Google knows more about you than your WIFE

With the patriot act, the government can get their hands on whatever they want. TMZ seems to always find the right person to pay off to get somebodys medical records… yeah, there is no privacy.

And that could be a good thing.

When people do something immoral thing, notice it usaally done in secret? In the dark? In a whisper?

Maybe, just maybe, if people know what is being watched, listen too, observed…people might act with a greater sense of morality.

The idea of being watched has a profound effect on behavior. Michel Foucault I’m sure would laugh at what’s happening today!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault

Which gets me to question:

What all this technology and the ability to record life on a memory stick, it makes me wonder…

…”What kind of technology does G-D have to watch over us. And is G-D always watching over us? And when our bodies cease to function, and the almighty assigns an angel to review our life…what kind of hardware is being used”

…and its probably not going to be Google OS!

Adam
ps, my site is down right now due to a hard drive crash. All my servers crashed, everything is toasted, along with backups. Hmmmm….what kind of memory backups would G-D use? Imagine its ur turn to review your life and the angel says, “Shit, not again…Well, we’ll just have to send you back to earth. Sorry about that”

I was in my gmail this morning and I saw an ad that said:

Hypergeometrical Universe – hypergeometricaluniverse.com –
Time Quantization and Fat Electron HyperSpherical Shock-Wave Universe

Now… how did Google know I was looking for one of those new-fangled Hypergeometrical universes, anyway?

Perry

The burning question is…

did you FIND the Hypergeometrical Universe, and was it as advertised !?

Well, I am pretty sure that God isn’t using Vista either.

Ya, on the one hand you have everyone worried about who knows what they are doing and all that jazz. Like you said, anything can be found out. Blows me away when someone new comes into politics and within a few hours you are seeing videos of something stupid they did 25 years ago. Where does all that come from.

As far as an O/S, the problem is that MS has always dominated that. They did some good marketing and got the early ground and became successful. The problem is that they screwed that up themselves. I am thinking if I had the market share that they have, I would put out a program that works. They haven’t managed to create reliable software since Windows 3.1 so poop on them.

Doesn’t really leave a clear outcome as this conversation has many facets.

Hi Perry,

When it comes to ownership of browsing data the piranha in the pond is Microsoft and their closed standards and monopolist practice. I spent a miserable year along with the ODF Alliance fighting that company’s monopolistic practices in Europe, and one thing that came out was Microsoft were on a mission to lock in and own our data. I am very sure they wrote the Facebook terms that caused that recent revolution.

With Google, I’d be OK with permission based traits monitoring so long as I could know where else it might go, I dis-authorise it, and would have a way to see what they say about it.

But Microsoft is the data piranha global legislators have to deal with, as they already are with some success, and they are finding that company’s monopolistic practices and ingrained culture formidable.

I gave up using google some time ago for the reasons outlined. I hated gmail and stopped using it. I have found that Bing is doing a pretty good job of search. When I compare the results of search between Google and Bing I don’t see any advantage to G and I like some of the features that B has added.

I don’t like my Vista machine, but love my XP machine. Call me a curmudgeon, but doing everything online is too slow, especially when you’re traveling.

I’m a web developer and prefer to do things on my desktop.

Aloha,
Nick

At the risk of sounding Orwellian:

The net effect is that with this deep and integrated level of tracking and recording, combined with today’s intolerant and in-your-face political climate (falsely labeled by special interests as “political correctness”) we have a society that will eventually make the McCarthy era look like a walk in the park. You can already more than feel it in the air.

The internet is a great thing for information, but it is a massive space for disinformation, and spin, and divisiveness. And it is unforgiving! Imagine the mistakes you made at age 12 preventing you from having a meaningful occupation at 50. And it’s only going to get more stifling.

However, specific to Google, you can bank on this prediction:

Eventually, Google will be broken up by anti-trust regulators. The question is only when. Their goal to know your every thought impulse will be their own downfall.

Even though I have spent vast amounts of money with them (the ‘devil’), and find some aspects of their services ‘useful’ as a consumer, I am deeply troubled by their massive contribution to the lack of privacy in our lives.

