Google could strip-search you for Bush Kanchan Gupta, The Pioneer, January 28, 2006
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable==front% 5Fpage&file_name==story5%2Etxt&counter_img==5 For a change, let's begin with a joke that I have borrowed from the British version of GQ. Three very macho mice, loafing over beer and onion bhaji, are trying to put down each other. The first mouse says: "You know those little pellets they put out around the house trying to poison us? I love those things. I eat 'em like candy." The second mouse scoffs: "Oh yeah? Well, you know those mousetraps they put out to try to catch us? What I do is get on the trap, grab the cheese, and then flip over onto my back, and when the steel bar comes swinging down, I grab it and do bench presses with it." The third mouse says: "You guys are really a couple of tough mice, and I'd love to keep hangin' out with you here, but I gotta go bed the cat." The competition between Web service providers and search engines is fast turning into something as ridiculous as the boastful claims of the three stupid mice. For starters, Google, the wonderkid on the block who has taken the world of Internet by storm with staggeringly new and innovative services - gmail is old hat, try the Google desktop which can be downloaded free and make life on the Net a lot more easier - lets you forget all the sites you visit while hurtling down the information highway. It saves the information for you, to be retrieved with a click of the mouse without trying to recall the URL. Every user's search preference is monitored and results show up accordingly; wrong spellings are no bar. For instance, if you key in 'boosh', Google will unerringly link it to President George Bush. There's a catch to it, though. The details get stored on Google's servers. Not to be left behind, Yahoo and msn have come out with their own search and save services, as well as other data retrieval facilities. But Google leads the race, by hundreds of miles. And, thus, has turned out to be more potentially dangerous and damning than the others. The information it stores on its servers is an intrusion into your privacy. Worse, Government can use it to harass you and make life much more horrible than it is at this very moment. A taste of what's bound to follow sooner or later has been provided by the Bush Administration's attempt to grab the data stored by Google. The Bible-thumping Republicans, who want to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the US Supreme Court, say they need Google's data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches. On the face of it, this is a valid request. But why should Governments get access to such data at all? The Net is not only about surfing for porn, it's a gateway to unlimited information. Taking a cue from the Bush Administration, soon Governments around the world will want access to Google's - as well as other service providers' - data bank. From access to abuse is a short distance. The best way to prevent that is to stop Google and other boastful mice from collecting data and showing off their prowess. Not to do so would mean a total loss of our private space - and liberty. -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
