Well I don't think any people who didn't previously have access to your browser history (or, in this case, the history of search terms typed into Google) will suddenly have acquired it. All the information stays within Google so remains as vulnerable as it ever was to the US's laxer data protection laws and the ability of the US gov to seize files and so on.
However now, when running their algorithms to target ads at you Google Search can take a peek at what you've been looking at on YouTube to tailor those ads, and YouTube can take a peek at your Google Search history in order to tailor those ads. In the event that Google were to buy up LJ or FaceBook or something then presumably that data would go into the big melting pot as well. But its all still Google if you take my meaning, and the safety of your data still basically depends upon the extent to which Google is both competent and ethical.
If it worries you at all, clearing out your browser's cookies regularly will make it a lot harder for Google to track you since it is via cookies that it identifies that you are the same person it saw last time. It can now potentially track you if you log into one of its services and then perform a search so, again, if it worries you don't log into any Google owned services or, if you do, clear out your cookies both before and after you do so.
If you want to know the information Google has stored about you then it's privacy dashboard is a good place to start.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-01 02:20 pm (UTC)However now, when running their algorithms to target ads at you Google Search can take a peek at what you've been looking at on YouTube to tailor those ads, and YouTube can take a peek at your Google Search history in order to tailor those ads. In the event that Google were to buy up LJ or FaceBook or something then presumably that data would go into the big melting pot as well. But its all still Google if you take my meaning, and the safety of your data still basically depends upon the extent to which Google is both competent and ethical.
If it worries you at all, clearing out your browser's cookies regularly will make it a lot harder for Google to track you since it is via cookies that it identifies that you are the same person it saw last time. It can now potentially track you if you log into one of its services and then perform a search so, again, if it worries you don't log into any Google owned services or, if you do, clear out your cookies both before and after you do so.
If you want to know the information Google has stored about you then it's privacy dashboard is a good place to start.