Consumers, the sheep that they are, take this all too lightly in the name of “free services” and “free software.”

If consumers would simply add the word “dumb” to the end of the word, “free” they’d see what this is all really costing them.

“Now… how did Google know I was looking for one of those new-fangled Hypergeometrical universes, anyway?”

Because you had just taken a $1 trial for the HYPO Geometrical Universe, and they were just trying to upsell you!

Rohit Sinha

PS: Google’s strategy is brilliant. By giving away products and services for free, they are “buying” bigger and bigger portions of our minds. And the more products and service they provide for free, the more individuals’ minds they are able to “buy”. And then they monetize those portions of our minds in all sorts of ways.

I Just DUMPED a 44 oz coke straight down the front of my shirt!

I was 14 and my Mom took me to a Yanni concert. It was outdoors with open grass seating. I dumped my coke all over my shirt 10 miutes before the concert started.

I was super embarrassed and wouldn’t stop talking to my mom about how all these people could see it and what they must be thinking about me.

Finally my Mom lost her cool.

“There’s 10,000 people sitting on the side of this mountain and each one of them paid $55 to come and see the guy in the spotlight play his keyboard. You think anyone of these people give a flying crap about the coke on your t-shirt?”

“They don’t even know you’re here. They only care that Yanni is here, and so do I. So, let’s just watch the show.”

I don’t get too far down the big brother road but I do have a deep suspicion that people’s fascination with big brother watching them is subconsciously linked to a much greater fear – that everybody in the world can stare at the Coke on their shirt if they want to… and nobody does, because nobody cares.

Actually it was ME looking at hypergeometrical universe stuff. Google must have found my email address in your distribution list and correlated my interests with yours.

This may be bigger than Big Brother.

Incidentally, I make my living programming Windows applications, but I have been a secret Mac fan for years. Unfortunately I have to keep all Windows machines around the shop.

Latest on Vista Version 2.0 (oh, excuse me, I meant to call it “Windows 7) is that it comes with a built-in virtual machine that allows you to run Windows XP applications seamlessly inside a pure Windows XP environment (you also get a ‘free’ Windows XP SP3 license). The ironies here are delicious beyond description. Micro$oft is forced to take two steps back in order to take one step “forward”. The market has spoken, and even Mr. Gates’ mighty machine cannot ignore the thunder.

Hi Perry ,

it s good you remind me of
these facts.

Isn t there even a copyright issue
with google having a copyright on everything
you send through googlemail …

ok I ve just heard that
I m not sure about it
but would be good to think twice.

But what I like about googlemail
is the lack of spam….

..thats absolutely convincing…

any alternatives around for that???

thanks
Frank

http://OfferMonitor.com

Cheers Perry, cheers. This is spot on.

The watch dog groups are a joke.

Why bother with Google while hundreds and hundreds of millions of people are putting their own detailed personal data (complete with their email, phone numbers and street addresses) on MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and countless other social networks for the whole world to see.

As for any potential competition to Google, I totally agree with you, it’s a no where to be found.

For PPC marketers, Facebook may be the only potential competitor that may come to take some of Google’s pie.

Like you said Perry, the Big G (Big Brother from 1984) knows just about everything about you, your neighbors, and me…

The thing is, again as you said, what Google™ has been doing, is offering people high quality alternatives to the things that they use offline, online, and for free. And, they have disclosed that they will be tracking (y)our use of their services.

I also fully agree that while the government(s), and “watch dog groups” may be a good thing, they are essentially powerless to stop Google. Besides, do the USERS of Google’s services want Google stopped?

Another example of how Google’s going to know more about us, more than our “significant others” if you will? The “New” Google Voice service… Your voice mail, transcribed.

On a final note, I’m surprised (not really, but…) at the amount of data that can be found on almost anyone, just by using Google’s search engine (for free), in combination with one or more paid services… It’s something how it really is a “Small World After All”…

Be Well!
ECS Dave of http://extracashsystems.com

Google, just like Microsoft, is looking to expand their revenue base. Both have failed miserably in almost every attempt and is dominate in their own field of endeavor.

