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July 16, 2007
Google Cookie, undeath
Google Cookie, undeath: Doesn't die, just keeps renewing itself whenever you hit a page with Google content. The Google Cookie had already been controversial for being set to expire in the year 2038. Now: "Google will start issuing our users cookies that will be set to auto-expire after 2 years, while auto-renewing the cookies of active users during this time period. In other words, users who do not return to Google will have their cookies auto-expire after 2 years." In other other words -- you can visit a Google-tracking page only once every two years without leaving a record of which sites you visit. That's not much improvement. It's faster to just blacklist those domains in your browser's cookie controls. But if you log in to Google social services (Gmail, YouTube uploads, etc) then you're once again connected to your prior history in their data banks. The announcement says it will improve privacy, but I don't see how it can -- that cookie takes two years to die, but only if it never gets triggered by a Google asset during that time. I've got AdSense cookies... do you? The implications of cross-site tracking are extremely significant....
Posted by JohnDowdell at July 16, 2007 10:12 PM
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Comments
i sign into google services at google.com, but do all of my searching at google.ca, where i am not signed in. hopefully that will keep my searches separate from my other google-stored information...
Posted by: bunnyhero at July 17, 2007 12:10 AM
I hear you... I fragment my online footprint too.
How many cookies from Google domains do you have in your browser? (Sometimes the list is shown in Preferences, sometimes in a separate Cookie History, depends on the browser.)
jd
Posted by: John Dowdell at July 17, 2007 01:13 AM