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Author's note (July 2016): The answer below was written in 2011, and is still working in Google Search. I have published new extensions that use a different method to remove the search result indirection, which works on even more Google sites and on mobile.
TL;DR: Don't track me Google is a user script Don't track me Google is an extension I made that ...
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See if the userscript found here for Google search works for you. I have been using it for a while now, and it's been working more often than not for me.
Edit: Here is an addon for Firefox: Google search link fix
22
Appears the rwt function is invoked upon onmousedown, and thereby rewriting the href. If we could override this behaviour, then we should be set.
In firefox I inserted the following JavaScript into a bookmarklet which can then be executed anytime I wish to prevent the (slighly annoying) link-rewriting on a given Google SERP:
javascript:function rwt(a,f,g,l,...
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The OAuth tokens for Google are at https://accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens (it's different from Linked Accounts).
When I tried it, Facebook created a popup with a OAuth prompt the first time and only briefly opened a blank popup on subsequent attempts. De-authorizing Facebook makes the prompts appear again.
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No! Don't give your portrait to Gravatar. Regardless of whether you trust Gravatar Corp, site owners can carelessly betray the identity of users posting under pseudonyms. A cautionary tale:
Hashim in Saudi Arabia secretly reads an American blog about homosexuality. One time, the blog discusses the Middle East, so Hashim comments describing his own ...
19
The Circles feature works one-way, meaning that their members can't see if they are part of a Circle or not.
But Circles are one-way, or asymmetric. Everyone sets up their own Circles and nobody knows whose Circle they are in. Secret Circles would be a more apt description. Zuckerberg seems to be suggesting that they are not really groups because instead ...
19
The only thing you need to do is block the URL:
facebook.com/ajax/mercury/change_read_status.php
For Chrome, use the extension "FB unseen" which blocks the URL (full disclosure: I wrote this extension). If you want, with a little work you can use almost any adblocker to achieve this. But with "FB unseen" you can "Mark as read" whatever you want, so you can ...
17
Click on the triangle in the upper right corner of the blue bar at the top of the window, then Settings, then Privacy in the left sidebar, and then Limit Past Posts on the right to expand that section. Then click the Limit Old Posts button to limit your past posts to (at most) your friends.
You can also change the privacy setting on each post individually ...
17
Here is a link to the privacy policy.
Now to answer your questions:
How much of the information in my messages does Google save? For example, do they scan the entire text of every email I write (to tailor targeted ads)?
As of late 2017, Google no longer scans your email to target ads. While there are still ads in Gmail, Google uses other information ...
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Taking a step back from any particular email provider: unless you're using an encrypted solution, you should assume that ANY email message you send can be read by ANY computer that it passes through on the journey between your computer and the recipient's computer.
If you are concerned about privacy, then Google is the least of your worries.
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There is now an alpha-quality Chrome extension for using GPG in Gmail. I have not tried it, so I cannot vouch for it.
FYI "apps and extentions can not be added from this website"
http://thinkst.com/tools/cr-gpg/
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There isn't a way to change the visibility of existing posts. Once they've been posted they're "out there" and visible to everyone you shared them with in the first place. The only thing you could do is delete it and then repost to the correct circles/people.
For new posts click on the [x] in the "Public" green button and then click on
+ Add circles or ...
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There is an option for this, but unfortunately you cannot set it; it must be set by your friends who do not want to see your comments and likes. If you comment on or like a post that they can view, then your comment or like may appear in their News Feed unless they turn those off. To do that they can hover their pointer over your name or go to your profile/...
14
From Google's own page:
Who can see your circles
When you place people into circles, or when you share with your
circles, we won't disclose the titles of the circles people are
in. People in circles that you share with may be able to see some of
the others with whom that content was also shared.
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It would depend on what kind of legal promise you needed.
Specific employees from Fog Creek have the ability to look at your data (sys admins, trello devs), although, as a company policy, these employees have all been instructed to get your permission first if they needed to do so. General Fog Creek employees cannot access your data.
The data is not ...
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There are two ways Google 'logs' your searches. Google keeps server logs and there's a feature to log your searches in Web History.
Server Logs
Google stores search information like your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser ...
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I use the Firefox Redirect Remover add-on.
After this is installed, right click on a redirected URL in the browser gives an option to copy cleaned URL.
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The privacy of your like is dependent on the privacy of your friend's post. if they only share the post with you, then you liking it will only appear in your friend's activity feed/newsfeed.
If they share it with a group of friends it will appear only in that group of friends' activity feed/newsfeed.
If they share it publicly. It will end up in all your ...
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Came across a very promising looking Chrome extension for sending and receiving GPG encrypted emails: mailvelope.
It supports a variety of webmail providers.
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For short URLs, you can just copy the green text under the title as that's the same URL just without protocol lead.
For long URLs (those that have ellipsis in the green text), you either need a script or use a semi-complex workaround.
A script is necessary because Google modifies links with its own script on mouse click. If you hover over a results link, ...
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Very similar to the link you provided:
Under your name (top right) select Settings
Under Privacy Controls select Select what others see when you've viewed their profile
Select You will be totally anonymous
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Yep. Under "Live Streaming" -> "Stream Now" (or "Events"), set it as private to start like so:
Then under "Live Streaming" -> "Events" click "Share" then enter the email addresses of those whom you want to invite (separated by commas).
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Here are some Bugmenot alternatives:
Login 2 - TOS link - Login 2's TOS doesn't seem to have an option that allows websites to 'opt out'
fakeaccount.net - no TOS page
I made this answer into a Community Wiki so others could easily add other Bugmenot alternatives. Please include the website's TOS, if there is one.
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When editing your privacy settings, you can use the "Customize" option, which lets you choose your own settings for who can view it, e.g. Just certain networks you're in or just yourself. Those (and more) options are filed under "Other".
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Using Safari, it is easy to make your own extension to handle this. I used Develop > Show Extension Builder and added "www.google.com" as an Allowed Domain and then the following script as an End Script in the Injected Extension Content section:
if (window.top === window) {
var els = document.getElementsByClassName("l");
for (var i in els) {
...
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Extensions for Chrome and Firefox:
Chrome extension:
Undirect
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/undirect/dohbiijnjeiejifbgfdhfknogknkglio
→ https://github.com/xwipeoutx/undirect
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Firefox extension:
Google/Yandex search link fix
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/google-search-link-fix
BEFORE:
AFTER:
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Solutions without any browser extension or JavaScript
If you want to keep Google's redirection and only selectively copy & paste some URLs here are other possibilities which do not require any change in the browser. Unfortunately while the solutions work in Firefox they do not seem to work in Chrome and Internet Explorer any more.
Solution with ...
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If you hover over the link with your cursor, it should show you where the link actually directs to. Chances are it's some malware-infested site or phishing scam.
A lot of antivirus programs can monitor that kind of thing in real-time and stop your computer from doing anything stupid just before it's too late, but I wouldn't rely on that. If you have even ...
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No, this is not possible.
It's not a features or manpower issue, its a server load issue, and it would affect all of us that publish or read blogs on Blogger / Google servers (ie, all bloggers). Having to check authorisation to access each individual post, for each viewer of our blog, would require code complexity, and cause unacceptable server load, and ...
9
Visit https://www.google.com/history/, log in and click the "Pause Web History" button near the top of the page.
Then, if you wish, click the "Clear entire Web History" link just below that.
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