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September 1, 2006
Want to confuse a search engine? Info World reports that two NYU researchers have released TrackMeNot, a Firefox extension that, in the background while you're browsing, sends random strings of search terms to Google, Yahoo and MSN. The junk searches, according to the researchers, "hide users' actual search trails in a cloud of 'ghost' queries, significantly increasing the difficulty of aggregating such data into accurate or identifying user profiles."
Information Week's Thomas Claburn takes an in-depth look at how Google manages its information technology assets and staff. An interesting tidbit on the company's use of open source: "One of the things Google likes about open source software is that it facilitates secrecy. 'If we had to go and buy software licenses, or code licenses, based on seats, people would absolutely know what the Google infrastructure looks like,' DiBona says. 'The use of open source software, that's one more way we can control our destiny.'"
A manic Dana Gardner ups the 2.0 stakes: "What really deserves the numeral 2 associated with it at this time in history is not advertising, nor marketing, nor SOA, nor even the Web. It's quite a bit larger than that. What we are up to here is actually Knowledge 2.0, and it is at least a millennial trend, and it shows every indication of having anthropologic impact. That is, Knowledge 2.0 is changing the definition of what it is to be a modern human, individually and collectively." Personally, I don't think Knowledge 2.0 goes far enough. I would call it "Humanity 2.0." I would have suggested "Civilization 2.0," but I think that one's already taken by a computer game.
Andrew Orlowski interviews AQA founder Colly Myers, spurring some interesting thoughts about the flaws and the future of web search.
Posted by nick at September 1, 2006 01:38 PM