Google keeps your search history weather you like it or not and can sell your info to anyone anyplace?

i think it is true that they keep a history. You can turn it off though and it is only when you are logged in i think. Also it would be illegal for them to sell it without you permission and there would be a big outrage and you would hear about it pretty quickly.

Koesac is right, that would be invasion of privacy.

aol does I know that for a fact because there is a site where you can see everything a user has searched for as well as real time searches as well. But what do you expect its the Internet….....

They do take thumnails of images off sites for their search…. pretty interesting that they are one of the big-money backers of the two Orphan Works bills in Congress right now.

Of course I meant the fact that they can sell your browser history.

*Whether I like it or not, let them look. They will keel over from boredom; all those elementary lessons in Arabic and research on the Venerable Bede.

dont use google…...problem solved!

Google takes your images even if you do not use the browser. They have bots that crawl web sites.

I hate google, the results are always random partials of whatever im searching for…..... http://Altavista.com kicks ass!

Wondering if @koesac and/or @wizard can cite a reference as to how Google selling your search history would be an invasion of privacy?

If you’re using Google’s search utility for free and they collect metrics about that, I should think they could sell them (and probably do) without infringing on any personal rights.

According to the published Google privacy policy, Google “only shares personal information with other companies or individuals… [when they]... have your consent.” Then they go on to say that they “require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information.”

See that?

I’m no lawyer, but it would look to me like Google could say that unless you explicitly opt-out, then they infer you’ve consented for them to share non- sensitive personal info. That’s not an unusual thing to see on any site which provides you a service free-of-charge.

I did stumble across where Google will allow you to turn off their collection of your search history. But I have no reason to trust it… for all I know, flipping that switch simply disables my ability to view my own search history. Google could still be (and I expect actually are) keeping tabs on my search history for their own internal reasons.

—

Not saying Google is Evil Incarnate. Just that the technology they employ is complex and powerful and far-reaching. Even assuming they have the very best of intentions, I feel it’s better to be aware of the possibility that they don’t and act accordingly.

Google is run by people.
People can be reached.

People can be reached using Google.