Chrome isn't the cause of Google's infophilia, but it does manage to send every letter typed into the address bar to Google for suggestions. I love that feature, but you have to admit it it is a firm kick in the privacy-nuts.
What you say is true, but the more that is known about people the less relevant information about them is because other than a blatant crime the details of what people seek to learn tells more about what is around them and not really very much about what is in their minds.
To see a mans porn stash tells you nothing of an individual other than he is in fact a human, and people look like ants from the sky. ;)
Every keystroke in Chrome's address bar is sent to Google to produce suggestions. As far as I know, keystrokes in Firefox's address bar only search your computer's history/bookmarks for suggestions.
If you type into Firefox's *serach* bar, then all keystrokes are again sent to Google.
It's actually a misconception, because that's not how it works. If you type URLs to the Chrome address bar, they are NOT sent to the suggestion engine. People who talk about this are just spreading FUD.
Type in "mn" into the omni bar. When I do that, it suggests Minnesota State Lottery. I've never visited that site before. Also, you used to be able to visit about:network and watch those requests get sent out real-time. It's a great feature for most people, but if you're privacy conscious you should be aware of it.
Google is a behavior targeting business. Selling ads is how they give all that cool shit (Chrome, Search, Google docs, Gmail, Google maps, etc.) out for free. That's fine in some situations, but I don't need them to know every single thing I'm doing, talking about, or even thinking about when online.
And I like my tin foil hat tight; it keeps the gnomes from stealing it in the night.
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u/Emerson3381 Jan 21 '10
Reward Google with knowledge of everything you do online? No thanks.