[wplug] Google proxy server

[Matthew Danish]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2003 at 11:49:41AM -0500, Vanco, Donald wrote:
> 	While I understand the need for "security" and love the additional
> function a proxy can give (i.e. block scripting and ads) I love when people
> get all in a tizzy about "privacy and the search engines".  What are these
> paranoid people searching for that requires such secrecy?  Unless you're
> looking to bang a 12 year old or source parts for a bomb or help on starting
> your own Meth lab I see no reason to fear the data collected via a search
> engine.  I could care less - if anyone wants to know that I look for Ford
> part numbers or info on movie titles via Google more power to 'em.  Frankly,
> if it leads to one less pedophile or bathtub drug lab I'm all for it....

Lots of people argue this way but they forget that it is not only
criminals who might want to keep personal information private.  The
debate on filtering software in libraries has run into similar
arguments--the proponents of filtering argue that a person may request a
librarian to remove the filtering on a case-by-case basis.  The
counter-argument to this is that this effectively stifles access to
information that a person may not want others to know he is looking for.
Some examples are: information on abortion, sexuality, drugs, diseases,
political ideas, etc.

-- 
; Matthew Danish <mdanish at andrew.cmu.edu>
; OpenPGP public key: C24B6010 on keyring.debian.org
; Signed or encrypted mail welcome.
; "There is no dark side of the moon really; matter of fact, it's all dark."