Google is watching

[darkemeralds]

I've just started using gmail as my regular email address.

Call me naive, but I'm dismayed to discover that it reads your email and advertises to you according to what you communicate about. I mentioned Rebecca Fine, Wallace Wattles, and "The Science of Getting Rich" in passing in an email to roseambr and here's what the sidebar looked like when I next looked:



Make $18,000 in One Day?
Act Fast Be The First In Your Area Automated + Residuals + No Selling.
www.YourLegacyMentors.com

What Law of Attraction?
How does it Really work? Learn the truth, avoid pitfalls
TheSecretLawOfAttractionSuccess.com

Free Think and Grow Rich
Audio Book plus Additional Personal Development Bonuses
www.FreeThinkandGrowRichMP3.com

...and so on.

So I sent this to myself at another address:

Subject: Loneliness
Text: I'm so happy to know you've found someone. I wish I could get a date! I'd like to meet a nice man, someone who likes the same kinds of things I do, and settle down. I've heard that online dating can be effective, but you're honestly the only person I know who has had success with it. Let me know what dating service you were using and how it all works.

Here's what my sidebar looks like now:

Signs He Likes You
Don’t Go Here Unless You’re Serious About Understanding Men!
www.Understand-How-Men-Think.net

Free Teen Dating Site
Browse Profiles and Make Your Own. Find a Local Hottie. Totally Free!
www.eSpin.com

Public Relations Mgmt.
Double Your PR Productivity with PR Software From Vocus. Free Demo!
www.vocus.com



That's just creepy.

Comments

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

That's why I picked yahoo over google. Yeah, I know, yahoo is collecting information too, and everything we do online is being noted by evil corporations. But at least yahoo doesn't rub your face in it. And it's only $19.95 per YEAR for a premium account with yahoo. And google is getting scary powerful and I think taking business away from them is a good thing in and of itself. And I don't like the way gmail is set up - I like yahoo a lot better. So I'm a yahoo proselytizer now!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I have a yahoo account too, and I like it pretty well. In fact, it's the email address I use here on LJ.

The gmail trial is strictly experimental, and the jury's still out. It's not so much a privacy issue (because there's no such thing as privacy online anyawy) as it is an issue of being constantly advertised to, but it's all kind of an adjustment.

I think the generation coming up now--kids in their early teens--will be as mystified by our privacy concerns as they are by the terms "dial" and "Hang up" when referring to telephones.