Google Watch - Privacy - Onion News Network: Google Opt-Out Village

Onion News Network: Google Opt-Out Village

Written By
Clint Boulton
Clint Boulton
Aug 12, 2009
1 minute read
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The Onion News Network has posted a video that should go down as a classic for all Google Watchers: the 22-acre Google Opt-Out Village is for users concerned about Google collecting too much data from their searches and other Web services.

The video pokes fun at how reliant we as a society have gotten on Google.

Once you opt-out of Google, you get picked up and whisked away to a remote mountain village. You house is burned down to eliminate any record of your residence on Google Maps and Street View.

There are no hospitals or banks (because they are also monitored by Google) so people have to be entirely self-reliant, growing food, suturing wounds and burying their dead.

The opt-out village also includes 30-foot walls and is completely enclosed by metal to avoid satellite snooping.

Check this out:


Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Is this a scathing commentary on the lengths people have to go to get rid of their data on Google, or is it a shot at all of the privacy experts and pundits who wring their hands over how much consumer data Google hoards in its servers?

This video calls both parties to task.

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