> 1) ...neither Bing nor Google does anything to protect user search privacy.
do you mean external or internal privacy? in terms of leaking information, SSL for search is about as good as you're going to get for privacy...if it's the browser or an extension (toolbar) that's watching searches, there's nothing a web site can do.
> 2) I think Google has more to lose by bringing this to light than they have to win.
That may be true, but there was a pretty cutting colbert segment on this last night where nuances about clickstreams weren't really a concern. personally I think google should have taken the humour route in the first place, as the "smoking gun" isn't all that damning at first sight. it requires some thought, which leaves plenty of room for disagreement and doubt.
I think google should have taken the humour route in the first place
Good point. I think the current PR campaign, and really that is what it seems like now, is counterproductive. It used to be the response to Bing was "What, is that like Microsoft Bob for search?" The longer this campaign goes on, the more it increases the user perception of Bing as a serious competitor. Even if true, that's not really a good message to be promoting, even unintentionally.
do you mean external or internal privacy? in terms of leaking information, SSL for search is about as good as you're going to get for privacy...if it's the browser or an extension (toolbar) that's watching searches, there's nothing a web site can do.
> 2) I think Google has more to lose by bringing this to light than they have to win.
That may be true, but there was a pretty cutting colbert segment on this last night where nuances about clickstreams weren't really a concern. personally I think google should have taken the humour route in the first place, as the "smoking gun" isn't all that damning at first sight. it requires some thought, which leaves plenty of room for disagreement and doubt.