[IP] I strongly afree with this djf Google search and

[Phil Karn]

seizure


>Google's internal slogan is, charmingly, ''Don't be evil." Well, the
>interaction of cyber-snooping and the unreasonable searches
>authorized by
>the Patriot Act is pure evil.

Instead of getting mad at Google, why don't we get even?

Here are two simple ideas that any good coder could turn out in an
afternoon:

1. Write and disseminate a little daemon that makes randomize queries
to Google from your computer. Every few minutes to an hour (i.e., at
random times) it would send a Google query with search terms randomly
chosen from a large dictionary. This would pollute Google's logs and
create reasonable doubt if you are later accused of entering queries
for, say, the words "neck" and "snap".

2. Write and disseminate a web proxy filter that would route all
Google queries through the TOR (The Onion Router) network and strip
off all tracking mechanisms from the results. This may be a more
palatable alternative to routing all your web surfing through TOR,
which can be quite slow.

I consider it unproductive to scream at Google, as has become so
popular of late. It is also misguided to call for laws to limit what
they can do with our search queries. Even if Google were to say that
they no longer keep personally-identifiable search queries, there
would be no way to verify it. And any new privacy law for search
engines would surely be riddled with enormous loopholes for
government abuse.

As with confidentiality, the *only* solution here is technological.
So let's get coding.

--Phil


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