3 ms·

> IE can track, and has tracked users behavior even when they’re not on Bing. (We got in trouble for this once, hehe.) Am I the only one concerned with both th

by Kerrick 13y ago

> IE can track, and has tracked users behavior even when they’re not on Bing. (We got in trouble for this once, hehe.) Am I the only one concerned with both the fact that IE tracks its users, and the attitude of this Microsoft employee about it?

jamesaguilar 13y ago
Personally, I'm amazed that they let him blog stuff in this detail about MS's search business practices. Not speaking for the org or about the official stance, but I would not consider doing so as a member of SI at Google. And I always had the intuition that MS was even more restrictive about such things. Maybe not?
- antics 13y ago
  I didn't say anything that isn't completely public knowledge. And let's not forget that MS once employed Robert Scoble. So we can't be all bad. EDIT: and let's be realistic. The papers on search that come out of MSR expose way more about our infrastructure than the paltry sum presented in this post.
  - jamesaguilar 13y ago
    Insiders can often link bits of public knowledge in a way that effectively discloses confidential information. Every company has a different threshold for where this is, so maybe you're on the safe side of that for your org. BTW, I'm not trying to accuse you of malfeasance, I'm just saying I wouldn't do what you're doing.
    - antics 13y ago
      Hmmmmm. Well that is definitely worrying...
    - antics 13y ago
      Fun update, a Google executive just emailed me to say how much he liked this post. So there's that.
      - jamesaguilar 13y ago
        Your competitor enjoys hearing about the dysfunction in your org and some back slapping about how great a job Google is doing? Surprise surprise. :P
        antics 13y ago
        Er, what? I didn't say anything about dysfunction and I didn't pat anyone on the back. I did say things about the inherent difficulties of competing in the space though.
- nostrademons 13y ago
  Microsoft is known to be quite blog-friendly, much moreso than Google. Blogs like MiniMSFT have been around for years with quite an irreverent take on the company.
antics 13y ago
What attitude? You have no idea if I support IE tracking its users. I don't, btw, thanks for asking.
s3r3nity 13y ago
Well Chrome does this too, and uses that data, combined with your Gmail and Google Drive info, to provide "better" Google results. I don't really care either way, but let's be a bit level-headed here and accept that the two of the biggest browsers in the market are from companies that run search engines and realize that cross-data sharing is pretty much the industry norm.
- magicalist 13y ago
  > Well Chrome does this too, and uses that data, combined with your Gmail and Google Drive info, to provide "better" Google results No it doesn't: https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/browser/privacy/ https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/browser/privacy/ Your search history is used (if you have it turned on), but that's just from using google.com for search and is independent of the browser you use.
  - throwawaykf03 13y ago
    Who needs a browser to track users when you have the whole Internet telling you what users do on their sites? The means may be different, but the ends are the same: users are tracked all across the Internet.
  - mau 13y ago
    "Some versions of Chrome feature Safe Browsing technology that can identify potentially harmful sites and executable file downloads not already known by Google. Information regarding a potentially harmful site or executable file download (including the full URL of the site or executable file download) may be sent to Google to help determine whether the site or download is harmful. Google does not collect any account information or other personally identifying information as part of this contact, but does receive standard log information, including an IP address, URL visited and one or more cookies." It's a bit confusing for me, it looks like they are collecting visited urls as they are not considered personal identifying information. I've just learned that with the spellcheck feature they are basically receiving all the text I write on the Internet to their servers. By the way are we really discussing about the privacy policy of a company that sent its data to NSA? I'm not condemning them, still we should be aware of this and never forget.

by Kerrick 13y ago

jamesaguilar 13y ago

Personally, I'm amazed that they let him blog stuff in this detail about MS's search business practices. Not speaking for the org or about the official stance, but I would not consider doing so as a member of SI at Google. And I always had the intuition that MS was even more restrictive about such things. Maybe not?

antics 13y ago
I didn't say anything that isn't completely public knowledge. And let's not forget that MS once employed Robert Scoble. So we can't be all bad. EDIT: and let's be realistic. The papers on search that come out of MSR expose way more about our infrastructure than the paltry sum presented in this post.
- jamesaguilar 13y ago
  Insiders can often link bits of public knowledge in a way that effectively discloses confidential information. Every company has a different threshold for where this is, so maybe you're on the safe side of that for your org. BTW, I'm not trying to accuse you of malfeasance, I'm just saying I wouldn't do what you're doing.
  - antics 13y ago
    Hmmmmm. Well that is definitely worrying...
  - antics 13y ago
    Fun update, a Google executive just emailed me to say how much he liked this post. So there's that.
    - jamesaguilar 13y ago
      Your competitor enjoys hearing about the dysfunction in your org and some back slapping about how great a job Google is doing? Surprise surprise. :P
      - antics 13y ago
        Er, what? I didn't say anything about dysfunction and I didn't pat anyone on the back. I did say things about the inherent difficulties of competing in the space though.
nostrademons 13y ago
Microsoft is known to be quite blog-friendly, much moreso than Google. Blogs like MiniMSFT have been around for years with quite an irreverent take on the company.

antics 13y ago

What attitude? You have no idea if I support IE tracking its users. I don't, btw, thanks for asking.

s3r3nity 13y ago

Well Chrome does this too, and uses that data, combined with your Gmail and Google Drive info, to provide "better" Google results. I don't really care either way, but let's be a bit level-headed here and accept that the two of the biggest browsers in the market are from companies that run search engines and realize that cross-data sharing is pretty much the industry norm.

magicalist 13y ago
> Well Chrome does this too, and uses that data, combined with your Gmail and Google Drive info, to provide "better" Google results No it doesn't: https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/browser/privacy/ https://www.google.com/intl/en-US/chrome/browser/privacy/ Your search history is used (if you have it turned on), but that's just from using google.com for search and is independent of the browser you use.
- throwawaykf03 13y ago
  Who needs a browser to track users when you have the whole Internet telling you what users do on their sites? The means may be different, but the ends are the same: users are tracked all across the Internet.
- mau 13y ago
  "Some versions of Chrome feature Safe Browsing technology that can identify potentially harmful sites and executable file downloads not already known by Google. Information regarding a potentially harmful site or executable file download (including the full URL of the site or executable file download) may be sent to Google to help determine whether the site or download is harmful. Google does not collect any account information or other personally identifying information as part of this contact, but does receive standard log information, including an IP address, URL visited and one or more cookies." It's a bit confusing for me, it looks like they are collecting visited urls as they are not considered personal identifying information. I've just learned that with the spellcheck feature they are basically receiving all the text I write on the Internet to their servers. By the way are we really discussing about the privacy policy of a company that sent its data to NSA? I'm not condemning them, still we should be aware of this and never forget.