If Google is the Borg , Google Toolbar is the Terminator : just when you think you ’ve killed it , it comes decently back to murderize the Sarah Connor that is your privacy . What a creepy move . update , with answer from Google :
Ben Edelmanran a few testswith the Google Toolbar , and find that , yes , Google keeps tracking your browsing even after you courteously involve it not to . They also make it easy to enable sealed trailing feature film and much more difficult to stop the same .
Edelman also found that Google ’s revelation have get uncollectible over time , to the full point of being downright duplicitous :
Now , initial Enhanced Features privateness disclosures appear not in their own screen , but in a bubble flip another feature film ( Sidewiki ) . Previously , data formatting ( all - cap , top - of - page ) , colour ( red ) and language ( “ … not the common yada yada ” ) alert users to the serious-mindedness of the decision at handwriting .
Now , Google introduce Enhanced Features as a default with an outsized push , bold type , and acceptance via a single key stroke . Previously , neither alternative was a default , and both option were presented with adequate gibbosity .
Now , privateness statements are imprecise and internally - discrepant , muddling the concepts of site and URL . Previous revealing were exonerated in explaining that banker’s acceptance entails “ sending us [ Google ] the URL ” of each page a user visits .
- The current feature name , “ Enhanced feature , ” is less frank than the prior “ Advanced Features ” recording label . The name “ Advanced Features ” appropriately point that the feature is not appropriate for all user ( but is intended for , for instance , “ in advance ” users ) . In contrast , the current “ Enhanced Features ” name suggests that the feature is an “ sweetening ” suitable for everyone .
So hey , Google , room to go on Chinaand everything , but could we get a little more privacy protective covering at home ?
https://gizmodo.com/google-refuses-to-continue-censoring-results-in-china-5446712
UPDATE : A Google spokesperson has provided the following clarifying instruction :
“ To be clear , this is only an issue until a user resume the web internet browser , and it only affects the currently open tab for a small routine of users .
Specifically it move those using Google Toolbar versions 6.3.911.1819 through 2025-04-29.42 in cyberspace Explorer , with enhance features enabled , who chose to disable Toolbar without uninstalling it . Once the drug user restarts the web browser , the result is no longer present . A repair that does n’t require a web browser app restart is now available on www.google.com/toolbar and in an automatic update to Google Toolbar that we are get going today . ”
Glad to hear that the job was belittled in range and that it ’s being addressed , though still disheartening to cognize that it was ever an yield in the first place .
[ Ben EdelmanviaMashable ]
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