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June 06, 2007
Google browser as nanny
Google browser as nanny: This story got floated last week, but Gregg Keizer has a better overview at Computerworld today... Firefox 3 may call-home to Google before every page request, and show you alternate content if Google determines that it's an evil page. I understand the goal, but the means seem a little creepy. The showstopper may be merely the fact that the browser would directly give Google a link-by-link browsing history of who-goes-where... even if you trust Google, that's too much temptation to put into one location. (I called it "Google browser" in the headline, because Google is a major source of Mozilla funding, although the details are kept opaque... Microsoft has a browser, Google has a browser, and both companies are building up personalization databases of the people of the world.) Anyway, it's not a done deal, and I suspect any such implementation would be opt-in, but the idea of every webpage request going to Google first for permission... that idea feels very strange.
Posted by JohnDowdell at June 6, 2007 08:04 AM
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