Google Watch

Google Watch is a website launched in 2002 by Daniel Brandt. Brandt states that the website's goals are to report on invasion of privacy issues. Brandt has stated that he intends the site to act as a "point of reference for privacy advocates, journalists and bloggers".

Critiques of Google
Among Google Watch's criticisms of Google are that it collects personal data on its users and does too little to protect that data.

Google Watch documents concerns about privacy risks arising from Google's use of long-lived HTTP cookies.

Brandt expressed privacy concerns with Google Print, which unlike libraries, keeps track of who reads a given book and could pass that information on to the government.

Actions taken
To illustrate the view that Google's search engine could be subjected to manipulation, Google Watch implemented a Google bomb by linking the phrase "out-of-touch executives" to Google's own page on its corporate management. The attempt was mistakenly attributed to disgruntled Google employees by The New York Times, which later printed a correction.

Google Watch continues to raise Google-related privacy issues, particularly its use of cookies which have a life span of more than 32 years and incorporate a unique ID that enables creation of a user data log. It has also made allegations about connections between Google and the NSA and the CIA.

Response
A May 2003 PC World article described Google Watch as "perhaps justifiably paranoid", however Google's defenders assert that Google Watch offers very little evidence to back up its allegations.

Related topics

 * Google and privacy issues
 * Googlezon