Yahoo Abandons “Do Not Track”, Citing Lack Of Industry Standard
Yahoo yesterday announced that it will no longer adhere to Do Not Track browser signals, further compromising the effectiveness of the setting in the online ecosystem. “As of today, web browser Do Not Track settings will no longer be enabled on Yahoo. As the first major tech company to…
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Google Updates Its Privacy Policy
You may have noticed Google’s Privacy Policy has been updated as of March 31, with a red letter “Updated” call-out the site’s home page preceding Google’s Privacy & Terms link. This is the first time the company has updated the policy this year, following an update…
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Google Gets Another Street View Privacy Fine — In Italy
It seems like each European country is taking its turn fining Google for some privacy infraction. This time it’s Italy and involves Street View. Google has reportedly paid a roughly $1.4 million (1 million EUR) fine. According a story in Reuters the issue this time was the failure to clearly…
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German Courts Follow French Ruling & Order Google To Block Max Mosley Images In Search Results
Google has lost another case in the Max Mosley lawsuit, this time in Germany. According to a Reuter’s report, a German court has ruled Google is responsible for distributing scandalous pictures of the former Formula One president, and is ordering the search engine to block links to the images…
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An Easy Way To Check What Referrer Data Google, Bing Or Yahoo Pass To Your Secure Site
With the three major search engines migrating their default searches to secure search, over SSL/HTTPS, marketers and webmasters want to know what referrer and analytics data will be passed to them and what won’t. The majority of Google is secure search, Yahoo yesterday defaulted all searches…
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Yahoo Search Goes Secure, Taking Referrer Data — An Indicator Of Yahoo’s Popularity — With It
By default, searches on Yahoo.com are now done through a secure server. That means more protection for searchers but less data for search marketers about how they are receiving traffic. Any visits from Yahoo done via search will appear as if someone ca…
Google Remarketing Ads Found To Violate Canadian Privacy Law; To Revamp Ad Review System By June
Google has agreed to several concessions after an investigation by Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner found Google in violation of Canada’s privacy rights for the use of sensitive health history in remarketing campaigns. The investigation began last January, when a man…
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EU Wants More Search Concessions, Google Defies French Authority
Round and round she goes. The European Commission is seeking a final round of “concessions” from Google in an 11th hour effort to settle potential antitrust claims against the company. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia made public statements asserting that Google needs to…
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VA Court Delivers Blow To Yelp, Free Speech Of Users
A Virginia state court of appeal has ruled that Yelp must disclose the real identities of seven individuals who posted anonymous, critical reviews of an Alexandria, Virginia carpet cleaning business, Hadeed Carpet. Yelp and free speech advocacy groups have decried the decision. Hadeed said that he…
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DuckDuckGo Has Biggest Day Ever In 2014 With More Than 4 Million Queries On January 7th
The Guardian reported yesterday DuckDuckGo, the search engine that keeps user searches private, is now up to four million queries per day, with over a billion queries performed on the anonymous search engine during 2013. Prior to the PRISM scandal that…
Google’s Latest Transparency Report Shows Rise In Content Removal Requests From Russia & Turkey
Google announced today it has released its eighth Transparency Report since 2010 when the search engine began providing data on government requests to remove content. According to the latest Transparency Report covering the first half of 2013, Google saw a “significant” increase in the…
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Google Maps Makes Exception & Speeds Up Process To Replace Image Of Shooting Victim
Google Maps is making an exception to its process for reviewing image removal requests, and speeding up the actions needed to replace a satellite image of a 14-year old shooting victim. Following a story broadcast on KTVU-TV, a CNN affiliate in Oakland, California and a report on CNN.com, Google…
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Google Claims Government Requests For User Information Have Increased Over 100% Since 2010
Google released an updated Transparency Report today, claiming government requests for user information have increased more than 100 percent since it began posting transparency reports in 2010. According to Google, this is the eighth update to its tran…
Don’t Want Your Searches Encrypted? Add ?nord=1 To Your URL Parameters
Not interested in having Google encrypt and secure your searches? Well, now there is a way to stop Google from forcing you to search using Google SSL search. All you need to do is add ?nord=1 to the Google URL parameter. For example, searching Google f…
New Disconnect Tool Enables Private Searches Without Logging Out Of Online Accounts
Online security software provider Disconnect launched their latest search tool, Disconnect Search this week. According to the announcement, Disconnect Search allows users to perform private searches on sites like Google, Yahoo and Bing via their address bar or omnibox, “Without having to…
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“100% Not Provided Is Not The End Of SEO” Insider Opinions On Google’s Move To Withhold Data
Earlier this week, Google revealed it would be encrypting all search data, rendering website owners unable to see search term information previously offered through the “referrer” system. While Google had encrypted the data two years ago for searches performed by users signed in to…
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Post-PRISM, Google Confirms Quietly Moving To Make All Searches Secure, Except For Ad Clicks
In the past month, Google quietly made a change aimed at encrypting all search activity — except for clicks on ads. Google says this has done to provide “extra protection” for searchers, and the company may be aiming to block NSA spying activity. Or possibly, it’s a move to…
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Could You Walk In Google’s Shoes? Making Tough Calls With Search Listings
It’s pretty easy to sit back and slam Google for how you think it should make decisions when it comes to search listings. It’s much harder to actually make those decisions, when you have a deeper understanding of all the implications involved. To experience this better, here’s a…
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Google Says European Law Does Not Support Mosley Lawsuit To Censor Search Results
Yesterday, Google posted a plea on their Google Europe blog asking European courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Formula One president Max Mosley. The lawsuit requests that Google build a filter to identify and block what Mosley claims is unlawf…
Search Privacy Low On List Of Privacy Concerns For US Internet Users
Despite the fact that search history can be so revealing about people’s desires and interests, a new survey of US internet users finds that concern over search privacy — while significant — still ranks far behind other online privacy issues. The survey by the Pew Research Center…
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