Google partially owned by Rummy???

[Digit]

I was just listening to AA, and I heard some scary things about Google, and it's tracking abilities. Also, if it is partially owned by Rummy, as they just claimed on Air America...I don't want any part of it.
Thank goodness they gave me the Google alternative.

Check out http://www.google-watch.org/
It looks just like Google, but claims it does not track you.

Google-watch also has an article called, "A look at how Google's monopoly, algorithms, and privacy policies are undermining the Web."
Check it out, you may be surprised at what you find.

[bif]

1. I've had good luck with this search engine

http://www.teoma.com/

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Damm _ was all excited, until

.
.
.

I read the sys requirements.
_________________________________________________________________

"System Requirements

What are the system requirements to run the Teoma Search Bar?

Minimum system requirements to download the Teoma Search Bar:
Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher

When will the Teoma Search Bar be available for other browsers (e.g. Netscape, AOL) or operating systems (e.g. Mac)?
At this time we do not know when the Teoma Search Bar will be available for other browsers and operating systems.
___________________________________________________________________

I mostsly use Mozilla, a Netscape based browser

oh well

[matcom]

2. yup. as an SEO i can report Google is doing some nasty things

unfortunately, Google is the major traffic driver on the net these days. a top 10 in Google gets you at least as much as all the others combined.

if you want to get REALLY scared, the NSA funded Google (at least its founders) initially.

:scared:

[jbutsz]

7. knew it

I suspected NSA funding of Google; what better way to cast an intelligence net over the Net than a search engine that spiders and indexes endlessly.

[matcom]

8. am waiting to see what their IPO brings and does

looking at THAT very carefully you can bet your ass

[Bandit]

4. Here is a site worth looking at

http://www.cln.org/searching_home.html

[LTR]

5. How to disable Google's spying

http://www.google-watch.org/cgi-bin/cookie.htm

How to set Google preferences -
and still disable Google's cookie!

We don't know how long this will work, or if it works in your area, but it's worth a try because it's so easy. Perform these nine steps in this order:

1. Enable cookies.

2. Go to http://www.google.com/

3. Click on "Preferences" on the right side of the search box.

4. Set your preferences and click "Save Preferences." You're back to the search box.

5. Click on "Advanced Search" on the right side of the search box.

6. Do not fill out anything, but just click on "Google Search."

7. Bookmark this new search page.

8. Delete your Google cookie.

9. Disable all cookies, or at least your cookies for Google.
Now when you use your new bookmark for Google searches, your preferences are passed to Google in the URL, without a cookie. And with cookies disabled, Google won't be able to associate your search terms with the unique ID number that they use in their cookie. This is so wonderful that we think Google will patch this workaround sooner rather than later. If they do, it will prove for once and for all that the real reason Google uses cookies is to track you, and not to set preferences. But you knew that already, didn't you?

[nolabels]

6. Thanks for info

Even with the budget that dwarfs most others in the federal bureaucracy, the spooks and the counterpart agency's have to be having a hard time with all of the folks that pop up on the web. Lots of time the web gets news before all the other news gets news. The spectrum people are working with here is bigger than that one of measure. If they wanted to subdue this monster, they will have a rough time.

A little thread somebody started a while back. (this one seems like part two)

Being Googled
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=17950

[oostevo]

9. Umm ... no.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Gore is on the board of Google, no? Do you really think he'd be in favor of such a move?

Besides, if you could think of an alternate method of saving user preferences (like enabling/disabling "Safe Search" or the different language features), I'd love to hear it.

[matcom]

10. not that i have heard of

the NSA funded Google's original $$

NEVER have i heard that Gore is on the board. got a link?

thanks.

[IkeWarnedUs]

11. Didn't hear AA this afternoon - can you fill in some blanks?

I went to the link you provide (for Google Watch) and searched through the whole site and the closest I could only find one reference to Rumsfeld. A partner of a venture capital group that funded Google, Mark Kvamme of Sequoia Capital, met with Rumsfeld and Sequoia startups are "contracting with the Defense Department". Google watch also says Floyd Kvamme of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Mark's father and another venture capital group funding Google) was appointed by Bush as co-chair of his technical advisory group.

Did AA give any other info on Rumsfeld as an owner of Google?

A bit more searching turned up another site called Google Watch Watch. Here are the first couple of paragraphs:

<snip>
What is Google-Watch?

Meet Daniel Brandt. He is a self-proclaimed public interest activist and the owner of Google-Watch.org Mr. Brandt founded Google-Watch.org after his own site, Namebase.org, did not get a good Google PageRank. Promoting his site or putting more work into it apparently never entered Mr. Brandt's mind, instead he decided that the fault wasn't with his site, but rather with Google. Thus he has started a campaign that badmouths the search engine and complains that its ranking algorithms are unfair. Unfair to whom? Well to Mr. Brandt's site that's who.

Unfortunately for Google, Mr. Brandt has found an audience. Increasingly journalists that are looking for a sensational story are using him as a source. They rarely bother to check the validity of his claims, and in a few cases they don't even mention the selfish motives that started this whole campaign, instead they paint him as some kind of benevolent consumer activist who isn't out there to make a buck. Google is just a shining star, and it's fun for some people to try to tarnish them. It gets readers anyways, just like tabloids.

more: http://www.google-watch-watch.org/

Now I'm even more confused.

Can anyone shed any more light on this?

[Digit]

12. Anyone?

Today was my second day listening to AA, so I am not familiar with all of the hosts. I can tell you that I heard this just this evening...it was before 7pm and the host was a woman with a thick NY accent...rather raspy voice. Looking at the online schedule...was it the Majority Report? Maybe someone else heard it, too. I was otherwise involved working on my resume/faxing it to prospective employers before I lose my house or something.
My ears had perked up when she began talking about Google and Rummy owning part of it. I quickly grabbed for a pen and paper and wrote down the google-watch.org url.
Possibly, someone else can come forward to provide more information.
Whether Rummy owns part of it or not, I don't plan to use it anymore due to privacy concerns.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

13. It was a female caller to the Randi Roads show. All I heard...n/t