Perfect Search – MichaelZimmer.org

AoIR: Search 2.0: Web 2.0, Personal Information Flows, and the Drive for the Perfect Search Engine

Posted by Michael Zimmeron October 20, 2007in Events, Search Engines, Social MediaLeave a comment

Following up on my Web 2.0 panel at 4S, I just returned from another quick trip to Canada -- this time Vancouver -- for the annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, where I organized a similar panel titled…

With SmartAds, Yahoo Finally Joins Google…as a Threat to Privacy

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 4, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines2 Comments

In my dissertation I outline the quest for the “perfect search engine” – a search engine capable of indexing all available information and providing fast and relevant results. The perfect search engine will have to have “perfect reach” to deliver…

Scholarship on Privacy and Search Engines

Posted by Michael Zimmeron June 30, 2007in Privacy, Publications, Search Engines8 Comments

I recently had the pleasure of attending an excellent workshop on "privacy advocacy" hosted by the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley. The goal was to get privacy advocates in the room with academics who work on privacy in…

Google’s Peter Fleischer is Dangerously Misleading on Privacy and Personalized Search

Posted by Michael Zimmeron June 5, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines1 Comment

I'm supposed to be on vacation this week, but felt compelled to blog about this... There has been increased attention lately about Google's data retention policies and the impact its drive towards personalization might have on user privacy. In response,…

Google Universal Search: Half of the Perfect Search Engine

Posted by Michael Zimmeron May 16, 2007in Privacy, Search Engines3 Comments

In my dissertation I outline the quest for the "perfect search engine" – a search engine capable of indexing all available information and providing fast and relevant results. The perfect search engine will have to have “perfect reach” to deliver…

SEM on Search & Consumer Privacy

Posted by Michael Zimmeron November 9, 2006in Privacy, Search Engines1 Comment

Gord Hotchkiss, the president of a search engine marketing firm, writes what at first appears to be a thoughtful and reflective essay on how the rise of behavioral targeting within the search engine advertising market (his bread and butter): The…

NSF Dissertation Improvement Grant

Posted by Michael Zimmeron July 21, 2006in Mobility, Privacy, Professional, Search Engines, Values In Design5 Comments

I am pleased to announce that I have been awarded a Science & Society Dissertation Improvement Grant from the Division of Social and Economic Sciences of the National Science Foundation. This grant will support my dissertation research of the value…

Google wants to “Store 100% of User Data”

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 11, 2006in Privacy, Search EnginesLeave a comment

Google's drive to "organize all the world's information" is no joke, and they want that to inlucde all "100% of user data" according to notes from a Google presentation found by Greg Linden: Theme 2: Store 100% of User Data…

Google Calendar Near?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron March 11, 2006in Privacy, Search Engines2 Comments

It has been over a year since a Google Calendar service was first hinted at, but it seems they have now started beta-testing a product called "CL2" (screenshots here). To repeat my original privacy-related concerns, Google is moving more and…

Does Targeted Marketing (with Personal Data) Work?

Posted by Michael Zimmeron February 9, 2006in Internet, Privacy, Search EnginesLeave a comment

One of the key arguements for collecting personal search histories is that a "perfect search engine" will use this personal information to deliver more relevant advertisements. The supposition is that the search engines benefit from selling a more detailed profile…