I am using it less and less. I would install a Googlebar on FireFox though, if I could.

Well now you can! A talented programmer by the name of Nick Stallman has came up with a hack to the MozDev Googlebar that extends the functionality of the tool to show Google PageRank. The Googlebar PR hack will work for Netscape 7 and Mozilla browsers on both a PC and -- yes, the Macintosh platforms too.

I know that when word first got out about this (courtesy of Aaron Wall) that the site went down temporarily due to the hits it was getting. If you experience that yourself, I do have a copy available for download (just PM me...I do not want to make the address public...although it is in my blog if you dig deep enough. ;0)

[kitty]

All page view software is spyware, it does not matter if it is Google Spyware, AOL Spyware, Yahoo Spyware, MSN Spyware or Gator Spyware.

All page view transmissions no matter how they are gathered should be outlawed period.

http://burns.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fu...elease_id=1077

Support Senator Burns Spyware Bill, contact his office and offer your support today!

[cbp]

All page view software is spyware, it does not matter if it is Google Spyware, AOL Spyware, Yahoo Spyware, MSN Spyware or Gator Spyware.

What rubbish. When you install the Google toolbar, you give permission for the "spying" - you have a choice - if you don't want to be "spyed" on, don't install the software. .... or use a firewall !!!

Why do we need a granny state to mother us? Why do we need Senator Burns (whoever he is) to protect us from ourselves?

CBP

[Dave Hawley]

Spyware by definition is software that spies without your knowledge. Google's toolbar is not Spyware as you must agree to the terms and conditions.

Google is very open about what they do. You only have to set options to show PageRank and you are dislayed a message telling you it has privacy implications.

can stick with the Simpsons for now :)

[kitty]

So if I have been convicted of being a peeping Tom, but my neighbor knows I am a convicted peeping Tom, the next time I look in the bedroom window, since they know I am a peeping Tom that makes it OK, Right?

What do you think of the Google automatic updater that has been called spyware by experts, it updates the data mining software without any notification.

Do Larry and Sergey contact you to tell you the new software that they are downloading?

Do you know exactly what additional information they collect after the automatic update?

[Mel]

Hi Kitty

I think the Senator Burns, et al bill to limit the installation of Spyware is a good thing, but there are IMO lots better examples to cite than the Google toolbar, which is not installed secretly, and which requires that you have to agree to thier terms and conditions before you can install it. In fact I really doubt that the Google Toolbar would be at all affected by the proposed bill, based on what I have read about the bill.

By all means lets place some limitations on this sort of stuff, but lets at the same time remember that the US is not the whole world, just a part of it, and that this bill will have little real world effect if its passed, as the spammers will just register their business in the Cayman Island or somewhere and continue to do the same thing, but out of reach of the jurisdiction of this bill.

[Dave Hawley]

So if I have been convicted of being a peeping Tom, but my neighbor knows I am a convicted peeping Tom, the next time I look in the bedroom window, since they know I am a peeping Tom that makes it OK, Right?

No, not at all. How on earth you are drawing any parallel here (to the Google toolbar) is beyond me. It all seems like desperate propaganda

What do you think of the Google automatic updater that has been called spyware by experts, it updates the data mining software without any notification.

It matters not what the "experts" (whoever they are) call it. Perhaps the "experts" have a financially driven reason. The fact is you must agree to the terms and conditions before installing. See this page for a common defintion of "Spyware"
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Spyware
It'a all made VERY claer in the second sentence:
the program is installed without the user's knowledge or consent

Do you know exactly what additional information they collect after the automatic update?

exactly no, but I don't know "exactly" what info a lot of software collects. But all *I* need to know is shown simply by clicking the Privacy Concerns link on the toolbar. If I have a problem with wanting to know exactly what, I would contact Google. If I did not like or agree with their reply, I would click uninstall.

[cbp]

What do you think of the Google automatic updater that has been called spyware by experts, it updates the data mining software without any notification.

