Are there secrets in your search history?

We sometimes submit search queries that we wouldn’t admit to friends. And by looking at our searches, researchers can unearth things we’d rather keep hidden, including covert racism and sexual predilections.

Linguist Daniel Midgley dishes the dirt on this episode of Talk the Talk.


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74: Search Insights

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Show notes

Google Insights for Search is very cool.
http://www.google.com/insights/search/

NYT reporter reckons racism knocked 3–5 points off the Obama vote in 2008.
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/how-racist-are-we-ask-google/

One lawyer tried beating an obscenity rap for a client by pointing out that ‘community standards’ may not be as squeaky clean as all that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/technology/24obscene.html

Concerned about your search data? Start Page claims to be the world’s most private search engine.
https://startpage.com/

Don’t forget Duck Duck Go.
https://duckduckgo.com

Google’s privacy page is somewhat helpful.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/tools/