So there have been numerous posts about Chrome in the last 24 hours. You’ve been living under a rock – nay two rocks – if you haven’t heard and read about the new Google browser.
A lot of the concerns that are being voiced , it seems, have to do with privacy – something I’ve never been too occupied with. To me, it’s not about people knowing what I’m up to, but about what they’re allowed to do with that information.
Yet, what I noticed today, however, made me actually think twice about Chrome and its take on privacy.
Earlier today, someone sent me a link to a website that will be needing a design soon (which I’ll be providing). When I clicked the link (in Chrome – which I’ve been using by default to try it out at work) I saw this parking page:
Makes sense, because One is the provider this site will be hosted at and there’s no content or design there yet.
I was interested in the deals that One had to offer, so I clicked through to take a quick look at the rates there. Then, I went back to work and a bit later I read up on a couple feeds.
I tend to hit J at an alarming rate while reading feeds, so at first I didn’t notice. But something lingered in my mind all of a sudden. So I hit K (i.e. back) a few times.
That’s when I saw this; an advert in one of the feeds:
In case that’s not clear enough (yes, it’s an ad for One), here’s a closeup.
Now, I know all about how online ads are served sometimes, based on IP and where you are located and all that. And I know that Google already tracks my history, but still. This just seems too much of a coincidence.
Did what I think happened here, happen? Did Chrome track that I visited One, then serve me this ad?
I don’t know. But it sure creeped me out. Maybe I’ll revert back to Firefox sooner than I thought.
Tags: ads, chrome, google, google reader, privacy
4 September 2008 at 10:25 pm
Ja jezus. Ze doen het al met je e-mail, waarom niet met je gehele browser?
Google begint zo langzamerhand zich te krijgen op vrijwel alles wat mensen online doen. Ik vertrouw die gasten op zich wel, maar de invloed van dit gegeven valt niet te onderschatten…
4 September 2008 at 10:29 pm
Zie ook: link 2 & 3 van Possibly related posts.
4 September 2008 at 10:29 pm
[/complotmodus]
4 September 2008 at 11:17 pm
I’m not using Chrome. Other than it’s going absurdly fast (yum), I didn’t like some things about it. I think what you saw here, though, was a cookie playing with another cookie or something of that nature. AdSense could have picked up on a referrer or outbound link, too. If that happened, it could have gotten one.com out of the title tag of that page, according to the screenshot.
I’m pretty sure this could have happened in Firefox, too.
5 September 2008 at 12:21 am
I wasn’t impressed with Chrome to begin with and I switched back within an hour, thanks for making me feel even better about my decision :).
The internet never forgets.
5 September 2008 at 1:57 am
Ok, let me point this out.
You saw, what you wanted to see. That you were using a new browser instantly meant you assumed that that was the link – if it wasn’t that ad, it could have been any and you might have drawn exactly the same conclusion.
If you had not used Chrome, would you have assumed Google was being sneaky given you would have seen the exact same feed? Of course not. You may not have even noticed.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if you went back into Reader, via FF, and spotted the exact same ad in the feed in question. Or that that ad may change with every fresh hit. There is a great deal of FUD around Chrome at present, most people are picking up on advertising or assumed change, because they are expecting it.
I’m sure Google has plans for Chrome. I would expect that that will result in making more money. I also expect to see the Mozilla foundation to continue to profit from their Google association. Which barely registers now, simply because folks have moved on from it.
As Lelia points out, if it was a cookie/ referrer (later is more likely) then any browser would have rendered the exact same Adsense ad.
5 September 2008 at 8:46 am
I have to admit I never answered my own question in the post: I too don’t believe this was more than a coincidence.
Still, whatever’s been said, and will be said, about this browser holds true in terms of privacy. But just like with any other internet service, you either agree or you don’t – and then you look for alternatives; Firefox, for instance.
Chrome is a people’s browser: easy, simple and just there to make online life easier. And just like any other people’s tool (toolbars etc.) it comes at a price. Same as cookies – although I have to add that I see a cookie as something that’s relevant to the site it comes from, not to other services like a feed reader.
Finally, I suppose I (and many other heavy users) will soon switch back to Firefox – if not for its higher customisation capabilities, then for that one addon that Chrome clearly (and evidently) lacked here: adblocker.
8 September 2008 at 7:54 pm
Let me be honest. I think you’re being a little (okay, a lot) paranoid here. Because I have an Indian IP, I have the exact same “shahdi” (matrimonial) and “naukri” (job) ads served up to me everywhere. Sometimes it’s even the same banner or whatever. On Facebook, Gmail, Digg, and every other site that displays Google or Microsoft (or any other ad company for that matter) ads.
Chrome’s a wonderful browser and I’ve been using my Windows desktop more because of it. Don’t worry, Google isn’t tracking you. But the U.S. government probably is. :P
8 September 2008 at 8:00 pm
And another thing: I seriously doubt Chrome has any of the page-tracking stuff that the Google Toolbar does. You have to accept an additional agreement when you install the toolbar. That isn’t the case here. Plus, this thing is as, if not more (in a way), open source than Firefox. It’s released under a BSD license. If there’s anything in there that could potentially cause privacy concerns, it’ll come out and the press won’t shut up about it for a year.
9 September 2008 at 10:57 am
Thanks Smarr. Yeah, I suppose the sudden confrontation with ads in the first place came as a shock.
All told, I like Chrome – for simple browsing – and I trust it enough to use it. Didn’t know about the Google Toolbar though. I’ve always refused to install that, although I’d like to be able to use a number of its features.
Think you can add the toolbar to Chrome or is that supposed to have toolbar features incorporated?
9 September 2008 at 7:46 pm
I’ve never used the toolbar for longer than a few weeks at the most. If you’re using it and you turn web history on, Google will not only record every search you make, but also each and every web page you visit. All the links with the time you visit them is accessible via the web interface (ie. it’s on their servers). Useful, but the utter loss of privacy is horrifying.
Honestly, I’m slowly starting to get wary of Chrome. A few things have happened in the past couple of days that have got me worried: the German govt is telling their citizens not to use the browser, Google’s given in to EU pressure and reduced the no. of months they store personally identifiable info (I ask: why now? Are they caving in one one front to protect another?), and I read something about Google collecting a permanent profile of websites a Chrome user visits to improve the suggestions it generates in the Omnibar. One more thing: each install of the browser, it seems, has a unique “application number”.
9 September 2008 at 9:57 pm
Well, I already have my search history on, but I’m looking for a way to make that available online. WebMynd already does a good job at tracking all the pages I visited but I don’t think I can share it.
The problem of course is that a user isn’t (always) necessarily the sole owner of a computer (families, work, etc.) so the whole idea of serving ads based on stats from a program/machine is – to an extent – pointless. What Google should do is Google me (on Twitter, Friendfeed, etc.) and then serve me ads based on my web activity as soon as I log into the GoogleNet.
I wonder why we haven’t seen more ‘online browsers’ yet; a site that you visit but from then on use as a virtual (stealth) browser within a browser – regardless of the mode – incognito or otherwise – you’re in in your ‘real’ browser. Something like those Anonymizers or what have you. Then again, unless you’re hooked up to the backbone, all your traffic still needs to go through your ISP – unless of course you just hack into people’s wifi. LULZ!
11 September 2008 at 6:36 am
Yup. Your ISP could be logging everything you do (as one British ISP has done to create ad profiles). That’s why we have SSL and TOR. :)