Google Will Pay People to Authoritatively Root Themselves: Track 100% of Web Usage Via Dedicated Hardware

February 9th, 2012

If that black box option doesn’t require the browser plugins…

1) Connect to VPN

2) Let Google collect a bunch of encrypted data that tells them nothing about what you’re doing online

3) Profit?

haha.

I haven’t read the fine print, though.

Via: Ars Technica:

Google is working to collect information about Internet users that it can’t get from just monitoring its own browser, services, and Android devices. The company has set up a new program called Screenwise, which offers money to users who install a black box on their home network to “measure Internet use.” A smaller amount of money will go to those who install a browser extension on their computers that will do the same thing.

Google quietly started up the Screenwise data collection program Tuesday night, taking the e-mail addresses of people who are interested in “add[ing] a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them.” For their participation, Google offers the extension users a $5 Amazon gift card for signing up and another $5 gift card for every three months they stay with the program. Less publicly, Google also started looking for people who would install a piece of hardware on their network to do more extensive monitoring.

Posted in Economy, Elite, Surveillance, Technology | Top Of Page

2 Responses to “Google Will Pay People to Authoritatively Root Themselves: Track 100% of Web Usage Via Dedicated Hardware”

  1. Difranco says:
    February 9, 2012 at 2:15 am

    I bet that “black box” would be like many corporate firewall / web filters that act as a man in the middle and get can get access to the VPN/HTTPS/SSL session.

  2. Kevin says:
    February 9, 2012 at 2:25 am

    Let them access it. That’s the point of the VPN. Having access to the encrypted stream doesn’t mean that they can decrypt it.

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