Technology

Google Wants to Track You — and They’ll Give You $25 to Do It

Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:12am by Liz Klimas
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Google Begins Research Project to Improve Itself Offering Participants $25 Google is looking for people to voluntarily give up some of their privacy as part of a research panel to “help us make Google better”. What’s in it for you? Up to $25 — in Amazon gift cards.

Google describes the project — dubbed the Screenwise Panel– as an effort to learn more about the sites you visit and how you use them in order to make Google and its products “a better online experience for everyone.”

Participants can sign up here and websites they visit and other analytics are tracked through a browser extension they opt to add on. Panelists receive a $5 Amazon gift card just for signing up and get additional $5 cards for every three months they stay on as participants. Google writes that Amazon is not a sponsor of this project.

SlashGear clarifies that the project is not intended to track you as an individual but simply to collect information about how browsers work with the Web. Google has said in a statement to SlashGear that such a project is similar to what many would institute to conduct market research:

“Like many other web and media companies, we do panel research to help better serve our users by learning more about people’s media use, on the web and elsewhere. This panel is one such small project that started near the beginning of the year. Of course, this is completely optional to join. People can choose to participate if it’s of interest (or if the gift appeals) and everyone who does participate has complete transparency and control over what Internet use is being included in the panel. People can stay on the panel as long as they’d like, or leave at any time.” – Google Spokesperson

This project comes just as Google has faced backlash over its announcement that it would be revising its privacy policy.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center recently announced that would be suing the Federal Trade Commission for not exerting its authority over Google’s policy changes. EPIC’s lawyers state that by not enforcing a consent order on Google, FTC is “placing the privacy interests of literally hundreds of millions of Internet users at grave risk.”

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Comments (54)

midwesthippie
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 3:16pm
…doesn’t google already track us? if you search for an item online, say a sofa or TV, the next time you go to your email page…there it is in a google ad…homepage, sofas and TV’s in a google ad.
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- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 10:24pm
  Google (and other “3rd parties”) can’t track you if you block them, directly & indirectly.
  
  * Block Google in your firewall. Address range: 74.124.0.0 – 74.125.255.255
  (Google now owns YouTube so you’ll have to open 74.125.226.128 – 74.125.226.255 to use it.)
  * Block all “3rd party cookies”
  * Use the “Ghostery” browser plug-in to show what 3rd party link any webpage is using, so you can block them, too. TheBlaze has 6 (depending on the webpage):
  Google Analytics, Quantcast, Omniture, Doubleclick, Revenue Science, Zedo
  * Become Internet savvy. Listen or read (live & archived) to “Security Now” with Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. Gibson also has free tests & software to close “information leaks” broadcasting from your OS (Microsoft & Apple aren’t saints either)
  
  And remember people … there’s more. So be careful out there.
  Report Post »
- The-Monk
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:45pm
  @WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Installed Ghostery 2 weeks ago after getting Zedo pop ups while on The Blaze. It slowed down browsing on The Blaze noticeably. Any ideas?
  Report Post »
- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:28pm
  The-Monk – “Installed Ghostery 2 weeks ago … It slowed down browsing on The Blaze noticeably. Any ideas?”
  
  I’m not upgraded to their new version, but, even with the older version, they use the same “browser overlay” that TheBlaze uses (those obnoxious sliders TheBlaze puts on the right side of their pages that also slow down our browsers). Turn Ghostery’s off, as well as any other function not directly needed:
  * “Show Alert Bubble” – off (you can one-shot-show the “web bugs list” by clicking the Ghostery icon in your browser’s Status Bar)
  * “Enable GhostRank” – off
  (and there’s probably more to switch off in Ghostery 2)
  
  But that’s only a small hole-plug in the huge, leaking dam.
  The Gibson website, http://www.grc.com/intro.htm, has SHIELDS-UP, which shows you what information your browser is leaking EVERY TIME A WEBPAGE SHOWS, and what you can do to minimize it.
  Report Post »
- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:51pm
  There are USEFUL alternate search-engines to Google:
  
  Bing – http://www.bing.com/
  
  Start Page “the world’s most private search engine” – https://www.startpage.com/
  (it even uses “secure” connections for your searches — the “s” at the end of “http”)
  Report Post »
- The-Monk
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 7:44pm
  @WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:28pm
  The-Monk – “Installed Ghostery 2 weeks ago … It slowed down browsing on The Blaze noticeably. Any ideas?”
  
  I meant “two weeks ago” not “Ghoustery 2” if that’s any help. Thanks.
  Report Post »
spirited
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 3:07pm
All Google needs to do is look at a lot of Facebook folks.

My name is: _____________,
I live at: _________________,
My children’s names are:___________________, ___________________;
….. here are some photos of them.

>and, right now they are at this location ___________________
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- eaglenest
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 9:22am
  Giving out all that information to the whole world on Facebook, I thought I was the only one who thought like that.
  Thank you Spirited.
  Report Post »
smitty1007
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 2:56pm
Switch to Yahoo or Firefox browers!
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- kangaroo
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 3:48pm
  Thanx for playing, I have had yahoo for ever, they track everything I look at to where I log in
  Report Post »
banjarmon
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:46pm
Dang…I was hoping this was a GPS unit I could tie to the tail of my old COW!!!
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- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:33pm
  Don’t fret about that. When YOU’RE MANDATED to report for YOUR TRACKING CHIP, just bring the cow along for her’s, too.
  http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Chip_Implants/
  Report Post »
girlnurse
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:43pm
As if theyre not tracking you now!??? Haha
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TEIN
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:30pm
This kind of funny..Mircosoft got slapped on the hands for wanting to do this same thing 15 years ago….wow how times have changed….
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garbagecanlogic
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:19pm
Just another way to sucker the idiots in, and you can bet there will be thosands of mentally challenged fools who will fall for it.

