Google Toolbar Tracks Your Browsing Even After It's Been Disabled [Google]

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...8.43.52_am.jpgIf Google is the Borg, Google Toolbar is the Terminator: just when you think you've killed it, it keeps comes back to murderize the Sarah Connor that is your privacy. What a creepy move.
Ben Edelman ran a few tests with the Google Toolbar, and found that, yes, Google keeps tracking your browsing even after you politely ask it not to. They also make it easy to enable certain tracking features and much more difficult to disable the same.
Edelman also found that Google's disclosures have gotten worse over time, to the point of being downright duplicitous:

* Now, initial Enhanced Features privacy disclosures appear not in their own screen, but in a bubble pitching another feature (Sidewiki). Previously, format (all-caps, top-of-page), color (red) and language ("... not the usual yada yada") alerted users to the seriousness of the decision at hand.
* Now, Google presents Enhanced Features as a default with an oversized button, bold type, and acceptance via a single keystroke. Previously, neither option was a default, and both options were presented with equal prominence.
* Now, privacy statements are imprecise and internally-inconsistent, muddling the concepts of site and URL. Previous disclosures were clear in explaining that acceptance entails "sending us [Google] the URL" of each page a user visits.
* The current feature name, "Enhanced Features," is less forthright than the prior "Advanced Features" label. The name "Advanced Features" appropriately indicated that the feature is not appropriate for all users (but is intended for, e.g., "advanced" users). In contrast, the current "Enhanced Features" name suggests that the feature is an "enhancement" suitable for everyone.

So hey, Google, way to go on China and everything, but could we get a little more privacy protection at home? [Ben Edelman via Mashable]


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