Google Knows All, Sees All, Especially if You’re Stupid

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Here’s a tip: If you break the law, don’t go back to the scene of the crime. You probably already know this from watching cop shows on TV.

Here’s a 21st century tip: If you break the law, don’t go back to the scene of the crime even virtually. In other words, don’t do Google searches for your own misdeeds. Or if you do, go to a public library and do it anonymously. The police, it turns out, apparently have pretty easy access to Google search data and they will use it to collar you. Felix Salmon has more.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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