Google & Privacy... In the news again.

Listen to the NPR report.

First - they track our mail, for advertising. [Gmail]
Now - they refuse to handover search request data to the Feds. For business reasons. Let's bloody well hope it's for more than business reasons!

Glad they are refusing to comply. They say the gov't supoena is "overbroad and intended to harass". Well, imagine that. The gov't fishing for info - WHO KNEW?

As pointed out in the report: How much info is being tracked when we do a search? Interesting NPR.org article, "Google Records Supoena Raises Privacy Fears". Sections of the privacy policies of Google, Microsoft's MSN, Yahoo and AOL are highlighted. Anonymous surfing is mentioned. Nice article.

Google
ACLU - Privacy & Technology
Electronic Frontier Foundation - Google / COPA article
Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system
Electronic Privacy Information Center - Gmail Privacy FAQ

The Google Story in the news, via ... Google News.
;) (had to do that)

I should start a regular column on this and call it the: the Mark of the Beast column. Or, the 1984 file. Or, Get your National ID today plan. And while I was out and about, in my "who knew" file dropped:

Government to Test E-Passports in San Francisco

The Department of Homeland Security will begin testing e-Passports on Sunday at San Francisco International Airport. The e-Passports contain Radio Frequency Identification chips, which transmit information wirelessly. Testing conducted last year revealed that "contactless" passports impede the inspection process, according to documents (pdf) recently obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act. EPIC has urged (pdf) the agency to abandon the use of such technology in passports because of significant security and privacy issues. For more information, see EPIC's RFID page. (Jan. 13) Source