It does appear that Google has taken the evil empire role more so lately. And they are much more invasive in their monitoring and tracking.

I doubt either can repeat their success in another venue, the lead by the originator is just too large to overcome.

Bling still sucks, Yahoo is wandering, and Google prevails. Same with Microsoft in Operating Systems and Office, when most software is written for one OS, it wins.

Mac and PC choices come down to availability of software and price. Apple has legions of adamant followers but the mainstream still goes PC due to price and choices.

Google PCs will go the same way as Google phones. Interesting but not enough to change.

The two titans will continue to lob grenades but none of them ever explode. Just another day in the neighborhood.

I’ve noticed Google turning into Big Brother for some time now.

Isn’t amazing what we’ll give up for something that is free?

Email, web browser, ANALYTICS, and much more is offered by Google and the only cost is…YOUR PRIVACY!

Note: sit back for a moment and think about how much info we give Google by voluntarily putting their analytics code on every web page we have. It’s worth it…right?

The fact that we are cheapskates drove Wal-Mart (and others) to demand lower prices from suppliers which drove those suppliers to stop producing in the USA and move production to China.

People don’t think much of that right now, but they probably didn’t think much about wanting the cheapest scrabble board…until the factory was shut down.

Don’t even get me started on medical records.

Whew, who knew I’d get worked up into such a lather.

Perry,

I agree with you. If people don’t like something that Google is doing then they should just stop using Google’s services. It’s a waste of legislator time and tax payer money to try to regulate Google’s activities. And to my knowledge Google’s never done anything bad with all the search data they collect on us. In fact,they probably use it in their algorithm to make search better for everyone. So I’m all for Google knowing what I’m doing–at least for now.

This is scary and exciting at the same time. Perry you’ve hit the nail on the head again. Not sure my wife will be too happy when I tell her there’s a lady or should I say uber freaky helpful seductive caring privacy-slaying omniscient machine that knows more about me than her. I like Google and I’m sick and tired of restartin my PC daily.

A well written rant as always.

Google isn’t the first company to know lots about you. Visa sure knows a lot, your bank knows a lot. Your doctor knows a lot. There are databases sitting everywhere with info about you.
The real risk is not that this data exists, but that this data is put to nefarious use. Google, banks, insurance companies, medical firms all have such potential and from time to time cross the line. Some gentle reminders from our friendly neighborhood government should provide some moderation so it can’t get out of hand.

BTW, I don’t think targeted marketing is nefarious use.

Perry,

There is one argument that privacy advocates miss entirely: Google OS will be open-sourced.

Now, this means that Linux geeks will be combing through the source, and modifying it as they do. They could well strip all of GOOG’s tracking mechanisms out, and release “Google OS, Privacy Version”.

My guess is(this is only a guess) that Google will attempt to subvert this by making a Google account login a requirement for use. Then, the EULA will allow GOOG to force updates to the OS that push all their tracking mechanisms back in.

This is an area that could well be a gigantic failure for Google. Linux geeks won’t run it, because they already know how to use Ubuntu (this OS gives you a great amount of control over privacy.). Window’s users will switch to MAC or stay with Windows 7 (which will be the next XP). Business users are not going to use GOOG OS to protect their trade secrets, regardless of stability or ease of use.

Even with growing Netbook usage, Google is still too late to the party. At this point, the development of such a platform is just going to be a really expensive hobby project.

Google knows their market, but I don’t think the revenue is going to be such that it even breaks even.

People are naturally suspicious of change, and even 1 or 2 national news reports on the privacy issues will have them crawling back to Ballmer and Co.

P.S. ( I loathe M$ Vista (aka Windows ME Plus) )

I think we would all be a bit better off if we would quit focusing on how we think the world should work and start trying to work with the way the world works.

I believe that at some point in the future, society will look back and identify this time era as AG – (After Google – for those who are slow on the uptake.) The toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no putting it back.

Learn to live in the world today, Google and all.

