[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Google, Web services and privacy
Shouldn't this be something you email to Google as a suggestion/complaint or post on Slashdot to start flamewars instead of posting to XML-DEV? Google has records of your searches if you use their service, big deal. -- PITHY WORDS OF WISDOM Freebees will only arrive at work on your days off. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: K. Ari Krupnikov [mailto:ari@c...] > Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 9:59 AM > To: xml-dev@l... > > I have a lot of respect for Google. They are the best search > engine I know of. They have the best Usenet archive I know > of. They use some of what I consider to be the coolest > technologies around. And they let you access their data as > XML, making them one of the few "Web services" that actually > work. "Google XML API" [1] gives you access to the same data > that are available through the HTML interface, with the > important difference that non-interactive user agents are > allowed and expected [2] to use this service. As with the > HTML interface, the service is free to users with the minor > difference that users of the XML API are limited to 1000 > queries per day and 1000 results per query [3] -- neither of > which seems unreasonable to me; I don't think I ever came > anywhere near that number using the HTML interface. > > To enforce these limits, a service needs to discriminate between users > -- and indeed an XML API query must include a license key > assigned to a user when he or she signs up for the service. > Google's terms of use prohibit acquiring more than one key > per (human) user[4]; to enforce this, Google tie codes to > email addresses. Which leads to the observation that with > the XML API, every Google query is linked directly and > unambiguously to user identity, whereas an HTML query is only > linked to an IP address [5]. > > Do I care if Google know I searched for "offshore exploration oil"? > No. Do I trust them not to release that fact to, say, Inland > Revenue or IRS? Yes. Do I like that fact sitting in a > database somewhere[6] FFU? No. > > Ari. > > > [1] http://www.google.com/apis/ > [2] http://www.google.com/apis/api_faq.html#gen6 > [3] http://www.google.com/apis/api_faq.html#gen7 > [4] http://www.google.com/apis/api_faq.html#gen10 > [5] Unlike an IP address which may or may not give hints to > user identity, a license key is an assertion by the user that > she is who she claims to be. Using another's id is a > violation of the terms of service. > [6] And being XML, the data are likely to outlive the application (TM) > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org > <http://www.xml.org>, an initiative of OASIS > <http://www.oasis-open.org> > > The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ > > To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription > manager: <http://lists.xml.org/ob/adm.pl> > >
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