http://www.abelssoft.de/engl/gc.php
GoogleClean - Control Google spy functionality
Google's iPhone Tracking
Web Giant, Others Bypassed Apple Browser Settings for Guarding Privacy
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/02/16/how-google-tracked-safari-users/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=blogmod
How to Avoid the Prying Eyes
French regulators are warning Google that its new privacy policy appears to violate European data-protection laws, but the Internet giant indicated Tuesday that it is going ahead with the changes this week.
Worried about Google collecting data about your online searches?
An online privacy start-up called Abine is rolling out a tool Thursday that promises to help people keep their search information secret. The tool, called Protected Search, works only on the Firefox Web browser, but the company said it is working on versions for other browsers as well.
Abine bought the technology, originally called GoogleSharing, from its developer
http://abine.com/
The Google Cookie That Seems to Come Out of Nowhere
Two years ago, Mac user Stephen Frankel started noticing something strange: A mysterious Google “cookie” file kept popping up on his computer, even though he was blocking tracking cookies, had no Google accounts and wasn’t even visiting Google.
So what is this mysterious cookie, and what in the heck is it doing on the computer of someone who isn’t even browsing the Web?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704377004575650802136721966.html
Some Data-Miners Ready to Reveal What They Know
When the service launches in January, users will be able to see information about them from eight data and tracking firms, including BlueKai Inc., Lotame Solutions Inc. and eXelate Inc.
Additional tracking firms are expected to join once the system is live, but more than a hundred tracking firms and big Internet companies including Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are not involved.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703309704575413553851854026.html
A confidential, seven-page Google Inc. "vision statement" shows the information-age giant in a deep round of soul-searching over a basic question: How far should it go in profiting from its crown jewels—the vast trove of data it possesses about people's activities?
His memo, stamped "INTERNAL CONFIDENTIAL," acknowledged the delicateness of the subject. Audience targeting is "of a sensitive nature," it stated in the very first sentence, due to the possibility of "mis-understanding" among users.
http://www.pictfor.org.uk/2012/02/a-right-to-be-forgotten/
A BUS LOAD of US state attorneys general have written a joint letter to Google's CEO Larry Page about the changes the company is making to user privacy policies.
pdf to download
http://blog.opendigital.org/2012/02/search-neutrality-at-pictfor-6th.html
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57391463-17/apple-ios-html5-performance-far-exceeds-android/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57391350-261/google-reboots-android-market-launches-google-play/
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2154875/google-changes-tack-do-track
Google has reversed its policy on "do not track" (DNT) for its browser Chrome and will include the feature by the end of the year.
Most other popular browsers already offer DNT.
Mozilla's Firefox was the first major browser to add DNT in February 2011, quickly followed by Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9.
Apple's Safari has the feature
Opera's eponymous browser doesn't support DNT, but an as-yet unreleased new build of the software does.
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2157017/mozilla-adds-tracking-graph-tool-firefox
We Can’t Wait: Obama Administration Unveils Blueprint for a “Privacy Bill of Rights” to Protect Consumers Online
“American consumers can’t wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online,”
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2081583/ec-online-privacy-months
EC wants better online privacy in 12 months
The resulting information can be used to build user profiles which are valuable, for example, for targeting ads.
She added that a user's browsing habits could also be tracked through browser add-ons or browser fingerprinting (where the browser's combination of plug-ins, add-ons and installed fonts is used to identify a user).
This tracking can then occur without the user's knowledge or consent, thus contituting an invasion of privacy.
She praised a solution found by two advertising bodies, the EASA and IAB Europe. "Their approach consists of an icon on each targeted ad, coupled with an information website that allows the user to switch off behaviourally targeted display ads [disabling cookies] from any participating company," she said.