Comments on: Bob Barr: ‘Google — Master of the universe’ http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/bob-barr-google-%e2%80%94-master-of-the-universe/ Covering America's third parties and independent candidates since May 2008 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:36:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Brian Holtz http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/bob-barr-google-%e2%80%94-master-of-the-universe/comment-page-1/#comment-141780 Brian Holtz Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:01:14 +0000 http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/?p=11255#comment-141780 You won't find a quality search engine that doesn't log your IP address. If you want privacy for your web searches, then turn off cookies, and do your searches from behind a proxy. Details at http://www.eff.org/wp/six-tips-protect-your-search-privacy. If Google stops offering users a search experience that is personalized according to the information you voluntarily share with them, we at Yahoo will happily continue to do so. If we stop also, some other competitor will satisfy that consumer demand, as long as it exists. Present and future government aggression is not a good libertarian argument that a company should eschew a business model that is profitable because it satisfies consumer demand. The correct Libertarian position here is: oppose government invasions of privacy, but defend the freedom of association among private parties to negotiate how they use information voluntarily disclosed to each other. You won’t find a quality search engine that doesn’t log your IP address. If you want privacy for your web searches, then turn off cookies, and do your searches from behind a proxy. Details at http://www.eff.org/wp/six-tips-protect-your-search-privacy.

If Google stops offering users a search experience that is personalized according to the information you voluntarily share with them, we at Yahoo will happily continue to do so. If we stop also, some other competitor will satisfy that consumer demand, as long as it exists.

Present and future government aggression is not a good libertarian argument that a company should eschew a business model that is profitable because it satisfies consumer demand.

The correct Libertarian position here is: oppose government invasions of privacy, but defend the freedom of association among private parties to negotiate how they use information voluntarily disclosed to each other.

]]> By: Robert http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/bob-barr-google-%e2%80%94-master-of-the-universe/comment-page-1/#comment-141765 Robert Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:19:37 +0000 http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/?p=11255#comment-141765 Bob Barr doesn't want google to give the infomation to the government. From above. Reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject . . . to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities. If google cared about preventing an overreacing government from using the data, google would make sure that the data was erased or converted so as not to be tracable as soon as possible. Choose your search engines well. Bob Barr doesn’t want google to give the infomation to the government.

From above.
Reality is that search engines — including Google — do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject . . . to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.

If google cared about preventing an overreacing government from using the data, google would make sure that the data was erased or converted so as not to be tracable as soon as possible.

Choose your search engines well.

]]> By: Thane Eichenauer http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/12/bob-barr-google-%e2%80%94-master-of-the-universe/comment-page-1/#comment-141751 Thane Eichenauer Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:55:08 +0000 http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/?p=11255#comment-141751 This seems like a rather odd article for Bob Barr. Nearly all people agree that their own privacy is important but the overall tone of this article seems to say that because Google stores my personal information that it is invading my privacy. Google as well as most companies store information about their customers (in the old days this information was kept in storage cabinets). Why Barr should take a critical tone about Google CEO Schmidt is puzzling. The only information Google has is provided, voluntarily, by me. The only organization that can take that information by force is the government. It doesn't seem to me that Barr should critique Schmidt for admitting that the Patriot Act exists and is used. This seems like a rather odd article for Bob Barr. Nearly all people agree that their own privacy is important but the overall tone of this article seems to say that because Google stores my personal information that it is invading my privacy. Google as well as most companies store information about their customers (in the old days this information was kept in storage cabinets).

Why Barr should take a critical tone about Google CEO Schmidt is puzzling. The only information Google has is provided, voluntarily, by me. The only organization that can take that information by force is the government.

It doesn’t seem to me that Barr should critique Schmidt for admitting that the Patriot Act exists and is used.

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