Chrome lets Google log user keystrokes
Published: 04 Sep 2008 11:03 BST
The auto-suggest feature of Google's new Chrome browser does more than just help users get where they are going.
It also gives Google a wealth of information on what people are doing on the internet besides searching.
Provided that users leave Chrome's auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser's Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.
Google intends to retain some of that data even after it provides the promised suggestions. A Google representative told sister site CNET News.com that the company plans to store about two percent of that data, along with the IP address of the computer that typed it.
In theory, that means that, if a user were to type the address of a site, even if they decide not to hit enter, they could leave incriminating evidence on Google's servers.
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However, turning off the auto-suggest feature means that Google will neither get nor store this user information. A user can also select a search provider other than Google as their default, to avoid having their search queries stored by Google. Switching to Chrome's Incognito mode also switches off the auto-suggest features, a Google representative said.
Beyond the level of the individual, there is the question of what Google will be able to do with all this information in aggregate. People who are already concerned about how much data Google garners from its web-search history may well have another reason to worry. That is in addition to separate concerns raised by the product's end-user licence agreement.
Microsoft's job of catching up Google may become even more difficult if Google finds a way to use data acquired through Chrome to improve its web search.
Credit: Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box from CNET News.com
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