
Translation of an
article from October 5, 2008 on the topic of indexing (theoretical) by Google a closed part of the web, through its Chrome browser. The translation is amateur, but I tried to make it clear. Enjoy reading.
____
More than a month has passed since Google released its open source browser, Chrome. An interesting theory that we heard recently that Google uses Chrome to create an index of a closed part of the Internet (password-protected pages), or the “dark side of the Internet”
Currently, the terms of the license agreement (TOS) Chrome does not allow Google to index personal data. But if you imagine that Chrome was originally presented as an application browser, rather than web pages, this theory begins to make sense.
Most web applications are password protected, so there is no way for a regular search engine to index this data - even those that are not specific to any particular user, but are common. But with a full browser in addition to the search engine, Google could theoretically have the means to index this previously inaccessible information.
Does Google plan to use Chrome in the future to index the closed part of the Internet? This question does not require an answer, because the Internet has turned into something that is not so easy to index. Neil McAlister wrote an article about this back in July, the article “Is the Web still the Web?” (“Is the Web still a Web?”) Revealing this topic. Neil writes:
“Is this still the Web if it is no longer just a hypertext? Is it still the web if you can't go directly to the content? Is it still the Web if it cannot be indexed and found by a search? Is it still the Web, if it can only be viewed on special clients or devices? Is it still the Web if you can't see the source? ”
As he later noted, flash and silverlight can now be indexed.
So the next step is the ability to index and search for user-generated content. Chrome is the best tool for this. To do this, you need to make some changes to the license agreement (TOS), because indexing personal data is a taboo for search engines, and especially for the market leader, Google. Indexing your personal browsing history will be a big privacy issue. But what if Google can convince users of the value of indexing data from their pages without specifying the user's individuality (anonymously) ...
What do you think about this theory - too unreal? Recall that Chrome is already in 4th place among browsers (after ie, firefox and safari). And he was able to overtake opera, and this is only a month, still in beta and without a version for Mac.