#1193 G(man)-Mail

Recently, with the talk of the Chinese government hacking into Google and the launch of Google’s new Buzz networking service, I’ve been reading more about them on the techy websites.
Two words: Privacy Piracy.
Google got into big trouble right away when they launched Buzz as a Gmail add-on. Seems Buzz automatically went through a subscriber’s email list and added those folks to the subscriber’s network. Then made that information public.
Worse, they did this by determining whom the subscriber had most often emailed and chatted with, and assumed automatically that these folks were the person’s network, and further, assumed the subscriber would want those people to be “friends.” And want their “friends” to know who their other “friends” were, automatically.
Forget about furious emails with ex-wives, communications with your boss, and psychiatrist, and etc.
Google Google Google. You say, “do no evil” but you sure can do dumb.
Another article chastised Google for delivering ads to users’ email pages that were relevant to the last emails the user exchanged. One user had a couple of emails about iPods and Valentines and up popped an ad for a different sort of handheld electronic device.
I think they called it an iMassager.
Does anyone see the problem with this? Google is scanning my emails!
I’m okay with Google placing ads on my blog based on relevant content. I made that public on purpose.
But my emails?
My emails, and the people I email them to, are private. I don’t want anyone or anything, even an algorithm, to mess with that. It’s like Gmail is being monitored by the G-Men. And if Google’s Chinese hacking episode is any indication, it’s not much of a step from a monitoring automatic algorithm to a monitoring government spy.
Reading someone else’s regular mail is a federal offense. Why not their email?
And the ads? I get enough junkmail anyhow. What would it be like if someone at the post office was opening all your envelopes and sticking ads inside before they delivered them?
Why does it suddenly sound so slimy to say I’ve been Googled?
America, ya gotta love it.