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Really? What can the consequences be? I'm not being flip-- I think it's easy to say that but its harder to pin down dangerous scenarios. The increasing fact

Really? What can the consequences be? I'm not being flip-- I think it's easy to say that but its harder to pin down dangerous scenarios. The increasing fact is that the more Google knows about you, the better they can serve up search results (and ads, of course). I think most users would NOT opt-out given the chance to do so (if it meant harming their search quality). Related quote from Matt Cutts' blog: "It’s a long article, but an example useful fact is that if X is the number of people who visit the Ad Preferences page and opt out, 10X people don’t opt out and 4X people actually edit their categories to improve the targeting relevance of the ads they see. Let me say that again: four times as many people change their settings to make their ads more relevant than opt out of interest-based targeting. I think the Ad Preferences page is a good example where users get more transparency and control regarding their privacy."

jacquesm 17y ago
Let me give you just two possible scenarios, there are plenty more: - An insurance company somehow gets their hands on search data and finds a way to associate that with their customers, figures out who is probably about to apply for coverage for a bunch of expensive treatments and cancels their insurance before they can make the claim for some trumped up reason. - A political party gets their hands on this information and datamines it to the hilt in order to figure out which talking points to trot out on what TV stations in order to swing a maximum block of voters to them. I'm sure there will be people that will say both of these are unrealistic, but I think that given the amount of data out there it is only a matter of time before someone will find a way to abuse it in a way that we will not be able to ignore.
- froo 17y ago
  >An insurance company somehow gets their hands on search data and finds a way to associate that with their customers You mean like the AOL search data leak? I never read anything about insurance companies misappropriating the data in this manner. So I'd say its more of a long shot. Same with political parties... again, never read anything like that. Not to say that it hasn't happened, I'd be curious if anyone has any information to show if it has?
deleted 17y ago
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jacquesm 17y ago

Let me give you just two possible scenarios, there are plenty more: - An insurance company somehow gets their hands on search data and finds a way to associate that with their customers, figures out who is probably about to apply for coverage for a bunch of expensive treatments and cancels their insurance before they can make the claim for some trumped up reason. - A political party gets their hands on this information and datamines it to the hilt in order to figure out which talking points to trot out on what TV stations in order to swing a maximum block of voters to them. I'm sure there will be people that will say both of these are unrealistic, but I think that given the amount of data out there it is only a matter of time before someone will find a way to abuse it in a way that we will not be able to ignore.

froo 17y ago
>An insurance company somehow gets their hands on search data and finds a way to associate that with their customers You mean like the AOL search data leak? I never read anything about insurance companies misappropriating the data in this manner. So I'd say its more of a long shot. Same with political parties... again, never read anything like that. Not to say that it hasn't happened, I'd be curious if anyone has any information to show if it has?

deleted 17y ago

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