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As the world's biggest search and ad-broker company, Google has drawn its share of criticism and concern about the privacy of its users. Its privacy policy was revised on October 14 2005. Additionally, privacy info about various Google services was made also available.
Information collected by Google Google uses a unique cookie for each browser used by an individual user on a computer. This cookie contains information which allows Google to identify records about that user on its database. This cookie is submitted every time a user does a Google search, visits a site using AdSense etc. The information stored in Google's database, which is identified by the cookie, includes If you're a member of orkut Googles stated policies Some say that Google explicitly states it does not share individual users' information with third parties. The whole privacy statement can be read online *. Google's Information Rights clause (see paragraph Criticism The main criticisms concerning privacy are: Google maintains that We use cookies to improve the quality of our service and to better understand how people interact with us. Google does this by storing user preferences in cookies and by tracking user trends and patterns of how people search. It is possible to delete the Google cookie at any time; however a new cookie and new records will be created the next time you visit Google or use a Google affiliated service. For each web-browser, on each computer you use, a different copy of the cookie will be stored, possibly referring to different records in the Google database. Legal disputes In early 2006, the US Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to force Google to comply with a subpoena for "the text of each search string entered onto Google's search engine over a one-week period (absent any information identifying the person who entered such query)." * Google resisted the subpoena and fought the motion, partially due to concerns about users' privacy. * In March 2006, the court ruled partially in Google's favor, recognizing the privacy implications of turning over search terms. * Clandestine collaboration with the CIA The former CIA officer Robert David Steele has implied that Google is secretly collaborating with the CIA. He claims the legal disputes in 2006 was just a charade for the public. Neither Google nor the CIA has commented on this. * See also | ||||||||
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