A wrong Google search can compromise your data and bring law enforcement

This is a low-quality article. Reading between the lines, it looks like Google flagged up sequential searches for "pressure cooker" and "backpack", which were the basics of the Boston Marathon bomber's explosive a few years ago. That might be overreach by Google or some law enforcement, but the article doesn't delve into that. Instead, it conflates queries that can lead to running malware on Windows PC, and visits by police based on search engine queries.

The solutions given to this never-quite-named problem are sort of generic, "use a VPN", "don't click on ads", "use incognito mode". The article implies that end users are the category of people who need to take action to protect themselves, but doesn't specify who are the aggressors from which protection is needed. Malware just exists out there, like weeds in cracks in your driveway, and end up growing in your computer, just like weeds propagate to your lawn. SEO and bad faith malware spreading ads happen, there's nothing that Google adtech can do to sort out a mess their lax/nonexistent standards for advertisers has caused. Police departments are a force of nature, be careful what you search for, just like taking a raincoat on those days a storm is predicted.

> But two days later, her husband searched for both items from his work computer, just before leaving his job. His former employer’s IT staff flagged these searches and reported them to the local Suffolk County Police Department.

Just another reminder of the importance of never using your employer's machines or other resources for personal purposes, and never using your personal machines for work purposes.