My post about Google Dashboard quoted this news report:

Dashboard let me review my Web searches going back to 2006. Long-forgotten queries about airline tickets, books and magazine articles, a new clarinet for my daughter - they’re all still there.

When I posted this I hadn't logged in yet - and in fact Dashboard doesn't do that. Your search history comes from Google History which has been around for a while, but only works if you search while logged in. When you access Google History Google goads you to download a toolbar so they can watch your web surfing all the time, and not just when you are accessing one of their sites.

Are you better off not having a Google Account - and thus not having a Google History?

Either way, they know, they have the data, but if you tie your searches to your account, they know even more, but in exchange you get to know something too.

Why do I feel like I'm dealing with a drug dealer?

(Worse, if you remove things from "Google History" they don't actually get removed from Google's logs - only from the history service.)

Google Dashboard isn't as cool as I thought.