Facebook Graph Search leaves little privacy and no opting out

Although Facebook's Graph Search isn't available to most users yet, once it rolls out more broadly, there won't be any escaping it.

That's because, as Quartz points out, Facebook removed the capability to opt out of searches last month, before it announced the new feature. Sam Lessin, a Facebook product manager, confirmed the change to The New York Times in December, saying that only "a single-digit percentage of users" had opted out when the choice was available. (Of course, with 1 billion users, that still translates to at least 10 million people.)

Search gets personal

Graph Search is an overhaul of Facebook's existing search box. It lets people type in naturally-phrased queries such as "Restaurants my friends like" and "Photos of people from college," and see personalized results.

Graph Search respects the user's existing privacy settings. So, for example, if only your friends can see your photos, no one else will be able to see those photos in their own searches. In other words, Graph Search isn't showing any information that people otherwise wouldn't be able to see.

Still, the addition of a powerful search tool could bring to the surface information that was once buried. As Gizmodo pointed out, someone could use Graph Search to find a list of single female friends of friends, who live in the same city, and who have similar interests. A user might have second thoughts about sharing those types of details now that they're so easy to aggregate. Also, users may not remember all the things they've "Liked" in the past, and some of those things could be pretty unsavory.

The removal of search opt-out isn't too surprising, given Facebook's history of announcing new features that are enabled by default and are tricky to cover up. A privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission now requires the company to get express consent for any changes that "override their privacy preferences," but Graph Search may not run afoul of that settlement. After all, Facebook isn't changing what's public and what's private. It's just making information easier to find for people who already have permission to see it.

How to control what shows

Facebook could ease users' worries with more privacy tools related to search, such as the ability to hide your location, photos, or status updates from certain groups of people. That way, users could still keep their profiles somewhat open on a standalone basis without letting those details be aggregated. But I wouldn't count on Facebook making any big changes.

If you're worried about what Graph Search might uncover, you'll need to revisit their privacy settings to see what's visible. To do so, click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the site and click "Privacy Settings." The "Who can see my stuff?" section will dictate what's visible in searches. You'll also want to visit the "Timeline and Tagging" section on the left sidebar, and review who can see photos and posts that you've been tagged in. (When in doubt, limiting it to "Friends" is the best option.)

Keep in mind that users can still hide their Facebook timelines from other search engines, such as Google. To do so, click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the site, click to "Privacy Settings" and look for "Do you want other search engines to link to your timeline?" in the "Who can look me up?" section.

Chrome 25 blocks sneaky add-ons

Google on Friday said Chrome 25, now in development, automatically blocks browser add-ons installed on the sly by other software.

The measure mimics what rival Mozilla did for Firefox over a year ago.

Auto-blocking has already appeared in Chrome 25 for Windows on the "dev" channel -- Google's least-polished public version -- which debuted last month. By the browser's semi-regular release schedule, Chrome 25 will reach the final "stable" channel, and thus the bulk of users, in the second half of February 2013.

According to Peter Ludwig, a Chrome product manager, Chrome 25 will automatically disable any browser extensions silently installed by other software. Extensions previously installed by third-party software will also be barred from running.

Chrome users can switch on such extensions manually, or remove them from the browser and their PC.

Although Ludwig never used the word "security" in his Dec. 21 blog post, the change's provenance was clear.

"[Silent installation] was originally intended to allow users to opt-in to adding a useful extension to Chrome as a part of the installation of another application," Ludwig explained. "Unfortunately, this feature has been widely abused by third parties to silently install extensions into Chrome without proper acknowledgment from users."

Google was more than a year behind rival Mozilla in banning extensions installed behind users' backs. In Aug. 2011, Mozilla said Firefox 8 would automatically block browser add-ons installed by other software. Firefox 8 shipped three months later.

Add-ons bundled with third-party software had been a problem for Firefox users, who complained loudly when they found mysterious extensions on their computers.

A toolbar installed in Firefox alongside Skype, for example, caused so many crashes in Jan. 2011 -- 40,000 in only one week -- that Mozilla blocked the add-on after calling the Internet phone company a "repeat offender." In 2009, Microsoft silently slipped an add-on into Firefox that left browser users open to attack.

Google has also made other moves this year to lock down extensions. As of Chrome 21, which launched last July, the browser will not accept add-ons installed directly from websites, but only from the Chrome Web Store. Previously, any website could prompt a Chrome user to install an extension.

"Online hackers may create websites that automatically trigger the installation of malicious extensions," Google noted in a Chrome Help page that explained the new rules. "Their extensions are often designed to secretly track the information you enter on the web, which the hackers can then reuse for other ill-intended purposes."

That security measure has not been foolproof, however, as a Facebook-theme scam detailed by Webroot last week illustrated: The rogue add-on was placed on the Chrome Web Store, even though Google had said on the same Help page that, "We have started analyzing every extension that is uploaded to the Web Store and take down those we recognize to be malicious."