Perry as usual – a timely and relevent post with both business and personal impact! I love it when you get on a roll… can almost hear your voice! As most things there is a light and dark side. You pointed many of them out! Google brings that front and center to see. Maybe Google is “the force” Does that make Sergey – Yoda or Darth Vader?

Perry – May the Google be with you – hmmm just doesnt sound the same

Speaking of being more moral…
Why do we type “G-D” instead of “GOD”, while on the same page we type “ass” and “shit”?

Just like your wife, Google knows only what you tell it. It thinks you want a “Hypergeometrical Universe” when you really want peace and morality.

Perry – interesting article. Yeah, it’s scary what they can learn. It’s also scary what our government can do. So rather than be scared, I like the perspective of how you educate to see how to use this as an advantage.

The only problem with Google knowing more about me than my wife, I get no FRINGE BENEFITS with Google!

Chris.

I LOVE Google! Thanks to Google I am able to “work” anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. I become intrigued by a niche. I develop a digital info product on my laptop with Google Docs. I buy a domain and setup a web site. I turn on the machine and check my gmail account each morning around 10ish when I wake up and see how much $$ I made while I slept. Then, I go kayaking on the lake in front of my house that I purchased with Google Adwords income.

Thanks for a great life, Google!

Jer@HowToMakeMoneyInYourUnderwear.com

And who needs Chrome on a schmoov running MacOS?!

My windows XP has crashed three times this morning alone. Even Mac has given into windows.

(I owned the second Mac sold in Illinois. It ran Microsoft Word and Excel on 128K. What does it take to run them today?)

I can’t wait for Google or anyone else to take Microsoft OUT!

I’m with Nick Neilson on this one

You are right Perry, if you want to use google’s services then you have to agree to their terms. If you don’t agree, then go use something else. And like you mentioned, there are tons of options, but they are not very good.

It’s not fair and you don’t agree, but it’s not your company. How many people read the terms anyways, yet waive their rights to disagree by clicking anyways because they want to use google’s services? It’s not like it’s hidden by google’s secret monitoring program and you don’t have a choice. Many people can read, but live like they can’t.

Government interfering with business has historically been bad for everyone involved no matter who tells you differently.
In payment processing in Canada. Many business associations want the Government to step in and regulate the credit card processing industry more. When that happens, the consumers will lose big time and the business owners will lose.

I am a fanatic with gmail, adwords and other google products, I’d still be managing a restaurant 60hrs/wk if this technology was not available.

When I went to the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) exhibits in Chicago two years ago, over 100 exhibitors were data mining firms.

What amazed me was there are companies that have over 1,500 different data points on millions of people. They can generate a list of people with hundreds of attributes. They get their data from credit card purchases and many other ways. They can even get you a list of women who have bought size 9 shoes and are 42 years old that like pink instead of red lipstick.

Data is KING and Google is just another company that takes advantage of different methods to find out what their customers want. Just because many of their services are free, doesn’t mean we are not customers. Any good company will tell you that finding out what your customers want – not need – is the key to their success.

Ouch – its amazing how easily it is to ‘not notice’ – which sounds stupid. All our websites run Google Analytics because it’s wicked, but combined with everything from our Gmail to Adwords to search results ….. a threat to all men : )

I wonder what it makes of my Gmail account for subscribing to every email list under the sun?!

Microsoft has arrangments with all the PC manufacturers to put Windows on them as the OS. This is makes Microsoft number one. Many people don’t want to be bothered with changing out the OS. As long as it’s relative stable, they be happy with what they have.

After all Linux has been available for free for years now. How many hits do you see in your website stats from Linux systems?

Plus the fact that so many people have and will continue to have Windows OS make a difference as well. People will want the same OS the office has, or the school has, or their neighboors have. They be happy with what they are used to. People are resistant to change when it comes to their computer.

Everyone here Knows that it takes some time to get a winner.
Some day,maybe sooner than we think,someone will have a better product then google.then people will hate google like they hate MS.
The reason google is big is simple:
No one is better then them.Yet…
Thats the way of the internet.
Mark my words.

