9 sene sonra o adami bulmak ! Linux…

Mail gruplarına yazılan mailler konusunda dikkatli olmak lazım. Google da adımı aratınca hala karşıma çıkan pek rezil bir mail mevzusu var. Bundan tam 9 sene 6 ay önce, linux kurmaya çalışırken yaşadığım bir sorunla ilgili Bilkent Linux mail grubuna yazdığım birkaç mail seneler sonra ilginç bir süprize dönüştü. O zamanlar 14 yaşında bir orta okul öğrencisi olan ben, soru sormaya çalışırken komik tabirler kullanmış, cevap gelmeyince “yaaa noooluur cevap verin lütfeannn HELP HELP HELP” gibi devam mailleri göndermiştim.

(devami var)

Build your own secure Chrome then!

Instead of crying because of the privacy issues of Google Chrome, developers of the open source world can build their own secure-release of Google Chrome, if they seriously think there is a big threat !

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I read the whole user agreement before downloading something !

And I saw that there are some critics going on about Google Chrome’s EULA, especially about the privacy issue. This morning, Google changed their EULA a bit as a response to those critics.

The question: Does or Will Google gather our web browsing data remains unclear to me since there are no official announcements. The only valuable information was on this CNET blog post:

edit: there is a privacy information page from Google.

“Provided that users leave Chrome’s auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser’s Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.”

“A Google representative told CNET News that the company plans to store about 2 percent of that data–and plans to store it along with the Internet Protocol address of the computer that typed it.”

As I have stated in my previous post, Google seems a bit greedy for the user data. I believe Usage Data is useful to provide better services. So I am not a person to be over-protective, However, this has to be done very carefully. So, if there are this much discussion going on, then it seems like Google was not careful about how they explained their product to the public. Well, there are still no evidence if Google is  gathering your usage data. Here is a link of a nice blog post explaining what he knows about Chrome-Google communication.

So here is a free idea: Since Chrome is opensource, build your own  – secure – no data sending – blessed Chrome? I’m sure you’ll get some fame.

Ps. I am not an expert on license. I know google uses BSD-like license. If what i have suggested cannot be implemented, please let me know.

Google tricks Chrome users for data?

Google Chrome is available for the public. This might be a very important step for the next generation web experience. However, the part that got my attention is different and I wish to discuss it.

Here is the screen shot of the download page of Google’s new browser. As you can see, optional checkbox which allows Google to gather your data is located at the same location as “I read and accept” checkbox that every user checks without even reading it.

Even though making “optional” keyword bold a is gesture of good will, I think it is a little tricky to put it on the same exact location where most of the users are conditioned to auto-check. What do you think ?

Once you have checked that box, Chrome installation comes in with pre-configured to gather your data. of course, it is still available to opt-out. And if you do not check the box, Cohrome will ask you one more time to enable it at the first time you launch the browser.

As I have previously discussed the importance of such data in the post: Social Data War , it is quite understandable why google deeply wishes people to share their data. Considering this browser is a step for next generation web experience (web-os), it is acceptable to assume that gathering data is an important portion.

Conclusion: Google is watching you. Google is wise