What if Google really was.. evil?
I came across this work of fiction by Cory Doctorow. But is it really fiction? Here are some excerpts you tell me how far off the mark they are:
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.
Yeah…. and you thought your searching was anonymous. Oh and while I am at it time to pull these gems out again: Epic 2014 and “Pizza Order” (requires Flash).
“We don’t know enough about you.” —Google CEO Eric Schmidt