Google tricks Internet Explorer, foils privacy settings, Microsoft says

[onehandle]

Google has secretly been bypassing your privacy settings in Internet Explorer, Microsoft claimed Monday afternoon.

The startling accusation came in a blog post Monday by Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Internet Explorer. On Friday, a Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that the search and advertising giant was bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Safari browsers on iPhones and desktop computers.

“When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too?” Hachamovitch wrote.

“We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies."

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/20/google-tricks-internet-explorer-foils-privacy-settings-microsoft-says

First it was Safari. Now it's IE. Firefox and others are being investigated. Guess what the result will be.

'Don't be evil'

[begin_within]

1. Why does anyone even bother with Google any more?

[onehandle]

2. The 'Mountain View Ad Agency' services are 'free.'

...for a price.

Your privacy.

Imagine what they do with Android users' data?

[SomeGuyInEagan]

26. A number of colleges and universities use Gmail exclusively now.

Including R1 research schools.

Aside from privacy, what is also troubling with this is what happens if Google gets hacked or worse.

Call me a cynic, but I just don't trust any corporation entirely, despite what their signed contracts say.

[liberalmike27]

33. Why are People Still Using IE?

I stuck with it for a long time, and finally it just became so unstable that I went whole-hog into Mozilla Firefox, and I've never looked back.

It synchs across several computers, favorites, settings and such, and has a built in spell-checker, is faster, and more stable.

And does anyone think it's weird that while Google and Firefox continue to update their browsers with XP, that IE, a MS product is the only one you can't update, UNLESS you buy Windows 7. That's kind of raw--if nothing else they should come up with a version of IE9.

Google does more good than bad I think.

[xtraxritical]

11. I prefer BING. eom

[FredisDead]

3. Google tricked Apple's Safari in order to track users

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57379931-281/wsj-google-tricked-apples-safari-in-order-to-track-users/

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Google and other ad companies have been using special code to sidestep privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser and track Web users on desktop computers and the iPhone.

[Stop n think]

4. OMG WTF

So your tellin me a large company took advantage of consumers in hopes of a larger profit? What a novel idea.

[tabasco]

41. Just ask Murdoch.

No big deal!

[McCamy Taylor]

5. Time for "Operation Fuck Google's Data Mining."

Extremely easy to do. Get a dictionary. Flip to random pages and choose random words. Seach the random word. Do this at irregular intervals whenever you are online. Be sure to do several "related" searches about your random topic so that it looks like you really have an interest in "sprockets". Set a few of these sites to your "favorites" and visit them everytime you go online. Your "search history" will become worthless to the businesses which are paying Google to sell them your info so that they can target ads at you. And you migt learn sometjhing about sprockets, too!

If everyone using Google did this everytime they log on, there would soon cease to be a market for Google's data mining.

[TygrBright]

6. Easier: Switch to Ixquick or DuckDuckGo. n/t

[Lasher]

12. Thanks, I bookmarked those.

[woodsprite]

36. I'm always in the market for new search engines

One minor thing though - duckduckgo doesn't work with the 'Web of Trust' Firefox plugin, where ixquick does.

[saras]

18. Been doing that for years...

The difference is that I actually read all the weird stuff I find. But what's the point of having a computer on all the time if you can't ask it every strange question that pops into your head. Homicide by nutria? Hominy dildo performance art? Cobalamin missiles? Why not?

[Nihil]

23. Thanks for that ...

Hands up: Who else just did a search for "Homicide by nutria"?

[randome]

27. And we would all be paranoid time-wasters, too.

[jdadd]

7. Just reset the browser, to clear cookies and history, on exit....

[wtmusic]

24. You Deleted Your Cookies? Think Again

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fepicenter%2F2009%2F08%2Fyou-deleted-your-cookies-think-again%2F&ei=brdDT9bVMMjXiQL525CbAQ&usg=AFQjCNGrRA_OFDuvVXD19V0qP-RE3i7B-Q

LSOs are for real. Anyone who wants to seriously track you (Google, PayPal, etc) uses them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. 2 ways to foil Google and LSOs:

Mozilla "Better Privacy" extension finds and identifies LSOs, you can manually dump them or have them dumped when you close the browser.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/?src=search

Microsoft just published Tracking Project lists, which will block Google ads!
see here:
http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/browser/p3p/

[jdadd]

48. Thanks....I stand corrected....

[geckosfeet]

8. Why dose anyone even use IE? Feature poor and buggy. It's a load.

[wtmusic]

9. The security of MS software has been compromised??

It's a dark, dark day in Redmond.