Regarding the notion that loss of privacy is a good thing:

This is a version of the, “I don’t have anything to hide” arguement.

I would agree if loss of privacy only impacted unlawful behaviour. However, history is replete with examples of how people are stigmatized, discriminated against, harassed, or directly attacked just for being different. Or targeted just because they have something other people want.

This notion that privacy is only important to lawbreakers is one of the most dangerous ideas to take hold in recent times. The fact is that privacy is the only thing giving me and you freedom from all types of social pressures to conform, even if the social pressure is only your kids being picked on at school because they are different. If being black would have been an issue of privacy, say like being gay, there would have been a lot fewer lynchings.

Privacy is important because humans are a suspicious, unforgiving, unmerciful, intolerant, narrow minded, greedy bunch. Not all of them. Maybe not even most of them. But there are enough of them in every town, city, and neighborhood, in my neighborhood, that I don’t want anyone knowing too much about my private life.

And then there are the do-gooders!

Privacy is the only thing keeping you and me free. Free of misery by a thousand little social cuts. Free from all the small harassments that destroy your quality of life and drive you out of a community.

Privacy is what makes it possible for you to be you when being you is socially unacceptable.

Hello,
I find it a little alarming when I do a search and google displays what is already on my computer related to my search. But on the bright side, it is a trade-off for free use of their services.

There’s a Google version of everything. They have more stuff than most people realize. Including an affiliate network I just found like last week that’s been there for like a year or more from what I gather.

Did you know Google has a free 411 number? 1-800-goog-411

It’s free, with no advertising, and connects you to the number without you having to dial a thing or even say “yes”.

Soon there will be Google Hosting (if there isn’t already), and not only will they have the biggest index of websites, they’ll actually host them too…

Google Lively will eventually catch up to Google Earth, and then Advertising will go to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. (And so will the amount of information Google knows about everyone)

It won’t be long before they OWN the internet…They basically control it anyway now.

Very interesting post Perry! Thanks!

Hmm, the satirical presentation just seems to be repeating the same points over and over again. I think the main, and potentially valid, point being that Google stated in 2008 that it had no interest in “behavioral advertising”.

My take:

1. Privacy: I think this is something that people think they want but don’t realize that they don’t actually have any. Personally, I don’t value my privacy at all. There is no difference between what I do in a day with nobody watching and a million people watching. It doesn’t affect me in the slightest. I believe that the only reason people want privacy is so they can do something unethical and know they can get away with it (an extreme point-of-view, I know).

People don’t know what they want: they are paranoid about their “privacy” but they are frustrated when the bank won’t give them certain account information over the phone due to privacy laws.

I myself have made a point of making my life as public as possible. A Google search of me can reveal my phone number, address, photos, and business dealings.

2. Google-as-Big-Brother: I prefer that Google collects information about me. I would rather have Google collecting my information than any of the world’s governments. Here’s the difference: Google actually has an interest in serving you, the government doesn’t. Also, Google gives you a choice in using its services, the government doesn’t. I agree with you Perry, if you don’t want Google collecting information on you, don’t use Google! I also find it entertaining that people feel entitled to use Google’s, and all of the internet’s services, for free. What gives?

3. Google is allowed to change its mind. Yes, they are.

There are a host of Google services that I don’t use and will probably will not use in the future. That is my choice to opt out. I also don’t think that Google will be the dominant player forever. If the (brief) history of internet companies can show us anything, we know that new companies can pop up overnight and change everything within a year or two.

As an advertisor, I think its great. As a human being who is quite concerned over loss of power and privacy, I dislike it very much.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Where might personal information eventually go and for what purpose?

Google is certainly not alone in monitoring our activities. I was recently accused of criminal activity by the Holier-Than-Anybody “Business Software Alliance”. They reported me to the FBI and sent a threatening notice to my ISP strongly urging them to cut off my Internet service because their monitoring indicated I must be guilty of software theft and piracy.

What did I do?

