Google’s Web History feature makes it easy for Google Account users to view and search across the pages they visit. I like it because when I remember something I saw on the web and want to find it again, I can do it quickly through Web History. I’ve given up on using Favorites on IE because you can’t alphabetize and it’s just a long laundry list.

To use Web History, you need a Google Account and the Google Toolbar with PageRank enabled. The Toolbar allows Google to store the pages you visit. You can sign up for it here: http://www.google.com/history.

Although voluntary, Web History raises alarms over the possibility of Google merging its vast database of user information with that of DoubleClick and then using it nefariously. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and other groups immediately filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over Google’s privacy practices, asking them to investigate the DoubleClick acquisition prior to approval.

Privacy advocates say Google is deceptive because most users think their Google-stored behavioral data is non-identifiable when in fact it is. Google ties search queries to the Internet address associated with a specific computer. It recently agreed to make this data anonymous by stripping the addresses from its records after 18 to 24 months, but this doesn’t satisfy privacy advocates, and you can’t blame them.

You will recall the problems DoubleClick had in 2000 when it acquired Abacus Alliance and wanted to merge that database with its ad network cookie data to use for direct marketing. The FTC investigated DoubleClick’s privacy practices, and advocacy groups filed class-action suits. In the end, DoubleClick changed its plans for database direct marketing to appease public opinion.

Now that Google owns DoubleClick and has access to all this behavioral data, privacy advocates are nervous and have asked the FTC to investigate.

More on Web History here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/your-slice-of-web.html