[nilram]

15. It wasn't easy... first they had to find it!

[christx30]

16. I think my

5 1/2 year old could find a security hole in IE in about an hour. That's why he uses Firefox. I've tested him on it. I'll open IE when he wants to play his games. He'll say "Daddy? Can I use the other one?" and I'll flip him over to Firefox.

[nilram]

28. I wasn't suggesting a security *hole* was hard to find

the security was hard to test because the *security* was hard to find...

[christx30]

34. Right

Kind of like the hole in my sock is hard to find. Cause I don't know where my sock is.

[boppers]

40. Microsoft finds security hole, blames google.

That dastardly google!

[wtmusic]

46. Don't worry - it's an easy fix with IE Service Pack #4.29.a7865-11328

Just make sure you download it with Firefox

[stockholmer]

10. Ironic, as Google Chrome is on the verge of becoming the most used browser in the world

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

Google is bad news all around.

Thats what becomes of a firm partially backed with CIA (via their venture capital firm In-Q-Tel) seed money.

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/10/05/the-eyeopener-exposing-%E2%80%98in-q-%E2%80%93tel%E2%80%99-the-cia%E2%80%99s-own-venture-capital-firm/

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/tag/in-q-tel/

[Lasher]

13. And here I'd gotten so happy with Chrome.

Guess I'll have to go back to Firefox. Dammit.

[stockholmer]

14. try Opera, it works well for me

http://www.opera.com/

[d_r]

22. or iron

[stockholmer]

25. So Iron is like Chrome, but without the nasty Google spy features?

[d_r]

29. yes

it is from the chromium, the underlying of chrome, but with the ad stuff turned off

[saras]

17. Dear M$: You CAN'T bypass a FUNCTIONAL security setting.

The problem with M$ is that they assume that your boss, the government, Microsoft themselves, the publishers of any software you happen to own, and the RIAA have the right to complete access to your computer, and then they wonder why other people have access, too.

[Bonobo]

19. There's still a microsoft explorer? Wow. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. There's still Windows? Wow.

It took me about 2 days to get used to Linux, 2 years ago.
Linux and Opera...nice combination.

[DUIC]

31. You sound like a 1%er

That's the market penetration of Linux on the desktop.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. Yep, that equates to the 1% on the right hand side of this graph.

People with higher IQs tend to prefer open source OS, I have been told.



.

[DUIC]

37. Were you also informed that the study was bogus?

Because, in fact, it was.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. Sorry, I am confused. Which study are you referring to?

Link would be nice.

[DUIC]

42. AptiQuant's bogus survey

http://www.sitepoint.com/ie-users-low-iq/

Quite frankly, with any OS or browser, there are no causative factors to predict intelligence.

[dixiegrrrrl]

43. Never heard of it.

[DUIC]

44. Sucks to be ordinary

and in a fringe group, like Linux desktop users. It's the equivalent of being a goth in high school.

[wtmusic]

47. Running Windows is the equivalent of drinking Budweiser

It's cheap, it sucks, but people do it anyway. Even when there are cheaper options.

Artisanal OS'es like Linux/Ubuntu are for those who can appreciate them.

[DUIC]

30. Easy Fix: Enable Tracking Protection Lists to stop Google's data mining

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2012/02/20/google-bypassing-user-privacy-settings.aspx

[Bladian]

38. People still use IE?

That's news to me.

[elifino]

45. I use a add-in called TRACKMENOT for Firefox

I installed it a week ago and it has stopped 6636 attempts to track. It also stops Google and Yahoo Analytical.