Chrome 25's dev version for Windows can be downloaded from Google's website.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@ix.netcom.com.

Read more about internet in Computerworld's Internet Topic Center.

Google cleans up search page, eyes mobile users

Have you noticed a change in the look of Google's search results page?

Well, you might not have. Google tweaked the look of its search results page a few days ago, giving it a cleaner, simpler look. However, it's not a change that will jump out at you.

Google wants to optimize its search pages for its growing base of mobile users, and it's a pretty subtle shift.

"It does look cleaner. The text is bigger and I like that," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "I didn't notice the change before but I do prefer it."

On Tuesday, Tamar Yehoshua, a search director at Google, wrote in a blog post that changes have been made to Google's search results pages.

"We've been working on ways to create a consistent search experience across the wide variety of devices and screen sizes people use today," Yehoshua wrote. "We started with tablets last year, got it to mobile phones a few weeks ago, and are now rolling out to the desktop."

With the new design, Google was trying to create "a bit more breathing room," she wrote.

Two years ago, Google added a sidebar on the left side of the search results page, offering users shortcuts to News, Images and other options. That left-hand column has been replaced by similar tabs that sit above the search results.

So why such a simple change? Gottheil said Google is focused on making the search experience similar whether a user is on a desktop, smartphone or tablet. It's also an effort to provide busy mobile users with a clean screen.

"Mobile is critically important," Gottheil said. "Google's raw material is the total time people spend using the Web, and an increasing percentage of that time is spent with mobile devices. It needs to be cleaner. You can't waste the left margin on smaller screens."

Google isn't the only Internet company working on how to best handle its burgeoning base of mobile users.

Facebook has been struggling to harness its huge mobile base. In documents filed as part of its initial public offering this past summer, Facebook categorized mobile as one of the big risks facing the company.

The question most companies are dealing with is how to get ads in front of mobile users without alienating them with a cluttered screen and slow response time. That's an especially big problem with mobile users who are trying to get information while they're on the go.

Read more about internet search in Computerworld's Internet Search Topic Center.

China's Baidu and Qihoo 360 sign pact meant to resolve dispute

Chinese Internet giant Baidu and its rival Qihoo 360 signed an agreement on Thursday to compete fairly in China's search engine market, following a dispute between the two companies over search indexing.

The two companies, along with ten other Internet search providers, signed a "self-regulation pact" sponsored by the Internet Society of China, an industry trade group, which received support from Chinese government regulators for drafting the pact.

Qihoo 360's new search engine was launched in August and is now competing with Baidu's search services, which have long dominated the market with over 70 percent share.

A key section of the pact requires the Chinese Internet firms to abide by a robot exclusion protocol, a convention widely used by companies to prevent others from accessing certain parts or the entirety of a website.

Baidu alleges Qihoo 360's search engine has violated its robot exclusion protocol by indexing its Web pages, such as its encyclopedia and question-and-answer sites, without its permission.

To fight back, Baidu filed a lawsuit against Qihoo 360 last month, claiming that the company is illegally using and reproducing its content, and asking for 100 million yuan (US$15.9 million) in compensation. In its defense, Qihoo 360 has said it should be given access to Baidu's product pages, equating them to a public resource.

The pact signed by the two companies, however, is limited in scope and power. If a company is found in violation, the Internet Society of China will issue a warning and make a public condemnation in the media.

The agreement is more of a symbolic effort to tone down Baidu's dispute with Qihoo 360, which risked escalating, said Zhao Zhanling, an expert on China's information technology law.

The language in the pact does not side with Baidu or Qihoo 360 in their dispute, Zhao said. It states the Internet firms must observe the robot exclusion protocol, but also aims to ensure that the protocol is used to fairly promote the free flow of information.

"I think the pact is trying to find a balance," Zhao said. "The pact has no power backed by law, it's more about trying to get everyone on the same page."

Both Baidu and Qihoo 360 said they support the self-regulation pact.

"(It) has for the first time highlighted the critical role that the Robots protocol plays in regulating the Internet search industry, and its significance to the healthy development of the search sector," Baidu said in a statement.

Qihoo 360 said in an email, "We believe the agreement is positive for China's search market. The move will create a more open and fair competitive landscape, which will benefit the smaller guys over time."

The two companies declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Google upgrades Search Appliance, aims for large enterprises

Google has released a new version of its Search Appliance with new and improved features intended to make the enterprise search device more useful in large enterprises.

The Search Appliance, which is sold as a hardware device loaded with Google search software that is installed on customer premises, has historically been considered a good fit mostly for medium-size businesses that lack the money and in-house expertise needed for high-end enterprise search systems.

But with version 7.0 of the Search Appliance, Google is aiming higher, and seeking a stronger position against high-end rivals that in recent years have been acquired by larger vendors, including Autonomy, which was bought by Hewlett-Packard, and Fast Search & Transfer, which was acquired by Microsoft.

"We're doubling down on enterprise search," said Matthew Eichner, general manager of Global Enterprise Search at Google.

