Google is likely an eavesdropping hot-spot in intelligence gathering. A big fraction of web requests go via google. When you're looking for something particular it's a likely starting point to find a site specialising in info you need.
Google offers no SSL interface. And anyway from these stories it seems that google et al are giving free access to LEAs either directly or in the form of ex-LEAs on the payroll due to the current self-policing / deputization trend. So it seems a useful class of new applications to explore would be distributed searching, and content blind searching. ie Some way for users to be able to search requiring collaboration of search nodes (a la mixmaster) to associate search terms with users, to hide who is looking, a one hope example would be web anonymizer systems like anonymizer.com, ZKS' websecure, etc. Or better yet Private Information Retrieval with searching, to provide a systems where the server can receive and service a search request without knowing what the search is. Even just making the search nodes distributed, or peer2peer would help as the target of attack would be much more expensive and harder to subject to continuous eavesdropping and search term analysis. In other words as well as browsing anonymity, searching anonymity, or non-observable searching would be independently useful applications. The weak point in browsing without anonymity is the search engine because of it's central position in being able to watch the initial search result based traffic destined for individual web sites. Adam On Thu, Feb 20, 2003 at 11:42:55AM -0800, Tim May wrote: > Google does much the same thing. (They have staffed-up with > sheep-dipped NSA types.) > > No need for a Library Awareness Program with out-of-date, > printed-in-1967 chemistry and electronics textbooks when the Web is > such a cornucopia of current information and when Google, E-Bay, and > the credit reporting companies are so eager and willing to assist the > Thought Police. > > "Secure Web proxies and digital currency now more than ever!" > > Meanwhile, assume a "profile" of your surfing, purchasing, and reading > habits is being compiled with or without official Congressional support > for Total Information Awareness.
