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'Google Alarm' Plug-In Sounds Alarm Every Time Google Mines Your Personal Data

by Amar Toor on July 28, 2010 at 01:20 PM

google logo with alarm icon
We all know that Google watches over us like the omniscient, online shepherd that it is. But just how often do we unknowingly send information to the digital behemoth? With 'Google Alarm,' you can now find out -- in real-time. The plug-in, available for both Firefox and Chrome, analyzes each page a user visits, and checks for Google-affiliated URLs, like Google Analytics, AdSense or YouTube. Whenever it detects any of these, the plug-in displays a unique visual alert, and sounds an alarm that's equal parts vuvuzela, air horn, and fire alarm (annoying video demonstration here).

Google Alarm, which was created during the Free Art and Technology (F.A.T)-sponsored 'F*ck Google Week' in Berlin, was developed by Jamie Wilkinson, the same man behind Know Your Meme and Mag.ma. "Google makes great products and gives them all away for free, which has made them into a ubiquitous and omniscient force on the Internet," Wilkinson told Mashable. "Google Alarm and F*ck Google in general are meant to illustrate how this single unregulated company now captures more information about us than any government agency ever could. When I started developing Google Alarm I was blown away to discover that 80+% of websites I visit have some kind of Google tracking bugs on them."

We understand what Wilkinson is trying to prove here, and perhaps sounding an alarm might be the best way to raise awareness about involuntary data-sharing on the Web. Yet, there's a very fine line between raising awareness and inciting hysterical paranoia. Yes, big bad Google is keeping tabs on us, but is it really necessary to sound a World War II-style, air-raid alarm every time it counts site traffic? If Wilkinson really wanted people to use his plug-in, he probably should've created something that doesn't put people at serious risk for a cerebral aneurysm every five minutes. Instead, he just created another impractical product that's more gimmick than it is true, useful tool. Which may have been the point, however heavy-handed. [From: Mashable]

Tags: adsense, advertising, alarm, BigBrother, browser, chrome, firefox, FreeArtAndTechnologyLab, google, GoogleAlarm, GoogleAnalytics, JamieWilkinson, plug-in, plugin, privacy, top, web, youtube

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