Googling Security: How Much Does Google Know About You? by Conti Greg

Author:Conti, Greg [Conti, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pearson Education
Published: 2008-10-09T13:00:00+00:00

Phone number

Device and hardware identification numbers

Device type

Request type

Carrier-used identification data

Content of the request

The user's actual location

Locations of interest

Personalization information and interests

Voice samples[74]

The information disclosed via mobile search parallels traditional web-based search, but particularly concerning is the capability to uniquely identify mobile devices based on a phone number and hardware identification number. IP addresses of computers will change over time, but phone numbers change infrequently. In fact, users generally tend to avoid changing phone numbers so that their friends and family can still reach them. In addition, users change hardware devices, such as cell phones, infrequently; thus, their device-specific identification numbers will also change rarely. Therefore, it is straightforward to create unique profiles of users. The profiles can include search queries and also the user's location and voice recordings. In addition, communications from most popular mobile devices will transit the mobile service provider's network (each of these intermediate networks has its own set of security concerns and privacy policies) before reaching the servers of an online company. I expect that mobile search will grow rapidly in the upcoming years, increasing the impact of these security disclosures. For example, Google recently struck a deal with Nokia to provide Google on several of its popular phone models. These phones will be used in more than 100 countries and in 42 different languages.[75]

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