Search Engines

Search engines are not officially a part of the Stanford network, but they can easily be used to collect personal information about members of the Stanford community, and thus warrant further examination.

As an example, I simply entered one student’s name into the Google search engine. From this system, I learned many facts about this student (call her “AA”):

·        AA is on the ASSU Appropriations and Student Advocacy committees

·        Her campaign flyer slogan was “She’s Mmmm-Mmmm Good!”

·        She earned 766 votes in this election (May 2000)

·        She is enrolled in STS260 and was previously enrolled in E297C and PS138

·        AA is on the Stanford Debate Team

·        She is a member of SOCA (Student Organizing Committee for the Arts)

Combining this information with that obtained through a database like Prism can yield a detailed profile of any student’s life and habits.  Unfortunately, there is little that one can do to control what information appears in search engines, other than to directly contact each organization displaying personal information and request that it be removed.