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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

#31

Post by wu-ikkyu »

blakesterz wrote: post #8
eth0up wrote: post #2

Reminds 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…

>I hurl all this garbage at Google and now I'm better off because....

I'm a more obscure/difficult target for hackers and social engineers.

There is no single IT security solution, and there is no 100% security. But the more layers you have against the many different attack vectors the more secure your identity is. This tool is but one layer.

If you left footprints everywhere you went in meatspace, criminals could use that information to own you.

This is a tool which obfuscates the footprints you leave on the web.

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#33

Post by nercht12 »

guelo wrote: post #27

Or you could just use DuckDuckGo and an ad blocker.

You need to block Javascript too, and not enable exceptions for Google services like NoScript does. Besides that, Google is probably part of multiple data-sharing alliances that allow Google to track you even when it's not tracking you. Loading "normal" (non-ad) images from a site already leaves your IP footprint on a site, which could share that info with other sites. How much sharing goes on is a mystery. It's possible data collection companies don't know just how much info they really have, but that'd be a good thing for the rest of us, IMO.

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#35

Post by pierrec »

anondon wrote: post #15

IIRC Google suspended the accounts of people who did something similar(automated random searches). I think it's against their Terms of Service.

Someone's account was suspended after visiting ruinmysearchhistory, but it was more of an isolated case:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11880008

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#36

Post by eth0up »

tedunangst wrote: post #11
eth0up wrote: post #2

Reminds 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.

Posit that the government wants to round up all the pressure cooker searchers. Now, instead of one searcher, they have a conspiracy of a dozen pressure cooker searchers. Are they going to just shrug their shoulders and say oh well? The idea that it's possible to overflow the governments secret lists is founded on the idea that the government cares if a list gets too long. I'm not sure that's the case.

Why posit this? It's but one of many possible considerations. My activities have nothing to do with "pressure cookers", nor am I exclusively concerned with "secret lists".

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#37

Post by nop80 »

Whilst I don't disagree with increasing privacy, as a general solution for everybody into the future this method seems a bit brute force and possibly disruptive. If you only use Google search, and don't use other Google services, aren't you simply an IP address to Google? If so, I don't see the harm in the knowing of search trends by geolocation.

At the end of the day, we all have a price for convenience - I knowingly use Facebook even though I hate the loss of privacy.

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#38

Post by type0 »

slarrick wrote: post #17
blakesterz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> 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…

For me, I imagine a scenario like the movie GATTACA where in a future world an employer can base their entire hiring decision on what your genome says about you (theoretically, a lot). Imagine a world where business giants judge you by correlating huge amounts of data about you. "You shop for expensive purses and small dog toys, therefore statistically your personality is x, y, z"

I don't know for sure, but if you try to get a job at certain places where they require you to get clearance, THEY WILL read your search history, emails etc, and that is. Information collected via online surveillance tells much more about you than your genes. Even from genetic standpoint, there is a thing called epigenetics. Environment affect about half the traits of who you are, so knowing what you eat, who you meet, where you go and so on would actually be quite revealing.

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#39

Post by Balgair »

type0 wrote: post #38
slarrick wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, I imagine a scenario like the movie GATTACA where in a future world an employer can base their entire hiring decision on what your genome says about you (theoretically, a lot). Imagine a world where business giants judge you by correlating huge amounts of data about you. "You shop for expensive purses and small dog toys, therefore statistically your personality is x, y, z"

I don't know for sure, but if you try to get a job at certain places where they require you to get clearance, THEY WILL read your search history, emails etc, and that is. Information collected via online surveillance tells much more about you than your genes. Even from genetic standpoint, there is a thing called epigenetics. Environment affect about half the traits of who you are, so knowing what you eat, who you mee…

Um, no they don't: https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86-non508.pdf

Re: Fogging your Google search history with Python and Reddit

#40

Post by Apocryphon »

veeragoni wrote: post #6

Google 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!"

Tweak the automated driver to match your usage patterns, then.
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