Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
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Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
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Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#2Reminds me a bit of Marlinspike's Google Sharing: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/googlesharing-a...
The concept of hurling garbage into the all-seeing-eye is a good one and I hope it gains sustained popularity.
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#3Google can easily tell how much time you spend on a page, or when you click links, and if they wanted, even how your mouse moves. If the idea is to hide this information from Google itself, it seems pointless, just don't use Google.
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#4Google can easily tell how much time you spend on a page, or when you click links, and if they wanted, even how your mouse moves. If the idea is to hide this information from Google itself, it seems pointless, just don't use Google.
Run a network monitor and visit just about any webpage; you'll see Google IPs and a lot of them. Not using Google is reasonable advice and one could start by at least not having an active account, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. Convolution still seems worth the effort, but perhaps ideally, through more sophisticated methods. Some of the metrics you mention could be randomized.
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#5Does this really make sense to do? Unless you form all your google searches as questions, it will be easy to separate real from ELI5. None of my history looks anything like that, so would be completely easy to tell the difference.
Although I would be interested to see what a clean account doing this would look like to google. What kind of ads do they get served?
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#6Google probably already knows our typing pattern and typing speed. They could probably detect whether you automated it or really typing. It wont be hard for them. "Google knows everything!"
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#7Google can easily tell how much time you spend on a page, or when you click links, and if they wanted, even how your mouse moves. If the idea is to hide this information from Google itself, it seems pointless, just don't use Google.
Run a network monitor and visit just about any webpage; you'll see Google IPs and a lot of them. Not using Google is reasonable advice and one could start by at least not having an active account, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. Convolution still seems worth the effort, but perhaps ideally, through more sophisticated methods. Some of the metrics you mention could be randomized.
You can block those with an ad blocker, or at your router / firewall if you are really concerned with them. I know that is not something for a normal person, but neither is this search fogging, so seems like there might be better ways to do it.
Not having an account would likely not help at all. All those companies have profiles about you even without an account. You might get lucky and start out as a few separate profiles, but they will eventually link them together.
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#8Reminds me a bit of Marlinspike's Google Sharing: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/googlesharing-a... The concept of hurling garbage into the all-seeing-eye is a good one and I hope it gains sustained popularity.
>> The concept of hurling garbage into the all-seeing-eye is a good one and I hope it gains sustained popularity.
So this is a genuine question, because I don't get it. How is that good? What does it accomplish exactly that makes someone safer or more private on any realistic level? I understand the point at a high level, but what does that actually do for a person on a practical level? Like... "I hurl all this garbage at Google and now I'm better off because...." I can't complete that sentence in a meaningful way and I'd like to be able to. I'd like to believe this really makes some meaningful difference, so I'm hoping I'm missing something. (I'm not thinking in terms of "if everyone did it" but rather "If I do this")
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#9Google can easily tell how much time you spend on a page, or when you click links, and if they wanted, even how your mouse moves. If the idea is to hide this information from Google itself, it seems pointless, just don't use Google.
Yeah, but most people going to this level already block Analytics, AdWords, etc.
Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit
#10Reminds me a bit of Marlinspike's Google Sharing: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/googlesharing-a... The concept of hurling garbage into the all-seeing-eye is a good one and I hope it gains sustained popularity.
>> The concept of hurling garbage into the all-seeing-eye is a good one and I hope it gains sustained popularity. So this is a genuine question, because I don't get it. How is that good? What does it accomplish exactly that makes someone safer or more private on any realistic level? I understand the point at a high level, but what does that actually do for a person on a practical level? Like... "I hurl all this garba…
Speaking as a data engineer: If your personal data is junk, it limits my ability to derive insights from it, and leverage it. I can't speak in terms of ad-tech/user data selling, I'm in an entirely different space, but if it prevents them from being able to both derive value from and further proliferate my identity as a datapoint, that's both a personal and a commons good from where I'm standing.