So from what I have been reading, under the new Google Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, they will use your search data to "Better market to the consumer."

All search information can now be reported to the United States Government.  My burning question is, how does this supposedly help them market better to their users?

To top it all off, if you use a proxy to surf any website "safely" you may now be considered a threat to the United States of America and Google can and will report your use of a proxy service or desktop application.

I personally have used proxies in the past if I was visiting a website that I was unsure of being safe or legitimate.   And I know many of you have also.  I would like to see what other geeks think about this new Google Privacy law.  I personally denounce it and think it's a bunch of crap.

I won't copy and paste the entire Privacy Policy here, but here are the parts that most alarm me.

Information we collect

We collect information to provide better services to all of our users – from figuring out basic stuff like which language you speak, to more complex things like which ads you’ll find most useful or the people who matter most to you online.

We collect information in two ways:

    Information you give us. For example, many of our services require you to sign up for a Google Account. When you do, we’ll ask for personal information, like your name, email address, telephone number or credit card. If you want to take full advantage of the sharing features we offer, we might also ask you to create a publicly visible Google Profile, which may include your name and photo.

    Information we get from your use of our services. We may collect information about the services that you use and how you use them, like when you visit a website that uses our advertising services or you view and interact with our ads and content. This information includes:

        Device information

        We may collect device-specific information (such as your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number). Google may associate your device identifiers or phone number with your Google Account.

        Log information

        When you use our services or view content provided by Google, we may automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This may include:
            details of how you used our service, such as your search queries.
            telephony log information like your phone number, calling-party number, forwarding numbers, time and date of calls, duration of calls, SMS routing information and types of calls.
            Internet protocol address.
            device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL.
            cookies that may uniquely identify your browser or your Google Account.

        Location information

        When you use a location-enabled Google service, we may collect and process information about your actual location, like GPS signals sent by a mobile device. We may also use various technologies to determine location, such as sensor data from your device that may, for example, provide information on nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.

        Unique application numbers

        Certain services include a unique application number. This number and information about your installation (for example, the operating system type and application version number) may be sent to Google when you install or uninstall that service or when that service periodically contacts our servers, such as for automatic updates.

        Local storage

        We may collect and store information (including personal information) locally on your device using mechanisms such as browser web storage (including HTML 5) and application data caches.

        Cookies and anonymous identifiers

        We use various technologies to collect and store information when you visit a Google service, and this may include sending one or more cookies or anonymous identifiers to your device. We also use cookies and anonymous identifiers when you interact with services we offer to our partners, such as advertising services or Google features that may appear on other sites.

The most alarming part.

We will share personal information with companies, organizations or individuals outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:

    meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request.
    enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations.
    detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues.
    protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of Google, our users or the public as required or permitted by law.

Hello everyone.  Ah yes, I am a geek.  A Proud one at that.  Nice forum you have going here.  I am not going to post a long winded and failed attempt at being witty with overused cliches.

Just saying HI!