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

[inalasahl]

Oh, goodness, yes, it's terrible. Last December when I was on strike, my "real name" account was mostly e-mails about that, and all the ads were for anti-union websites. It was like being attacked every time I read my e-mail. I looked for a way to turn it off, but as far as I can tell, it's impossible.

[vampirefan.livejournal.com]

you know, i had noticed the ads but just barely 'cause i rarely click on advertising links. it *is* kinda creepy though...

[tehomet.livejournal.com]

I know!

Yesterday I was amused when a post notification thingie popped up in my gmail. It was a reply to one of my comments on your lj, and mentioned Dean Winchester. The ads then changed to reflect holidays in the Forest of Dean (which I think is in England)! :)

I will now shut up, but not before recommending Hushmail to you.

[decemberleaf.livejournal.com]

"Oh my God that's just hilarious. Though sobering, because as you say, you were posting a comment in my LJ, not even emailing me."

Sobering is right! What to do about it? Stop commenting? Damn!. Maybe. Maybe just pick up threads in another way: instead of commenting, simply post something eventually that relates to the original LJ entry?

[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!

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I heard the new browser (Chrome?) is hugely intelligent and keeps track of everywhere you visit ...

I don't like the way these things can look inside my head and leap to the wrong conclusions about me. But worse still is the thought they might leap to the right ones.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's nothing like incompleteness to make you reach for the fic-writing pen/keyboard. I'm sure this explains why Firefly pushed buttons that Buffy and Angel didn't.

With Saiyuki, I think it must be the huge long wait between chapters, then books. And the sparsity of the language itself. athena8 recently confirmed my suspicion that Japanese is much less wordy and far more ambiguous than English. Ack. If it weren't for the difficulty of learning two? three? new character sets, I'd be taking classes. Although there's also the laziness and lack of finances. :-)

[lyr]

Whoa. That is seriously creepy. I was thinking of getting a gmail address, but I don't think I will now.