Beware Google Users! Google is prying.

Yeah, you read it right. Google does not only spy on your emails & search queries, but also on the messaging you do with your friends on Google Talk. Based on these surveys, they find out what music people are talking about most & have started something called Google Music Trends in which they take into account how many times an artist/song has been mentioned when people are chatting.

http://www.google.com/trends/music

 

You might be wrong, there is a feature in google talk and you can put in the status what are you listening to. So maybe they scan only that status.

 

I don't think this can be called spying.
They observe the market and try to monitor trends.
Spying would be if they gather information on you as an individual without you being aware of it.

If you go to metaspy you can see exactly what people were searching for recently. But you don't see who was searching for it.

 

i doubt it..google is such a big company..and they spying??!!!..i dont think so..

 

more evidence that google is god.

 

if you have the google toolbar installed, then Google knows what you view, how long your there, where you click, EVERYTHING you do in the browser and the latest web history thingy only adds to the paranoia

 

mostly... google doing them for good

 

dudibob is right. Moreover, it's widely known that they have access to your mailbox.
If you are looking for more secured solution, i recommend you to not use a free mail and chat service.

 

It's not like Google is going to steal your identity, right?
Still, "spying" would be uncomfortable.

 

Also, if you are logged into your webmaster account, they will keep track of the searches you do while you are logged in, maybe the websites you visit also and as Dudibob already mentioned, they gather more information from the Google toolbar also.

 

Exactly.

That's the reason why Google has kept PR bar alive on the toolbar. Many users find the PR bar interesting and thus install the toolbar on their PCs...many of them don't really know that Google is collecting information.

 

lol there are alot of short vids about google being some big company out to steal your privacy with gmail and all kinds of crazy crap.

 

google spying with their budget?

 

who knows, maybe it's more than a budget thing. maybe they are after world domination

 

They say the same thing about microsoft. I just figured if you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't have to worry.

 

I heard this on the radio a few days ago, is this where you are coming from?

 

I'm aware what they do, and i don't really mind as i've got nothing to hide/worry about... But they really should be ALOT more clear and forthcoming about what data they mine exactly and how it's used instead of burying it in 2x font on a 10 page TOS that they know full well people just go "whatever" and click to install.

 

haha, I agree, there TOC page should be something like:

With the smiliey and everything lol

 

There was an article to this effect in the Daily Telegraph recently. So it's not as if this monitoring is completely out of the public eye, or that people don't care about it.

 

Google is everywhere and they are watching what you do online...