Comments on: Online profile linking using usernames http://blog.privcom.gc.ca/index.php/2011/02/16/online-profile-linking-using-usernames/ Mon, 14 May 2012 15:12:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Andrew Patrick http://blog.privcom.gc.ca/index.php/2011/02/16/online-profile-linking-using-usernames/comment-page-1/#comment-39178 Andrew Patrick Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:26:43 +0000 http://blog.privcom.gc.ca/?p=1210#comment-39178 Google has <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-to-google-social-search.html" rel="nofollow">just announced</a> that they are doing username matching in their social search product: "if our algorithms find a public account that might be yours (for example, because the usernames are the same), we may invite you to connect your accounts right on the search results page and in your Google Account settings." It is kind of creepy that Google thinks it knows my various identities on different services. It is also not clear how effective this matching will be, and what the privacy implications are. Can I inadvertently reveal a username that I did not want to be public? Can I "claim" a username that is not really mine? Google has just announced that they are doing username matching in their social search product: “if our algorithms find a public account that might be yours (for example, because the usernames are the same), we may invite you to connect your accounts right on the search results page and in your Google Account settings.”

It is kind of creepy that Google thinks it knows my various identities on different services. It is also not clear how effective this matching will be, and what the privacy implications are. Can I inadvertently reveal a username that I did not want to be public? Can I “claim” a username that is not really mine?

]]> By: Tweets that mention Office of the Privacy Commissioner » Blog Archive » Online profile linking using usernames -- Topsy.com http://blog.privcom.gc.ca/index.php/2011/02/16/online-profile-linking-using-usernames/comment-page-1/#comment-38992 Tweets that mention Office of the Privacy Commissioner » Blog Archive » Online profile linking using usernames -- Topsy.com Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:43:00 +0000 http://blog.privcom.gc.ca/?p=1210#comment-38992 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Privacy Commission , Social Hacking and Josh Rayman, LawyerNexus. LawyerNexus said: Online profile linking using usernames: There have been recent reports about security vulnerabilities arising fr... http://bit.ly/erV6Th [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Privacy Commission , Social Hacking and Josh Rayman, LawyerNexus. LawyerNexus said: Online profile linking using usernames: There have been recent reports about security vulnerabilities arising fr… http://bit.ly/erV6Th [...]

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