Pray For Obama. Psalm 109:8

The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
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- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:41pm
  Yes, pray for Obama and all the co-conspirators in Washington DC and across America:
  
  6 – Set a wicked man over him,
  And let an accuser stand at his right hand.
  7 – When he is judged, let him be found guilty,
  And let his prayer become sin.
  8 – Let his days be few,
  And let another take his office.
  9 – Let his children be fatherless,
  And his wife a widow.
  10 – Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg;
  Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places.
  11 – Let the creditor seize all that he has,
  And let strangers plunder his labor.
  12 – Let there be none to extend mercy to him,
  Nor let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
  13 – Let his posterity be cut off,
  And in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
  14 – Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
  And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
  15 – Let them be continually before the LORD,
  That He may cut off the memory of them from the earth;
  16 – Because he did not remember to show mercy,
  But persecuted the poor and needy man,
  That he might even slay the broken in heart.
  17 – As he loved cursing, so let it come to him;
  As he did not delight in blessing, so let it be far from him.
  18 – As he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment,
  So let it enter his body like water,
  And like oil into his bones.
  19 – Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
  And for a belt with which he girds himself continuall
  Report Post »
- WeDontNeedNoSteenkinBadges10
  Posted on February 10, 2012 at 5:42pm
  [continued]
  
  19 – Let it be to him like the garment which covers him,
  And for a belt with which he girds himself continually.
  
  -Psalms 109, Holy Bible
  Report Post »
geo01
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:08pm
.
GOOGLE’S ADVERTISERS need to UNDERSTAND SOMETHING . . .
.
As long as we believe SOME FREEDOM STILL EXISTS in the United States of America……
.
WE WILL EXIT GOOGLE Like lemmings rushing to the sea.
.
ADVERTISERS OF GOOGLE…..start finding another place to spend your money…….As long as there are any other places to go on the net . . . Google and others like them can go straight to
_ _ _ _ …..you know where.
.
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- josh345
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 6:17pm
  If you think that people are going to stop using Google then frankly you are an unrealistic idiot.
  Report Post »
itsmyfirstday
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:45pm
Well that almost what I got from Obama in tax refunds….let me think….hmmmmm NO
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qzak491
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:34pm
EVERYONE TAKE YOUR ACCOUNTS OUT OF GOOGLE NOW. Let these people know we will not tollerate this breach of liberty. Hit them in the pocket book where it will do the most damage.
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- checkmate0831
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 1:10pm
  Just removed all of my accounts pointing to my gmail last week….
  Report Post »
- crabbyoldman
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 10:55pm
  I never google!!!!!
  Report Post »
PJ3
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:22pm
If Google wants to help improve their services to us, then just ask us. No need to spy on us. Anyone that lets them is crazy. You realize they have a political agenda. I had my homepage at work and home as google. Im changing it now.
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- ValiantDefender
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:58pm
  If they give me $15k I’ll let them watch me for 24/7 while I buy $15k in weapons and network security gear, right before I turn off all my google accounts and disappear off the grid. ROFL.
  Report Post »
copatriots
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:15pm
Generally speaking, today’s youth have no regard for privacy nor do they realize how much they put online about themselves. They don’t care if they are tracked/profiled or what the government or companies intend to gain from the information.

Had a discussion just this morning about how fast the world has changed in such a short period of time. Can anyone envision what it will look like 20 years from now?
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ContinentalArmy
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:11pm
$25.00 for a Government Spy Program. That is Google. Lies! Why do they ( Google ) want your cell phone number to sign in? Tracking Everything One Does Online,This is why. So go ahead and sign in to Google if you want to let the Government know about YOUR BUSINESS.
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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:04pm
Hey Google, how about I pay YOU $25 to just stay the hell away from me?
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Apple Bite
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 12:01pm
Hello, Bing…
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BlackCrow
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:59am
They pay me 25 bucks and I get an inbox so full of spam it isn’t funny? NOT!
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Sherlock01
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:57am
Google changing thier sloag form “Don’t be evil“ to ”Be evil”
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Uechi
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:48am
If I‘m going to sell my soul to Google it’s going to take alot more then $25 how about $25,000,000.00?
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CatB
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:45am
I agree with everyone else .. a whole $25 … well not exactly they give it out at $5 at a time … you have GOT TO BE KIDDING! We know what these companies make off of information! WOW is right!
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cessna152
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:44am
$25? Definately for $26 but $25 is insulting….
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qpwillie
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:44am
I‘ll do it if they’ll send somebody over every day to clean out my spam from people they sell my information to.
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The Eleventh Doctor
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:28am
No thanks, I think I’ll work for my money.
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Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:28am
No thanks… I’ll continue my web activity with my aliases….
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JDF10487
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:26am
For 250 thousand dollars I’ll let them do it. If they can stand the boredom.
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randy
Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:15am
WOW! $25.00 whole dollars!
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- The Jewish Avenger
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:25am
  LOL!!! I wonder how much they are paid per person to spew out information they gather on us?
  Now for $25,000 Ill start using google. For $25 Billion… NOW you can track me.
  Report Post »
- colt6920
  Posted on February 9, 2012 at 11:37am
  Yea!!! $25 AND it only take one year to earn it!!!
  Report Post »

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