Anonymize your Google searches

Google is huge, and collects a lot of information about you. They'll show you what they know...but it's kinda frightening. If that frightens you, here are a couple tools you can use to keep its prying nose out of your business, while still availing yourself of its services. The easiest way is to use the Firefox plug-in GoogleSharing. It automatically redirects all Google searches through a proxy that mixes the cookies and IP addresses with other people also using the plug-in. That way, Google gets data but it's randomized with other people. A nifty little bit of obfuscation. The nice thing is that you just use Google the way you normally would. You don't have to think about it. But more important to you tin-foil hat types, You can compile and run your own proxy, so if you don't trust the Google Sharing default proxy, roll your own. Another nice thing about GoogleSharing is that it encrypts your request between your computer and the proxy. Of course, this doesn't work on services you log into like Google Docs and Gmail. Because you already told them who you were when you logged in. But if you want that last sheen of privacy between you and Google, now you have a couple of options. I'm Tom Merritt, CNET.com.