Google spider technology

Google spider technology now capable of cataloging, archiving comments made through Facebook

(NaturalNews) The days of internet anonymity are waning as the veil of privacy that used to accompany making comments on articles and blogs is a thing of the past. TIME - Techland reports that Google has updated its "Googlebots" technology to track and index AJAX / Javascript comments made through Facebook, as well as through several other major comment engines including Livefyre and Disqus.



For many years, Googlebot "web spiders" have been tracking and archiving websites. This is how the Google search engine is able to pull up webpage results when users input various search queries. But the technology has been expanded to include the capture of content made through third-party comment systems as well, which today include comments made directly under a real name.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after it was discovered that Facebook directly tracks user activity on the internet, even after a person is logged out of the social networking site:
http://www.naturalnews.com/033713_Facebook_tracking.html

While the comment indexing system has the potential to improve the quality and integrity of comments made on websites -- after all, who wants his real name permanently attached to a potentially inflammatory or inappropriate comment that is searchable by anyone? -- it may also discourage some individuals from making comments at all.

A major concern centers around the fact that comments made through such portals will now be easily searchable simply by typing a person's name into a search engine. Anything a person has said on the web using his or her real name will be instantly retrievable. And websites that use these comment systems, for example NaturalNews now uses Facebook comments will be identified in searches based on user comment as well.

In other words, if you make comments with Facebook using your real name, anyone can Google search your name and title, and everything you have ever written in a comment section under that name and title will be instantly accessible.

The new indexing system only applies to comment systems linked to third-party websites. Private Facebook comments made on someone's "Wall," for instance, are not traceable by Googlebots, at least not yet.

Sources for this article include:

http://techland.time.com/2011/11/02/google-can-now-index-your-comment...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034067_Facebook_comments_search_engines.html#ixzz1yM0NcGI4

How Does Gmail Work?

How Does Gmail Work? Google’s Story of Send Site Explains

Before you hit the “send” button on an e-mail, you might proofread your message. Or maybe you make sure you’ve included the right attachment. Or maybe, just maybe, you contemplate what is actually going to happen to that message once you hit “send,” where it’s going to go before it ends up in an inbox.

For those that fall into that latter camp, Google’s about to answer all your questions with its new Story of Send site. The entire site is dedicated to explaining just what happens to that e-mail message as soon as you hit send.

Image credit: Google

The site itself is beautifully designed, in a very Google-esq fashion. It explains — in pictures, animation, and video — what happens to your message, but here’s a brief synopsis: the message goes through your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) pipes, over to Google, then to one of Google’s data centers, then to a server floor (where it is scanned for viruses, etc.), and then out to the recipient. And that message goes through those steps incredibly fast; Google says that more than 50 percent of e-mails sent through Gmail are delivered in less than a second.

Along that path, which is illustrated extremely well on Story of Send, Google explains a lot about the green, or environmentally friendly, technology it is using.

“One way we save energy is by keeping the temperature on our server floors at a warm 80 degrees. That means we don’t need as much energy-intensive air-conditioning,” the Smart Heat step explains.

And in there lies some of the motivation to explain to users just how Gmail works. The site was created by Google’s Green team.

“Along the way, you’ll discover everything from where we filter for spam and scan for viruses to how we’re minimizing our impact on the environment through energy efficiency and renewable power,” Erin Reily of Google’s Green team writes on the Google blog.

Head over to Story of Send now to check out just how your e-mail travels to get where you want it. Hitting “send” might never be the same.

link: http://abcnews.go.com