Just dropping some honesty here: it’s not really doing much useful at all. It’s using a static list of six different search terms, not randomized at all, and submitting them to the big four search...
Just dropping some honesty here: it’s not really doing much useful at all. It’s using a static list of six different search terms, not randomized at all, and submitting them to the big four search engines at relatively fixed intervals over and over.
Granted, anti-abortionists aren’t generally the brightest bulbs, but anyone with a basic knowledge of Excel could filter these queries out of a spreadsheet of search requests pretty easily. This is squarely in the realm of feel-good fluff.
In general I'm not sure the threat model is correct here. If some random anti-abortion groups goes up to Google and asks for all of their search data, Google would tell them to bugger off. The...
In general I'm not sure the threat model is correct here. If some random anti-abortion groups goes up to Google and asks for all of their search data, Google would tell them to bugger off.
The threat for something like your search data, is that an official investigation by the state subpoenas Google or has a warrant for the search data of a user, in which case regardless of whether the company's employees or executives wish to hand over the data, they must hand over the data.
This has actually happened in the case of Latice Fisher, who was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder for a failed pregancy, and one of the key pieces of evidence was search history with terms like "buy Misoprostol abortion pill online".
However, for that, the junk data that this tool provides is, well, junk.
Yeah, it started to look a bit too repetitive and predictable after I actually started running it. I can imagine that adding any noise and any small barrier could in some reality do some good, but...
Yeah, it started to look a bit too repetitive and predictable after I actually started running it. I can imagine that adding any noise and any small barrier could in some reality do some good, but you're probably better off doing these dummy searches manually.
I am sure the search engines and ad trackers are already detecting automated behavior, especially behavior this glaringly obvious, and at least flagging it accordingly in the collected data. Being...
I am sure the search engines and ad trackers are already detecting automated behavior, especially behavior this glaringly obvious, and at least flagging it accordingly in the collected data. Being able to report and present statistics on real users is a huge part of their core business.
I feel like even including a dictionary of the top 500/1000 most populated US cities in the search dictionary would be an improvement. But I have 3 months of python experience, so probably don't...
I feel like even including a dictionary of the top 500/1000 most populated US cities in the search dictionary would be an improvement.
But I have 3 months of python experience, so probably don't listen to me.
When you search for abortion-related info, you may feel worried about being tracked. This tool allows others to make these searches randomly, increasing the likelihood of a false positive to...
When you search for abortion-related info, you may feel worried about being tracked. This tool allows others to make these searches randomly, increasing the likelihood of a false positive to engines tracking these queries.
If one person wears a ski mask, they look suspicious and might get pulled aside. If 50 other people wear a ski mask...
So in the eventuality that someone will be requiring search engines to report everyone who searches for abortion-related info, and that they'd accede to that request, this will add profiles with...
So in the eventuality that someone will be requiring search engines to report everyone who searches for abortion-related info, and that they'd accede to that request, this will add profiles with hundreds of searches to the list of entities who were searching for abortion related info?
Basically yes. If someone wants to use that data for something bad, it'll be filled with useless entries, making it difficult to use for anything. I dunno how effective it would be, but it's worth...
Basically yes. If someone wants to use that data for something bad, it'll be filled with useless entries, making it difficult to use for anything.
I dunno how effective it would be, but it's worth a shot so I downloaded Chrome (finally, they invented a use for it!) and let it run a bit.
As someone who doesn't understand the technical stuff around search tracking, can someone explain what this does and why it helps?
Just dropping some honesty here: it’s not really doing much useful at all. It’s using a static list of six different search terms, not randomized at all, and submitting them to the big four search engines at relatively fixed intervals over and over.
https://github.com/easrng/abortion-search-noise/blob/main/index.html
Granted, anti-abortionists aren’t generally the brightest bulbs, but anyone with a basic knowledge of Excel could filter these queries out of a spreadsheet of search requests pretty easily. This is squarely in the realm of feel-good fluff.
In general I'm not sure the threat model is correct here. If some random anti-abortion groups goes up to Google and asks for all of their search data, Google would tell them to bugger off.
The threat for something like your search data, is that an official investigation by the state subpoenas Google or has a warrant for the search data of a user, in which case regardless of whether the company's employees or executives wish to hand over the data, they must hand over the data.
This has actually happened in the case of Latice Fisher, who was arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder for a failed pregancy, and one of the key pieces of evidence was search history with terms like "buy Misoprostol abortion pill online".
However, for that, the junk data that this tool provides is, well, junk.
Yeah, it started to look a bit too repetitive and predictable after I actually started running it. I can imagine that adding any noise and any small barrier could in some reality do some good, but you're probably better off doing these dummy searches manually.
I am sure the search engines and ad trackers are already detecting automated behavior, especially behavior this glaringly obvious, and at least flagging it accordingly in the collected data. Being able to report and present statistics on real users is a huge part of their core business.
I feel like even including a dictionary of the top 500/1000 most populated US cities in the search dictionary would be an improvement.
But I have 3 months of python experience, so probably don't listen to me.
Thank you. I was uncertain that it would help, but didn't want to denigrate it in case I was missing something useful.
When you search for abortion-related info, you may feel worried about being tracked. This tool allows others to make these searches randomly, increasing the likelihood of a false positive to engines tracking these queries.
If one person wears a ski mask, they look suspicious and might get pulled aside. If 50 other people wear a ski mask...
So in the eventuality that someone will be requiring search engines to report everyone who searches for abortion-related info, and that they'd accede to that request, this will add profiles with hundreds of searches to the list of entities who were searching for abortion related info?
Basically yes. If someone wants to use that data for something bad, it'll be filled with useless entries, making it difficult to use for anything.
I dunno how effective it would be, but it's worth a shot so I downloaded Chrome (finally, they invented a use for it!) and let it run a bit.