http://wifi.google.com/faq.html
----
1. "Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that
allows users to establish a more secure WiFi connection."

2. "...your internet traffic will be encrypted, preventing others from
viewing the information you transmit."

Hmm, such a thing could make spying so much easier for them... Should check the fine print.

http://wifi.google...rivacy-policy.html
1. "Google may log some information from your web page requests ..."
2. "Google also logs a small set of non-personally identifiable
information ..."
3. "Google will not sell or provide personally identifiable
information to any third parties except ..."
4. "... we may for a limited period of time preserve additional
internet traffic or other information."

As a fellow hacker, Dutch, put it; "In the third snippet, Google neglects to mention non-personally identifiable information. What about selling that? I guess they do! The best thing about the whole policy is the last snippet, which undoes _everything_ stated before it. Nice one Google!! ;) I suggest that Google comes clean and replaces their privacy policy with a shorter, less confusing version: *Here's some candy, go play!* Btw. All your base are belong to us.

Google is f*ing creepy. Imagine that almost all searches by everyone, ever, could be tracked, logged, and cross-referenced (Your google cookie is just an ID number so they can log each search by who searched them, IP info, gmail info, etc), along with all the email of millions of people, forever (see the EULA, they don't have to remove your deleted g-mails, ever), and in more than 15 countries (some of which, such as the US do not have privacy or protection laws whatsoever). And, being a gigantic search database already (and already searching all your mail for "ad purposes", and having the ability to watch every website you visit with the Google toolbar...

(More info, although badly put together, since I can't think of another "For Further Reading" link:
http://www.google-...cgi-bin/cookie.htm
http://www.google-watch.org/bigbro.html

As for them having a Jabber server, no way. I'd use it if I needed to use it to talk to friends, but I'd never trust it, same as MSN. Everything goes through suspicious servers.

And now simple WiFi access for everyone, that also just happens to be allowed to store and index EVERYTHING you ever do, and are allowed to share/sell the info? - Of course they don't need to be allowed to give this info to the US Govn't, they are legally bound to do so, I'm talking about to private enterprise or other governments.

As a side note, look at some of the old job postings for Google before they stopped doing it, and notice that most require a security clearance.

Microsoft is big and bad for doing things LIKE this, but not on such a scale, but Google is roses and rainbows? People are f*ing stupid.

If you're in the US, there's not much you can do since they can index your IP to your name/address simply enough - In real countries, where those records are destroyed every 14 days to prevent abuse, as long as you don't allow google cookies they can't personally track you for life, they can only track by dynamic IP. (and yes, results are different by Geoidentification)

Yup, Google is getting very scary. I've tried to talk people out of using gmail multiple times. Don't even think of putting their toolbar on your system or everything you do will be tracked.

anyone hear anything nasty about google earth? i use it all the time, is it ok.

Posted by SnArF anyone hear anything nasty about google earth? i use it all the time, is it ok.

It's the same as all other Google programs, it logs everything you search for by IP, so they likely have your home, and an interesting profile of what kinds of places you like to search for; if you used Google at the same time they'd be able to link those searches to your GoogleID so whatever your IP in the fufture, they'd be linked; if you used gmail at any time after that or before that then that would also be the same GoogleID... You get the idea. As Google Earth is a "beta" product, and not commercial, they do not have a privacy law, and are fairly unrestricted in what they *could* do, but that's really unlikely.

As for if it sends out anything other than your search? I haven't seen it do so, and I don't believe it would, Google is in the business of looking like your Fun Trustworthy Big Brother, and it would only damage them to ruin that reputation with something like that, so the probability is very low.

As for Google Desktop Search? It's the same as everything else:
"If you choose to enable Advanced Features, Google Desktop may send information about the websites that you visit... Enabling Advanced Features also allows Google Desktop to collect a limited amount of non-personal information from your computer and send it to Google..." (Non personal means "not necessarily personally identifying - Your entire chat logs, web history, an index of all the files on your hard drive with the word "nuclear" in them, a list of all "non-indexed" folders and their contents, or even just a list of all files with hashes, pretty much everything is considered "non-personally identifying").

"Your copy of Google Desktop includes a unique application number. When you install Google Desktop, this number and a message indicating whether the installation succeeded is sent back to Google... Additionally, when Google Desktop automatically checks to see if a new version is available, the current version number and the unique application number are sent to Google. If you enable Advanced Features, this unique application number is included in the information sent to Google. The unique application number is required for Google Desktop to work and cannot be disabled... Google Desktop uses the same cookie as Google.com and other Google services. If you enable Advanced Features, the Google cookie will be included in the information sent to Google. "

So they automatically associate you to your GoogleID with the Desktop Search program, as well as having free power to send anything, anywhere, or sell any information to anyone, etc etc...