Google’s Searches Will Be Secure Goodbye To Keyword Data

 October 2011, Google began encrypting searches for anyone who was logged into Google. The reason given was privacy. Google said it wanted to block anyone who might potentially be eavesdropping on a host of searches made by an individual and also prevent the actual search terms themselves from being seen by publishers, as some of them might be too “private” to reveal. Google has recently flipped on encryption for people who aren’t even signed-in.  Google confirmed the shift, saying: We added SSL encryption for our signed-in search users in 2011, as well as searches from the Chrome omnibox earlier this year. We’re now working to bring this extra protection to more users who are not signed in. Google has switched all searches over to encrypted searches using HTTPS. This means no more keyword data will be passed to site owners.Encrypted Google searches don’t pass the keyword data through to websites, thereby eliminating the ability to track users by their keyword searches. The biggest impact for many site owners has been not being able to segment users by keywords within their web analytics software.

 June 2013, Google was accused of cooperating to give the NSA instant and direct access to its search data through the PRISM spying program, something the company has strongly denied. That hasn’t saved it from criticism.

Google has since, waged a campaign to allow it to be more transparent about the number of spying requests it says it does receive — on a limited basis and not involving direct access — but which it’s forbidden by US law from disclosing. It also began increasing encryption between its own data centers. 

Another reason is that Google recently made a change so that one of the easiest ways for publishers to see the actual terms that have been withheld over time is through the Google AdWords system.

It appears that  search terms aren’t so private that Google withholds them entirely. Rather, it withholds them from being transmitted in the clear across the internet. Publishers can still see these terms by going into the Google Webmaster Tools area, though they only see the top 2,000 per day and only going back for 90 days. 

 

 

Snowden’s Leak May Dampen The Cloud

 

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, reported, that  European companies, in particular, may successfully exploit the spying disclosures to challenge U.S. cloud computing leadership in foreign markets. Edward Snowden’s leak about the U.S. government’s data spying program PRISM may result in U.S. cloud providers losing 10% to 20% of the foreign market to overseas competitors. His revealing the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs PRISM and XKeyscoe has also created headaches for Canadian, European, and APAC users of US cloud providers. 

The cloud community spent years addressing the inherent ambivalence that customers could feel in moving sensitive data to the cloud. In the past,  fears revolved around the threat of malicious hackers and disgruntled employees/partners accidentally or willfully exposing their data. Today, it’s legal entities and governments that are doing the same. That’s a whole other threat assessment. The cloud industry could lose as much as $35 billion over the next three years. A recent CSA survey found that half of the  non-US respondents surveyed said they will move away from US clouds. But where would they go? And how can they ensure that they would be moving to better provider and not from the proverbial frying pan into the fire?

Silent Circle, a U.S.-based encrypted email service, said on Friday that it was shutting down. The company also offers Silent Phone, an encrypted mobile video and voice service, Silent Text, an encrypted business document service and Silent Eyes a secure teleconferencing platform.