more on Google Redirects (was: Re: [IP] Google gets a bit closer to evil... )
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 11, 2005 5:10:14 PM EDT
To: joehall@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: dave@xxxxxxxxxx, lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Google Redirects (was: Re: [IP] Google gets a bit closer to
evil... )
From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 11, 2005 1:10:42 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>, Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Google gets a bit closer to evil...
Reply-To: joehall@xxxxxxxxx
...
Right click on the first link and select "Copy Link Location". You'll
notice that the `href` no longer points to the URL of the first site
but is passed through Google as a redirect.
Though I've obviously been very critical regarding Google privacy
issues lately, I must point out that the behavior you describe is
not new and is (as far as I know) only done on a sampling basis.
That is, a certain percentage of Google results and/or result pages
returned (I've unofficially heard 10% on average in the past, but
have not verified this precise figure) will use the "through Google"
redirects, apparently for their analysis purposes. These often seem
to appear in clusters for a short period of time for any given user.
It should be noted that some search engines have long redirected
*all* results in this way. Arguably, "slipping in" some redirects
in the manner Google is doing may be a bit more insidious, since
most users aren't expecting it, but at least Google apparently isn't
doing redirects for most results returned.
In general, I believe that all of these kinds of redirects are
potentially privacy-invasive behaviors and should be discouraged for
all search sites.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, EEPI
- Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/