Yesterday, Andy Beal tweeted the following: "In case you missed it: Google Toolbar for Firefox 3 is out at https://ping.fm/lzr9f - works perfectly for me" and I tweeted a reply, saying, "@andybeal and u use the google spybar for what reason?"
Of course, that led to a series of tweets back and forth, such as:
Andy: easy access to site search, cache, highlighting keywords.
Me: *shakes head in wonder* wow, that's mighty trusting of you. *makes sure tinfoil hat is firmly in place on top of my dazzlin head*
Andy: Google has my email, RSS, analytics, docs, and my search history. I gave up on paranoia. 😉
Me: i'll never give up! never, i tell ya! never!!!! 😀
Andy: what if Google buys Twitter? 😉
Me: see now you're just *trying* to hurt me. but my aluminum protects me from any zings you might throw my way! mwahahaha
Andy: lol tagging this: #googlespy (so they know how to find you) 😉
Me: i'll get you for that, @andybeal, i will, i will. (goes off to unlock secret underground concrete bunker to lay low for a while)
Of course, there were also some side twitter conversations, such as this one with @fairminder:
Fairminder: Where are the best deals on those tin foil hats? I think I need a new one. 😉
Me: i should probably throw up a long sales page devoted to selling tinfoil hats, huh? 😀
So, while all of that is a bit of fun, I was also being a tad bit serious as well. Don't get me wrong. I know that "the world" (meaning the government and the marketing world, specifically) has tons of information on all of us, and I don't really spend time worrying about trying to keep much of anything private. Still, Google is an exception. Why? I don't know. I guess it's just the natural aversion that a dyed-in-the-wool SEO has to sharing too much information with the Godzilla of Search (Google).
I don't really expect that anything I "hide" from Google is really safe. On the other hand, I don't really see any need to just hand over all my private bits to Google on a silver platter, either. I figure if Google wants to get at all my junk (search history, etc.), they're just gonna have to work for it. So I stay logged out of Google accounts as much as possible when surfing (sometimes I forget to log out, which annoys me greatly). I don't use the toolbar or analytics (although I've used them in the past, mostly for test purposes). And I don't use docs or google desktop search, just because that seems way too invasive to me.
So, there you have it. You now know a little more about me, while at the same time, I attempt to keep a little less about me from getting into the "wrong hands". LOL!
(No offense, Google, (or Matt or John or the rest of you good folks), just doing what comes naturally. *grin*).
So tell me...do you have your own tinfoil hat? If so, how big is it? 😀
About the Author: Donna Fontenot
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Oh Donna 🙁
You’re not up to date. Check out http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/ : “It requires no stretch of the imagination to conclude that the current helmet craze is likely to have been propagated by the Government, possibly with the involvement of the FCC.”
You need to use Mu-Metal.
ROTFLMAO! Dang it, that’s what I get for actually working, instead of spending more time trolling the appropriate paranoia forums. (*mumble, mumble, must go get new helmet).
You might want to add Trackur.com to your “tin foil” list because it told me you were discussing my name. 😉 Trackur is watching!
Dang it, Andy! *mumble, grumble, razzle, frazzle* (goes off to adjust foil crimping to block trackur)
i’m not too worried about the g-bar. i use because it is handy for bookmarks, site search, page rank, backwards links, and cached pages. i know i could get these in other convenient ways if i looked into it a bit, but what the heck, i don’t think google is too worried about me.
FYI that I use the Groowe Search Toolbar now. I need to find out how has access to that data. But, I do search “logged in” to multiple Google accounts (OUCH). I’m “trusting” their privacy policy.
I no longer us the Google Toolbar/Spybar. I developed a new site that had no widgets, no snippets of code, no links coming to it. I didn’t put up a robots.txt file yet, because I figured they wouldn’t find it. I even left the META tags off, other than the TITLE. The site got indexed! At SES SJ last August, I asked about it to a search panel. The answer came from the audience. A guy who moderates for WebMasterWorld informed me they probably got the data from my Google Toolbar.
a pointless article I think? if you’re so worried about your privacy just unplug your modem
Kostas, a sense of humor and an occasional chuckle is never pointless. Life needs us to be able to laugh at our foibles.
Hmm. An SEO afraid of a search engine….kinda like a vet afraid of dogs, wouldn’t ya say? 🙂
Digging deeper into this analogy we realize both dogs as search engines see in primarily black and white…perhaps a few shades of gray.
Is it possible you sometimes where the wrong color hat?
(Did y’all get that, it was funny)
I know its invasive, but having all the things at one place (analytics,docs,reader,alerts and so on)is just so damn convenient.
Not to mention – free and of top notch quality.
Anyone know how much data Google stores about their visitors, and what they read on the web?
This much…. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-evil-side-of-google-exploring-googles-user-data-collection
Holy sh*t!