Posted by: Chester

I don’t know much about evil, save for my wife’s uncle the Baptist minister, but if you ask me Google seems ok. I use it all the time for all sorts of really cool things and so does my wife and she certainly does not want to know bad news about Google being an evil Big Brother type of thing. She thinks I’m crazy for even considering such notions about such a charming and helpful online pal like Google …

Though it is odd how much time, energy and technology Google puts into ‘watching’ us surf and tracking our every online move. I mean why does Google need that info?

Does it help me directly find cheap+hotel+San Jose? No.

Does this behaviour help Google create a better user experience? Perhaps.

Will this behaviour create a massive data bank of millions of peoples’ personal tastes, habits and interests that can then be used for evil purposes by any number of overt and covert corporate and government entities in order that they then have an even better way of manipulating and taking advantage of our deep dark strangeness without our express consent, let alone our knowledge? Absolutely yes!

Jezuz, maybe I am scared of Google!! I mean, what’s to stop them from accumulating secret information about my weird desires and habits and then using that info (and don’t forget we are in an age where information is more powerful than guns) to sell me stuff I didn’t even know I wanted or, as Fester suggests, catch me doing things I thought were part of my own private little life plan…like hiding money in offshore accounts or surfing beastiality porn sites.

OK, Fester didn’t mention the porn thing, but you get the idea. I don’t even like being watched when I eat, let alone having goverment and/or corporation types peering into the dark depths of my own mind.

perhaps there is something to all this…can I have a show of hands please?

Chester

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Google the Good, Google the Bad, Google the Ugly.