I must admit that when I read and wrote about Google’s private data anonymization policies I took the word “anonymization” at face value. I know that it can mean some very different things, but now that CNET’s Chris Soghoian has actually asked Google the sordid details and debunked the process, I’m quite sure that my and Google’s definition of the word is not the same.

Here’s the reply that Chris got from Google when he asked them to describe what anonymization really means:

“After nine months, we will change some of the bits in the IP address in the logs; after 18 months we remove the last eight bits in the IP address and change the cookie information. We’re still developing the precise technical methods and approach to this, but we believe these changes will be a significant addition to protecting user privacy…. It is difficult to guarantee complete anonymization, but we believe these changes will make it very unlikely users could be identified…. We hope to be able to add the 9-month anonymization process to our existing 18-month process by early 2009, or even earlier.”

Here’s what happens when you do a Google search, in the simplest possible terms: you type in some keywords, Google stores a unique cookie, your IP address, and the words you typed in.

Now, what they mean by anonymization is that after 9 months they remove some of the bits from your IP address. After 18 months, they remove the last part of your IP address. Now, even without taking into consideration the fact that the unique cookie is there all this time, rendering all this anonymization stuff completely useless, this sounds fishy.

Let’s start with the anonymization after 18 months. They remove the last part of the IP address, right? Like, 111.111.111.xxx? That’s a grand total of 255 possible combinations, which means you’re anonymous in the crowd of 254 other people. Gee, thanks Google! That’s the level of anonymity and privacy I want! Even without the cookie, it’s a bit laughable to think that someone who wants to find you will not be able to do so merely by analyzing timestamps, keywords, and the activity from other IP addresses with the same first three octets.

Bear in mind that I am simplifying things quite a bit here and I’m not taking into account the fact that most users today are assigned dynamic IPs by their ISPs. Still, the point here is that Google’s anonymization process - based on the data I have - is laughable and in many cases useless.

After 9 months, however, they remove some of the bits from your IP address. I’d like to know: which ones? If it’s as Chris predicts, 111.111.111.1xx, then this entire anonymization thing is a complete farce. If they remove some of the bits from the first, second or third octet… well, that’s a bit better, but due to the cookie business mentioned above, it’s still all very far from anonymity.

The sad conclusion that can be drawn from all this is that (and again, based on the data I have) Google is not really doing much to protect our privacy; they’re just doing it to shut the critics up. And don’t even get me started on all that other data owned by your ISP, your mobile network operator, your email provider… well, nearly every company that provides you with any online service. Put all those bits and pieces together, and your privacy is thrown out the window. If you want to stay anonymous, you’re going to have to take a lot of extra steps, because the big boys obviously won’t do it for you just yet.

—Related Articles at Mashable - All That’s New on the Web:CNet Deems Ask.com The Most Private Search Engine in the Land7 Useful Firefox Toolbars For Power SurfersGoogle To Launch Google WikiGoogle Maps Hangs Up on Click-to-CallGoogle Checkout Trends Knows Your Shopping HabitsGoogle Gets GhoulishGoogle Calendar Optimized for iPhone

Source:Mashable!

According to TNC’s founder Chang Kim, Google has acquired the company, described by Kim herself as “a company that develops a cool blogging platform that’s favorited by the nation’s A-list bloggers.”

Google hasn’t been too keen on acquiring companies in Asia so far, and this is their first acquisition of a Korean company; it is almost certainly a strategic move, because I somehow doubt that Google - who owns Blogger - is in need of a blogging platform from a purely technological point of view. Kim, however, claims that TNC’s platform, called Textcube, is technologically very advanced (thanks to VentureBeat for the quotes, as Kim’s blog is down at the time of this writing):

“While other blog services seem to be exploring the idea of integrating social networks with blogs only lately, our new blog service Textcube (link in Korean) had already implemented the feature much earlier. Secondly, we have great engineering talents. Many of our software engineers hail from the nation’s leading comp sci programs, such as KAIST.”

Or, perhaps it’s TNC’s 400,000 users (and the majority of Korea’s high profile bloggers) that Google is after. We’ll find out soon enough.