Did you read the terms and conditions you agree to before installing the Google toolbar??? In there you agreed to these automatic updates. What is your problem with that?

BTW - what experts? - all the discussion that I have seen online between "experts" generally conclude that the Google toolbar is not spyware - BECAUSE WE AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. What is your problem with that?

Solution is simple if you don't like it - uninstall it!!! We don't need Senator Brown passing a law on it!!!

CBP

[mikmik]

Thanks, ronniethedodgerdude!
Hey, I looked here first, but then followed a different link than your well hidden one...

I found this page, and there is a most unusual link at the bottom, for enquiring minds only, it says. Curious!

[JayDrake]

Originally Posted by kitty

So if I have been convicted of being a peeping Tom, but my neighbor knows I am a convicted peeping Tom, the next time I look in the bedroom window, since they know I am a peeping Tom that makes it OK, Right?

What a terribly broken analogy... If you are a peeping tom, one who peeks into windows without knowledge or permission of those you spy upon, you are doing something wrong. If you ask the person if they'd mind you peeking in their window and got permission to do so it is not at all wrong. Additionally, people would be more likely to say yes to you if you offered to clean those windows while you're peeking.

Google does it's level best to be entirely straight forward and up front about the fact that it will be collecting data from your browsing. Other companies try to hide these sorts of things deep in their usage statements, but are still legitimate because they are asking for your permission before installing their spyware on your computer. While spyware and adware and other such items may be annoying, most of these are doing nothing that you haven't agreed to.

I find it particularly amusing when people complain about spyware and adware that drives them nuts which installed (per the agreement they should have read) along with a file sharing utility that they are using to download copyrighted material. (Hey! I'm trying to break the law here, not be advertised to! This spyware on my peer to peer networking software should be illegal!!!)

[synergytheory]

Originally Posted by Andilinks

I fire up IE on occasion, more often than not it's because of the Googlebar.

But with spyware/adware infestations getting so much worse with IE I am using it less and less. I would install a Googlebar on FireFox though, if I could.

Andi

I do the exact same thing. Use IE to check PR, and also for backend apps that don't like FireFox. I wish I didn't have to use IE at all. One day maybe.

I love FireFox.

[kitty]

So what you are saying is that my banker should let me watch him count money, or maybe the guards at Fort Knox should let me in the vault if I sweep the floor.

Give me a break, talk about a broke analogy. I think yours takes the cake.

Do you know that this technology is the same that is used on terrorists by the FBI.

Do you know that the Government can get the records of your Page Views from Google at any time?

So your freedom is at stake, what if, just like before in this country, they decided that your religion was against the state. Now the government considers anyone who visited certain websites lawbreakers.

You could be held, confined, your computer taken, investigated simply for visiting certain websites.

If you are willing to have this intrusion and violation of your privacy and freedom then you are not really aware of how information can be used against you.

You have a right against self incrimination, well you have just incriminated yourself for visiting certain websites.

Even fake websites are set up and monitored by the FBI to see who visits.

So good luck to all of you who PROMOTE a Toolbar/Spyware Big Brother World.

You all make very little sense as you let these companies walk all over you.

ALL PAGE VIEW TRANSMISSIONS to any third party should be outlawed, period.

[Mel]

Hi Kitty;

While this may be somewhat of a revelation I really have no objections if the FBI keeps a record of every page I visit as I have nothing to hide.

If this technology is helping to rid the world of terrorists, then I say we should be damn glad its in use.

[joliettech]

Hey kitty,

I think your aluminum foil hat may be strapped on a little too tight, relax.

The thing is I didn’t give the FBI permission to spy on my every more, not directly anyway. I did however give Google permission.

Maybe Senator Burns should sponsor a bill to prevent the FBI from spying on me. I’m sure it’s not just the FBI. Pick a government agency, Department of Homeland Security, DOD, NSC, NSA, and who knows how many others. Not to mention the damn satellites and black helicopters.

We have all lost a little of our personnel freedoms in this time of terrorists, at least Google is letting us know what freedoms we are giving up.