When you put a query into Google, you don’t expect anybody to look at that information. After all, the company gets millions of searches a day; your question about the reproductive habits of swordfish is hardly worth paying attention to. In fact, you would probably be rather upset if you knew that someone looks over your shoulder as you browse the web.
As students at a technical school, we work with the Internet almost constantly, and we have come to take privacy for granted. We assume that all the search queries we enter and all the links that we follow are discarded once we get the information back from the server. The fact, however, is that we have no way of knowing what happens to this data—and sometimes, people do care. The U.S. Department of Justice recently issued subpoenas to major search engines, demanding the URLs and contents of millions of searches. Every search engine complied—except Google. The company, whose search tool is used widely, resisted the orders, insisting that releasing this information would undermine the company’s ability to assure users that their privacy is protected. This past week, the judge presiding over the case ruled in Google’s favor; only a very small subset of the information requested will be turned over, and none of it will contain search queries.
There are a few very important lessons that everybody should learn from these events. Above all, be careful with what you type into a browser. There is no way of knowing who will see it, or what is going to be done with the information. Most sites provide privacy policies; be aware of them. Try to limit how much data you submit online, and consider secure, encrypted channels whenever possible. Remember too that these principles aren’t limited to searches. Facebook is a phenomenon that has developed in recent years; before you post, however, consider that people other than your friends may view your embarassing photos.
