[How do we know that Google and its friends aren't data mining the entire Google database -- including *ALL* private records? Google has already displayed a certain heavy-handed editorial bias which makes one wonder how open it would be to appeals for help from Mossad. For instance: rank all Google users by mentions of Mossad (including in all their supposedly private files -- Gmail and the like). No harm, no foul -- a holy cause can easily justify privacy violations.]
Sent to you by Sean McBride via Google Reader: What if Google Were Evil? Doctorow Asks in Fiction via John Battelle's Searchblog on 9/17/07 BB pal Cory Doctorow has published a short story on the theme of Google as evildoer. The opening scene imagines Google services used by the Department of Homeland Security. The interrogator in the secondary screening room was an older man, so skinny he looked like he'd been carved out of wood. His questions went a lot deeper than shrooms. "Tell me about your hobbies. Are you into model rocketry?" "What?" "Model rocketry." "No," Greg said, "No, I'm not." He sensed where this was going. The man made a note, did some clicking. "You see, I ask because I see a heavy spike in ads for rocketry supplies showing up alongside your search results and Google mail." Greg felt a spasm in his guts. "You're looking at my searches and e-mail?" He hadn't touched a keyboard in a month, but he knew what he put into that search bar was likely more revealing than what he told his shrink. "Sir, calm down, please. No, I'm not looking at your searches," the man said in a mocking whine. "That would be unconstitutional. We see only the ads that show up when you read your mail and do your searching. I have a brochure explaining it. I'll give it to you when we're through here." "But the ads don't mean anything," Greg sputtered. "I get ads for Ann Coulter ring tones whenever I get e-mail from my friend in Coulter, Iowa!" The man nodded. "I understand, sir. And that's just why I'm here talking to you. Why do you suppose model rocket ads show up so frequently?" It gets far richer from there... Things you can do from here: - Visit the original item on John Battelle's Searchblog - Subscribe to John Battelle's Searchblog using Google Reader - Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
