I spend a lot of time online. I spend a lot of time trying different web services, posting comments on blogs, commenting in forums, and otherwise sharing what some would consider private data about myself. If I go the vanity route and Google myself, I can come up with all sorts of relevant results. Knowing my standard user name for web services, and typing it into Google, will give you pages of bookmarks that are all by or about me. Suffice it to say, that I don’t have a great deal of privacy when it comes to my browsing/internet habits.
I have used Google’s search history feature for quite a while now. It was nice to be able to go back and review or search the pages I know I had visited. Recently, Google added the ability to track (using the page rank feature of the Google tool bar) ALL of the websites I visit. Privacy advocates sent the red flag straight up the flag pole with the news of this new feature. I downloaded the tool bar, and gave the thing a whirl. After a few days of using the tool, monitoring what it collects, doing some searches through the collected results I have to say this is a nice feature. I am glad Google offers the new Web History option.
It is important to note that I make use of pretty much all of Google’s services. My mail comes to Gmail, I schedule on Google Calendar, I use Google Notebook to collect thoughts. Interestingly, I don’t use Google Reader (I use FeedDemon instead) or Google Bookmarks (preferring the community and functional aspects of Ma.gnolia). In other words, Google has most of my information already, and I am a fan of their products.
Why am I glad for this new service? I know that Google is collecting this information already. Difference is, now I get to see it, search it, and even download an RSS feed of it. The portability of what is, at least in part, my data is a key component of what makes this service desirable. I want to know the data you have collected about me, and I want that data to be portable. I want to search it, I want to save it, I want to be able to remove some items from it…maybe I just had to see what all the fuss was about the Antonella Barba pictures. Most web 2.0 services offer me the ability to export my data, usually as an RSS feed, and take it with me. Ma.gnolia gives me a bunch of ways to slice and dice my bookmarks, and package them up for the road. That kind of data portability is a good thing. They also show you how many times you have visited a site, and I like to get an idea of the attention I pay to sites.
I don’t think using web history makes me any more or less secure online, and I don’t feel that Google is violating my privacy by offering me this service. Like I said, I want to see this stuff. I do think the Google needs to carefully explain the service, and give people easy and obvious ways to opt out. I am undecided if this is a feature that should be on or off be default, but I think this could be a service I would recommend to my mom. She re-uses searches all the time, and the ease of this tool combined with the easy integration with Google Bookmarks (just click the star) makes it a logical choice for a beginners web based bookmarking system.
I suppose we can only wait and see if Google uses this data in a way that would make me change my mind. Until they do, I will let them collect the data, and I will continue to search it.
Comments (2)
I use Google Web History, and love the idea.
The only problem is that searches don’t often find what I want, and sometimes it doesn’t even appear to track my browsing (for example I have no history of what I did yesterday, and I’ll have to search again for something I was looking at). I think other people are having similar experiences, I just found a blog post -
I have read a few articles about issues with searching. I have not had any problems yet. I typically use the date navigator if I know that I viewed the site in the last day or two, or if I can remember the exact day I looked at something. I know that there was some issue with the name of the page being indexed initially, and the content later. Meaning that before the document is indexed, you are at the will of the page author to have put the right words in the page title. Thanks for the comment.
Those interested in some of the recent discussions on this topic can check out: http://urltea.com/irs