“Google aims to monitor whatever you type in your word processor, the things you copy to your clipboard, the position of your mouse, the content of your emails, instant messenger messages and more.” [original article below]
I found this while I was catching up on my e-mail. Everybody talks about Google these days. Heck, even the Amish are probably sick of hearing about them. Google Google Google Google. Working with computers and the ‘net, I’m almost numb to the name from media overkill. Just when I think I’m pretty much jaded to anything Google, I read something like the above quote.
Hey, you know what, Google? If labor gets cheap enough, maybe you could hire someone to follow me around every waking moment of every day. They could see me go to the post office, the supermarket, the park, and all my favorite stores. They could log what movies I go see and what I order from restaurants. If they pull up beside my car at a stoplight, they can jot down what song I’m listening to on the radio and if I lip-synch or just belt it out without caring. Then, once you know me – even though the sports magazine I bought at the newsstand was an errand for a guy at the office and I only walked into the cigar store to use the bathroom – you can start popping up uninvited every public place I go. If I leave my house door unlocked or a window accidentally open, it’s not like you’re forcing your way in, so I guess you’re welcome there too, aren’t you?
But I’m being absurd.
Why hire someone when you can do it electronically on a global scale for free?
—original article—
Axandra news archive: 11 October 2005
1. Facts of the week: The Google-Sun deal and its impact on search
Copyright Axandra.com
Web site promotion software tools.
Last week, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy announced a distribution partnership.
What did they decide?
Google’s toolbar will be bundled into downloads of the Java Runtime Environment and Sun’s Java will be used to power new software developed and released by Google.
Google might also include links to Sun software that directly competes with Microsoft software such as the Open Office suite in future updates of its toolbar.
What does this mean for search?
This is probably only the first step in Google’s and Sun’s battle against Microsoft. Google wants to win more market share on the desktop of computer users and it wants to move computer applications from the desktop to the Internet.
Google has also recently filed a new patent that indicates that Google is working on a way to constantly monitor all of your actions in order to build personalized search queries.
According to the patent specification, Google aims to monitor whatever you type in your word processor, the things you copy to your clipboard, the position of your mouse, the content of your emails, instant messenger messages and more.
If Google has access to Sun’s free Open Office suite, it might be easier to do that. By gathering as much information about you as possible, Google can offer you personalized search results and – more important to Google – personalized ads.
What does this mean to you?
It seems that many of Google’s recent “free” applications mainly serve the purpose of gathering more data about you for Google so that Google can monetize that information for targeted ads.
If you use many different Google services, you share a lot of information with Google. It’s up to you to decide if you’re willing to exchange private information for “free” software and services.
This distribution partnership is probably only the start. It’s likely that we can expect a lot more from this alliance between these two online giants.