For starters, version 7.0's interface adapts to smartphones and tablets, which is increasingly important as enterprise users rely more and more on these mobile devices for accessing workplace documents, files and data.

Google also improved the product's query resolution speed as well as its results relevance algorithm, which now includes new signals that customize results for each user, the company said on Tuesday.

Version 7.0 also features improvements for dealing with multiple languages, in particular those whose grammar and syntax present special challenges for search engines, such as Chinese, German and Arabic, he said. In addition, the Search Appliance now has gained as a native feature the Google Translate technology, which will allow enterprises to translate content on the fly to more than 60 languages.

The product also can now be used as a search engine for the 2010 version of SharePoint, the collaboration server from Microsoft which is ubiquitous in enterprises where it's used for intranets, public websites, document and content management and workplace communities. For SharePoint, the Search Appliance provides features like query suggestions, clustering of results and identification of end user expertise.

Other new features in version 7.0 are assisted navigation for refining search results, document previews and the ability for users to add items to the index.

Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at@JuanCPerezIDG.

Google upgrades Search Appliance for enterprises

Google is upgrading its Search Appliance for the enterprise in an effort to help workers find information stored anywhere in their organization.

Google Search Appliance 7.0 was unveiled today and will be available Oct. 16 for sale or for customers to download. The new version would help employees in large enterprises find stored information whether they're using a desktop, tablet or smartphone.

" Google is really doubling down on enterprise search," said Matthew Eichner, general manager of Enterprise Search for Google. "We think that enterprise search is an unsolved problem ... We're really targeting now the world's largest organizations with great complexity problems."

The appliance is designed to enable administrators to add information from sources stored in thecloud, social networking sites, the public Web and secure storage. The new appliance also offers search for SharePoint 2010, Microsoft's collaboration tool.

"With GSA 7.0, we've refined our relevance signals ...," Eichner wrote in a blog post. "Entity Recognition automatically identifies and suggests content you might be looking for, and GSA 7.0 also harnesses the "wisdom of crowds," allowing employees to add their own search results."

The update also includes a new interface and a new document preview feature that enables users to view thumbnails and flip through full-screen document previews alongside their search results. Google Translate offers automatic translations in more than 60 languages displayed in search results.

David Schubmehl, an analyst with IDC, said the appliance update is important for major enterprises that need to make their information stores available to employees.

"People are still dissatisfied with the way their internal search systems work," Schubmehl said. "Everybody wants it to be as good as the Web. If I don't find the answer, I at least want to find an answer... Google is trying to make internal search as good as Web search."

Schubmehl noted that there is a lot of lost productivity based solely on how much time workers spend searching for information stored within their own company.

An IDC study in 2009 found that the time spent searching for information that year alone averaged 8.8 hours per week per employee, adding up to a cost of $14,209 per worker per year.

"There's a generation of workers who are starting to leave the workforce, and they've created years or decades of information and that information could be very valuable if people knew about it," said Schubmehl. "Let's say I'm working in a pharmaceutical company doing drug research and I know there are seven groups doing research around the world. Who are these other researchers and are they doing the same work I am? It can be hard to get even that information."

He added that Google Search Appliance 7.0 still has challenges. For instance, Schubmehl noted that each kind of repository has a different access method so administrators have to create a custom program or control to read the data from each particular system.

However, the new appliance also has benefits, such as better navigation and more filters for different types of files.

"You might have information siloed in 15 or more different systems," said Schubmehl. "Being able to put all of that into one search index and letting people use that information and pull it up at need would be a tremendous improvement. The Google Search Appliance moves us further down the road of being able to do that kind of stuff."

took the wraps off its Google Search Appliance 7.0 today. It will be available on Oct. 16.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, on Google+ or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed. Her email address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

See more by Sharon Gaudin on Computerworld.com.

Read more about internet search in Computerworld's Internet Search Topic Center.

Google tweaks travel search site for tablets

Nearly half of tablet owners who perform travel searches end up buying their tickets on those devices, Google said

Google has updated its flight search engine to make it easier to use on tablets, as more and more people use those devices to book their travel, the company said in a blog post Friday.

Google now renders Flight Search for tablet users with a layout, features and format adapted to those devices, including a tool for finding low fares by scrolling through dates, Google said on Friday.

"With the touch of your finger, you can easily explore places to visit on the map and see prices updated in real-time for each destination," wrote Rani Manoharan, a Google user interface designer, in a blog post.

Google had previously adapted the site for iPhone and Android smartphones.

Google launched Flight Search in September last year, after acquiring air-travel flight-information software maker ITA Software for $700 million, a move prompted by the fast-growing number of travel-related queries on the company's search engine.

The deal raised antitrust concerns among Google competitors and in the travel industry because ITA Software customers included major airlines and online travel agencies. After a review, the U.S. government gave the deal the green light but with conditions, such as the requirement to develop and license travel software to competitors, as well as provide arbitration for complaints about fees from online travel sites.

Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.