Ask.com and other major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft typically keep track of search terms typed by users and link them to a computer’s Internet address, and sometimes to the user. However, when AskEraser is turned on, Ask.com discards all that information, the company said.
So I checked out Ask.com. And there's the privacy eraser button in the corner and when I clicked it I got this window:
(You can click on it to enlarge it.)But is ask.com good enough to find what you are looking for? I searched for:
what do I know Alaska blog steve
And this blog didn't show up until the second page.
When I did the same with google, What Do I Know? showed up in the first four spots. Of course, this is a blogspot blog closely tied to Google.
Anyway, I'd suggest people start trying ask.com so that the other big browswers realize that people do want privacy options. Even if that means when I check out the hits on my blog, I'll get less information about the visitors from sitemeter.
Here's what ask.com's FAQ's say about what will be erased:
What is search activity data?
Search activity data includes information about the pages you visit on Ask.com, including the terms you search for, the links you click, your IP address, and any user or session identifier. When AskEraser is enabled, Ask.com will delete from our servers all references containing any single element of search activity data; query (what you searched for, clicked on, etc.), IP address (where you searched from), and user/sessions IDs (who you are in relation to previous searches).
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Is my search activity deleted immediately?
When AskEraser is enabled, your search activity will be deleted from Ask.com servers within a number of hours. In some instances, it may take a longer period of time for your search activity to be deleted for example when we need to run automated systems to detect and block users or automatic bots that are abusing our site (see Is there any reason Ask.com will stop deleting my search activity?)
If Yahoo had this policy in China, the government there couldn't track down who visited what sites. And this may become more important in the US too.
why is it needed if there are zillions of search sites on the net?
ReplyDeleteWhen you go on a search engine, the companies keep a lot of data about your computer and what you searched for. Ask.com is trying to make itself different from the other search engines by offering the user the opportunity to have the data deleted from the system in a few hours.
ReplyDeleteAt least that was what I understood.
So do you care on IP's, URL's
ReplyDeleteLocations, since u know nada on
" annons", and wonder if you are big
brothers helper, and are not an open loop.
more paradoxes
you post on your computer addiction, then your posts go many x
fold.
What happened to the Orthodox Jewish temperance
redux. ?
I try and be respectfully, but on some heated subjects one somethings get in the mix when others turn up the heat.
ReplyDeleteI was curious on the stuff, as interested on how the I-net works, and I came across this , just sharing as a FYI:
http://www.imakenews.com/admirlaw/e_article000993975.cfm?x=b11,0,w
Like if one was a yahoo holder posting on a yahoo blog, then the ISP could match.
But what if some site, and some just want to be "annon", then what...?
Just curious, a suggested piece for you to write on, on how all this works, I-world./ WWW-c-space
No one has slammed any stock, or such.
You raised good points on the FBI visa via Ted S, and that is a subject that if any discuss will not please someone.
But, just the subject, ANNON---is there truly that status, or is it MATCHEDUP......
And on Google and tracking all google searches, and that aspect, how works.
Your call, but just curious how all works, if ever looking for a topic, to wade into.
Thanks
Log files in a web or blog master's computer track who has looked at the blog. Wikipedia discusses this here in server log. Various programs like Google analysis and Sitemeter which I have on my blog take the log files and organize them into more readable formats. There is a lot of information that comes in, but NOT the person's personal data like name, email, etc. That information could probably be accessed by the internet server the reader uses to get access to the internet. But I can't get that information. But I can see IP address, city, state, server, and information about the computer the person is using.
ReplyDeleteI've left my sitemeter information open to anyone. (You have choices about who can access it.) So, if you click on the Sitemeter logo in the righthand column (above labels) you can see the information I get.