25 bucks from Google for your search data

[Kylekramer]

Everyone seems to be approaching this deal from a strange angle. I understand that it is kind of funny for Google to paying people for their Chrome browsing data, but this just seems to be standard operating procedure for research, market or any other kind. In my university/ramen days, I would do this kind of thing a lot. Nominal fees, often dispensed via gift card, as incentive for your time/contribution. I suspect the Knowledge Networks/Google partnership in this case is much more Knowledge Networks than Google.

[blahedo]

This is really interesting; by giving due consideration for access to your browsing habits and the sites you visit and so forth, they admit that this is not something that they could necessarily have presumed to use for free. The $25 protects them, but I think in some ways it also protects us, or at least future-us.

[dholowiski]

It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be any country restrictions - this is usually the type of thing that is USA only.

Also, here's a direct link: http://www.google.com/landing/screenwisepanel/

[veverkap]

I am constantly logged into my Google account. How is this any different? They track everything already. Now they are going to pay me for it?

[kstenerud]

By paying you, they get around privacy laws and can sell your data to anyone who wants it.

[luser001]

I think they get to track all pages you visit, time spent per page, which parts of the page are in the viewport, for how long, where on the page you click, etc.

Not just a stream of what Google pages you visit.

[BryanB55]

No thank you. My privacy is worth a bit more than $25

[mda]

Your ISP knows all the sites you visit.

[pagekalisedown]

It's 5$ every 3 full months of participation, up to 25$. Seems extremely low.

[drivebyacct2]

Out of curiosity, how much money would you need before you'd be willing to give up this aspect of your privacy?

[rsingel]

This is exactly the data Google and MSFT and others get from toolbars. Google and MSFT use this kind of data to improve search results (noting how long users stay on a site, etc.). It's key to the Panda update. So it's no wonder Google pays people to install this.

[dpcx]

Other than "Knowledge Networks" having the data, is there any downside for those of us already using Google Web History?

[amitamb]

Google doesn't know all your Web History. For example it knows which links you clicked in search results but it doesn't know how much time you spent on them, when you closed them or which links you clicked on those pages.

[DanBC]

I would do this. I would even keep it honest by not using other browsers for some stuff.

[Tichy]

I can't parse the "would" here. Either you do it or you don't. What does "would" mean in this context? (unless you can't do it because you are not yet 13 years old)

[speg]

Signup form seems to be broken.

[dhechols]

Don't worry though, the spreadsheets team has been notified.

[Jach]

I think Bing was the worst thing that happened to Google. They've even started paying users now... I wonder how easy the system would be to game.