Any good hitter can tell you the secret to hitting is to keep your eye on the ball. If a hitter is distracted by the scoreboard, the fans, or even a sheet of paper blowing across the field, it’s not very likely he’s going to hit the ball. So it is with dangers you face on the Internet.
A couple of days ago we posted an article called “What Does Google Know About You?”. The responses we’ve had to this article have been telling. Many of you want to know how to avoid having information collected about you. Some of you said you don’t use Google. Some said you don’t use Gmail. But that’s not the point. Google, Bing, Yahoo – and all the major search engines collect data about you. What this data consists of all or some of these:
1. Your IP address
2. The advertisements you clicked
3. The pages you’ve visited
4. The things you’ve searched for
5. The Sites you’ve visited
Why would they want to do this? Money. They know that showing you advertisements based on what you like are going to get far more of your interest than random advertisements. If you are a lady, searching for shoes, or visiting shoe stores sites, would you rather see ads for shoes and shoe related products, or men’s suits? Shoes of course.
Google, Bing, Yahoo aren’t trying to find out where you live – or your phone number – or turn you in because you stumbled on an illegal Web site.They’re interested in getting paid by advertisers. The more customers they deliver – the more money they make.
It’s one thing to be concerned about privacy but quite another to worry to the point of taking your eye off the ball. One of the biggest reasons why so many things on the Web remain free, is exactly the same reason that broadcast radio and broadcast TV remain free – advertising. Advertising that is targeted to your particular tastes and likes, is much less annoying than random advertising for things you could care less about. The reason why search engines and some Web sites collect data about you is to show you advertisements based on what you like. And they learn what you like by keeping track of the things you search for and the sites you visit. There is no dark motive behind this – unless you consider money a dark motive. And if you do you’re living in the wrong world. If you haven’t noticed – it’s all about the money everywhere you go.
It’s sad to see so many of you worrying about cookies and data search engines collect about you – and then being hurt by things like scareware, rogues, spyware, adware, botnets, viruses and other malware. If you allow fear mongers to stir you up about cookies and search engine tracking – you’re really not doing yourself a favor.
Search engines are no doing anything that hasn’t and isn’t being done in the real world. When you subscribe to a magazine – you’ll probably get offers from similar magazines. Coincidence? You think? Grocery stores offer shopper’s cards. Everything you buy is tracked and you may receive offers and coupons you buy in the mail. Coincidence? Hardly.
You’re being tracked by cameras on street corners, by your bank, your super market, you magazine company. You’re being tracked by your government – try not paying your taxes.
Search engines are not tracking you to steal your personal information – or for any other pernicious purpose. They’re tracking you to show you ads you may be interested in and you may click. And if you click, they make money. You may see something very wrong with that, but we don’t. We would much rather see ads we are interested in that ads for things we are not.
Honestly, you’re going to be far safer if you stop worrying about how much Google or Bing or Yahoo or any other search engine Web site and focus on protecting your computer and your PERSONAL information by installing, updating and using good antispyware, and good antivirus, good antimalware software. And more importantly by using good common sense and educating yourself about scareware, malware, Trojans, botnets, spyware, viruses and other malicious files and programs that abound on the Web.
Don’t take your eye off the ball. If you do you may find you’re being tracked by something far more sinister than Google. No search engine is going to steal your money, personal information, your credit card numbers, your Social Security number, or your identity. There are thousand of miscreants and thousands of malicious programs on the Web. There are phishing sites. There are botnets. There are keyloggers. And if your computer gets infected you’re going to have a lot more to worry about than tracking cookies, cookies, and the information search engines know about you.
Take our word on it. It’s true.
Thank you for a good, common sense article. I hope people will take to heart what you are saying here. There is too much misinformation out there, and it is good to set the record straight. If people are worried about viruses, spyware, and all those other nasty computer infections, they just need to remember to never, ever, click links in, or respond to emails that you are not familiar with. Most of these types of problems we bring on ourselves, by not being careful, and not using good judgement when we receive these things.
amen