zlacker

But the company can sell your data to the government too. Googles location history can tell a lot about where you've been and when. Social networks can tell who you've been communicating with and what about. Sites like facebook can sell your interests, google can sell them your search topics, etc.

Imagine being an evil dictator, who just got to power after years of trying... what's the easiest way to find your strongest opposition? Just buy data from social networks.

I mean... look at some stuck up countries with a lot of religious nuts, and some data, that you either bought a butt plug, googled a butt plug, went to an online buttplug store or worse... and it's just a bit of plastic.

>>ajsnig+(OP)
> Googles location history can tell a lot about where you've been and when. Social networks can tell who you've been communicating with and what about.

Notice how those two examples aren't restricted.

> Sites like facebook can sell your interests, google can sell them your search topics, etc.

Governments don't care for that kind of data, that's why they willing to restrict those. Even though the best reason to use Google, is because they know my previous search topics and what I clicked on.

>>JAlexo+l41
If you truly believe governments don't care about search data or that the collection is benign, go ahead and log into Google (or use incognito. Probably won't make any difference) and start searching for things like child pornography, how to make pipe bombs, how to convert your guns to full auto, how to build a suppressor at home, how to make a deadly gas bomb, where to find a hitman, how to murder your wife without leaving evidence, etc. Get creative.

I imagine Google filters the bad stuff, so you're not likely to actually see anything life scarring with that first search. But go ahead and run the experiment and see if anything comes of it.