Who's there?
I’m feeling a little creeped out by how much someone out there in cyberspace knows about me. I’m finally starting to understand the threat of Big Brother.
At first those pop-up ads for things I might like to buy intrigued me. But I quickly realized that they were being customized by my Google searches and recent purchases. Much of the time they had it right about what I might like to buy.
Today as I was writing an email message to my piano teacher, a suggestion popped up to include another person in my message. That person also takes piano lessons from the same teacher. How could Google possibly know that? I would love to know the chain of logic that prompted the cc: suggestion, which I did not take.
I get the impression that the world has been reduced to one big database, where there are no more secrets. I’m now starting to wonder if this cyber intelligence actually knows what I am going to do before I do.
Yikes! Life was a lot simpler before the Internet made all these connections possible.
posted by Barbara at 10:48 PM
6 Comments:
This is why people should keep very private information off the Internet...
Those of us who grew up pre-computer have stronger notions regarding privacy than do kids today who put their lives on Facebook, and companies such as Google have mastered information collection and marketing...
You're not the only one wondering about Google and it's ways. I've believe they've just been brought up on antitrust charges here (they already went through it in Europe). Hm... maybe I shouldn't be typing this. They are *everywhere*... You didn't see me... I wasn't here...
It is creepy the way they track your every move. Everytime I buy something online, or even sometimes look at something it comes back to haunt me for days afterwards.
I methodically and frequently remove unwanted cookies from my computer, and it helps with the tracking and "spying" to an extent. I also use a separate e-mail address for virtually all online purchases, mailing lists, etc., and another one for my personal and professional use.
You of all people know how creeped out I am by the non-anonymity of the Internet!! :-)
My skin would have crawled if I'd gotten the pop-up you did about the other student...were you ever both cc'd on the same e-mail message?
F.
Barbara, if you use Firefox, there is an add-on called Ghostery that will block all the attempts to track you.
I'm with anon though I suspect even when we delete the tracking cookies, we're still somehow being tracked...
If one orders online or banks online it wouldn't take a hacker long to get our personal info. I think our days of anonymity are long gone.
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