—Related Articles at Mashable - All That’s New on the Web:YouTube South Korea to Come This Year?YouTube Korea Launches: The Google Juggernaut Carries OnYouTube Korea Crushed by Local CompetitionMySpace to Push Open Platform with Korea LaunchGoogle Acquires Image America for Aerial Imaging TechGoogle Acquires Tonic SystemsEuropean Union Extends Deadline for Google/DoubleClick Inquiry

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cell phone text messaging will be blocked during this weekend’s local elections in Cambodia, where the government is imposing a two-day "tranquility period" to keep voters from being inundated with campaign messages. But the country’s main opposition party said the move would curb constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

All three major phone companies in Cambodia have agreed to block text messages on Saturday and Sunday, Telecommunications Minister So Khun said Friday. Campaigning was to end Friday for elections to choose councils to administer Cambodia’s 1,621 communes and urban sub-districts known as sangkats. Voting will take place Sunday, and text messaging will be restored after polls close at 3 p.m. local time.

Officials imposed the ban based on a request from the National Election Committee, So Khun said. He referred to the ban as part of a necessary "tranquility period." The election committee chairman, Im Suosdey, said the committee was concerned that political parties could "use SMS services to send messages to 20 or 30 people at a time to galvanize them to vote for their parties." Being inundated with text messages could "spoil" the calm during the run-up to voting and on election day itself, he said.

The Sam Rainsy Party, the sole opposition party with parliamentary seats, objected to the ban. Mu Sochua, the party’s secretary-general, said in a statement Friday that the ban "severely" curbs people’s freedom to communicate as guaranteed by the Constitution. She called on the National Election Committee’s chairman and the telecommunication minister to reverse their decisions.

Twelve political parties are fielding a total of 102,266 candidates in the elections, which are held every five years. The first local election was held in February 2002. Until then, the communes were ruled by chiefs appointed by the Interior Ministry.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, which has maintained a firm grip on power during the last three decades, won overwhelmingly in the last local election and is virtually certain to emerge victorious again.

US computer maker Dell Inc unveiled a low-cost computer Wednesday which it said was specifically designed for the Chinese market and could help large numbers of novices get online. The Dell EC280, priced at between 2,599 and 3,999 yuan (335 and 515 dollars), was developed by engineers at Dell’s China Design Center located in Shanghai, the company told a briefing in the east Chinese city. "Today there are one billion people online worldwide and many of the world’s second billion users are right here in China," chief executive Michael Dell said in statement. "We intend to earn their confidence and their business."

Dell announced earlier this month a 33-percent dive in fourth-quarter profits but it is ranked number three in computer shipments in China and saw a 26-percent increase in revenues in Asia’s second-largest economy last year. China’s Internet is a rapidly expanding business, with 137 million Chinese estimated to be online as of the end of last year, state media said previously. Dell’s product launch reflected a broader move by computer makers to move from the nation’s saturated cities into relative virgin territory in the huge countryside, analysts said. "The main market for this computer is in rural areas, where price sensitivity is relatively high," said Cao Ran, an analyst with CCID Consulting in Beijing.

But whether in the cities or in the countryside, the trend is clearly for ever cheaper computers as there are few other ways for companies to compete, she said. "Overall, the quality of computers in China is pretty much the same so the main strategy for gaining market share is through pricing," she said. Dell, the world’s number-two computer maker behind Hewlett-Packard, has manufacturing plants in China, Malaysia and India. Western computer companies are looking to Asia to offset weaker growth at home. "This year, our purchase from supplier partnerships in Taiwan and China will be 19 billion dollars," Dell told the briefing in Shanghai. "Dell’s activities in China directly and indirectly supported 1.5 million jobs here to contribute more than 36 billion dollars to annual GDP."

In an indication of the importance of the China market to Dell, the company this week also opened a corporate blog in Chinese. "About one fifth of the world’s population speaks Chinese as their first language," Michael Dell said in a separate statement. "We will continue to have conversations in the language of choice of our customers.