[liberationtech] Creepy Google Issue

[Mike Oren]

If you and your wife use any of the same devices with Google then this is
how they are likely linking your accounts.

On Sunday, March 17, 2013, xek3149 wrote:

> Yes. I've done fresh installs, began a search using google, and received
> results that suggest my searches on other computers. This has happened in
> the suggested videos on youtube also. IP address is the only connection
> between computers.
>
> () ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
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> On Mar 17, 2013 12:09 PM, "Yosem Companys" <companys at stanford.edu<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'companys at stanford.edu');>>
> wrote:
>
>> From: Steve Sebestyen <speed50 at gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
>> 'speed50 at gmail.com');>>
>>
>> Considering a similar thread I saw this morning regarding Google I'd like
>> to ping the group to share a creepy experience and see if perhaps others
>> have had a similar experience.
>>
>> This morning my wife grabbed her phone to do a search for activities at
>> Chelsea Piers. She followed that up with another inquiry for hours at a
>> local mall. Five minutes later I launched Google Now for stock updates and
>> what do I see? At the top of the Google Now window was a map and
>> approximate time to Chelsea Piers. I was pretty astonished that Google had
>> linked my wife's search to me somehow. Our accounts are only linked via
>> Google Calendar but no event was created by her.
>>
>> I then followed up with a search. As I began the query with our local
>> town it auto-completed it with mall hours. The very same query my wife ran.
>> That was too much for my comfort.
>>
>> I've unlinked our accounts in every way I can think of barring a complete
>> deletion of my account.
>>
>> The only other vector I can imagine Google uses to provide such creepy
>> behavior is that both of our phones were connected to our WiFi AP and
>> therefore share a common external IP. Still, for me that's too much of a
>> 'seamless experience'.
>>
>> Has anyone experienced anything like this?
>>
>> Steve Sebestyen
>> 203-604-6963
>> About.me/stevesebestyen
>>
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>

-- 
Michael A. Oren
PhD in Human-Computer Interaction & Sociology
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