All Your Searches are Belonging to Us

Lori Lancaster | August 8, 2006
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | August 9, 2006
Legally no, ethically maybe. I hesitate to comment on this because we established a long time ago that my level of comfort about web privacy is way higher than many of you, but still, if you ask me, we all must inevitably accept that every single thing we do online is tracked and observed and could be released later. You can reduce it by staying offline, but a) that's insufficient thanks to the availability of public records and b) what are you, Henry David Thoreau? It's like Kris was blogging about yesterday; nothing online can permanently cease to exist with certainty. Google keeps a permanent log of every single search made by every single IP address and what results they clicked on, and that's information that might go public someday. I've looked up porn; there, the big secret's out. I guess I'm just too used to the idea to be bothered by it. :-| (None of this was intended as a dis, Lori.)

Adrianne Rodgers | August 12, 2006
It doesn't bother me too much, because the users are only known as numbers, and I doubt anyone has the free time to trace those. Now, if it said something along the lines of Adrianne Rodgers Once Performed A Search For Russian Women or something, then, I'd be worried. But then again, maybe I wouldn't. I usually have some sort of explaination at the ready for why I'm looking at something. (By far, the best perk of being a sociologist is the ability to use "cultural studies" as an excuse for everything.)

Scott Hardie | August 12, 2006
But now, you've said that on this site, and I'm sure it has been cached by thousands of search engines in the last 24 hours, and you're doomed to be known as a Searcher For Russian Women and you'll never be able to hold public office! Someday we'll turn on the television and see you at a press conference thanking the president but declining your nomination to chief justice because you don't want to taint the administration any further with allegations of what kind of women you did or didn't search for during your college days.

As for me, I spend most of my searches looking for halfway-decent photos from 1899 for this site and not finding many. (And not Victorian porn, thank you; if I wanted that I'd just subscribe to Nerve and try to believe it made me hip.) If only I could claim that working in web development gave me a reason to surf the web all day long, but surely that excuse could never work in the real world...

Scott Hardie | August 12, 2006
I forgot to mention: In writing that comment, I searched for mentions of the new site to see how many search engines had spidered it in the first two weeks, and I came across your flattering write-up on BTD, Steve. Thank you very much for the kindness and free publicity.