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.”
Continue reading ‘Google Alarm’ Plug-In Sounds Alarm Every Time Google Mines Your Personal Data
‘Google Alarm’ Plug-In Sounds Alarm Every Time Google Mines Your Personal Data originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Remember when 