I needed to reinstall Windows XP Pro on a computer that I bought from IBM in 2001. I no longer had the original Windows XP CD, but I own a license key and have the Microsoft proof of ownership certificate. I decided that the fastest way for me to get a replacement CD was to use BitTorrent to download an ISO image. I found one within a few minutes of searching, downloaded it and burned my CD. An hour later I had my fully licensed IBM computer running again. The CD image I downloaded was impossible to use without a license key (yes, I know there are fakes, but I had no intention of using anything but my own which was bought and paid for).

Now, I called everyone and had no trouble defending myself THIS time (except that the accusation remains in a file somewhere, making me suspect in the future) but this experience serves as an example. Don’t imagine that it is impossible in the near future for storm troopers to preemptively crash through your door and confiscate your equipment and your data because of such irresponsible monitoring and accusations by misbegotten supposed do-gooders.

Giving up on privacy Perry is giving up on a basic human right.

I think google is scary and I hope Bing improves and takes market share.

I want Google to be broken up and regulated. I resent them spying on my house – they are way more sinister than any secret service in the world and it is time that we put some limits on this vast advertising agency.

For that reason I do not use gmail, google reader, google docs etc.

I want diversity and openness and Google and Microsoft don’t seem all that different to me.

Google simply has very good PR.

Perry,

My views on this subject have been challenged and intrigued by the posts here.

Can you give us your take on how data collection advertising may evolve in relation to targeted adwords testing. Is there something truly revolutionary coming?

Minus the doomsday concerns about technology, what do you see as the probable future for this stuff? Are we headed somewhere fundamentally different than “People who bought this also liked this”?

I have my doubts.

Some more of my thoughts:

As scared as Google data collection makes people from a privacy angle,to me the more likely outcome is just a more ubiquitous form of “People who bought this also liked this.”

At best it’s helpful and convenient. At worst, it’s useless and ignored. But why isn’t it revolutionary?

I think it’s because 1′s and 0′s aren’t revolutionary. It’s only the creation and interpretation of their patterns that are.. and both of those require intelligent hard work. Darn It. Two things BTW that large corporations aren’t exactly known for.

Even the most brilliant algorithm will fly off the handle if nobody’s behind the wheel. Very pressing case in point about risk management and economic downturn here:

“The equation that killed your 401K”
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=3

In the linked article, the watchdog group asks:

“4. Is Google’s behavioral advertising really about delivering more interesting ads or is it about expanding its data collection and targeting activities?”

Why the heck would Google want to collect data that they’re not going to monetize? This is the “Coke on My Shirt” concern I posted earlier in it’s direct form. Sorry to tell you but Google doesn’t care what you do. They care what markets do.

They’re algorithms aren’t looking for grains of sand. They’re looking for waves and migrations.

But, perhaps I’m missing an angle here. Is the concern that the search data will be linked to my name and address and shouted form the roof tops? Or is that the resulting targeted advertising will be offensive or intrusive?

Because neither of those concerns are unique to what google is doing. Like you said, privacy was dead 15 years ago, but tact is not. Generally speaking most companies still provide a plain brown bag to hide whatever you’re ashamed of buying.

The market has it’s own built in deterrents to tyranny. It’s commerce, and the crowd will go somewhere else. Like my first sales manager told me, “Put the carrots where you want the rabbits to run.”

Orwell said:

“My recent novel [Nineteen Eighty-Four] is NOT intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party (of which I am a supporter) but as a show-up of the perversions … which have already been partly realized in Communism and Fascism. …The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.”

Of course, english speaking races are not innately better than anyone else, but there is a reason that western society operates successfully on a very fragile shell of capitalism and democracy. I don’t think the answer is fighting against totalitarianism – or at least that shouldn’t be the focus.

I think it’s fixed squarely on valuing education and opportunity – and the often left out point of marketing that education and opportunity to the masses.

Just because something is being sold to a crowd doesn’t make it propaganda.

I’m not downplaying the force of an entrenched tyrannical government. But, it should be noted that the entrenching power comes along to fill the void of people’s belief in opportunity and education. It doesn’t come to power through technology.

What stops me from joining a drug cartel and kidnapping my neighbors? The fear of going to jail? My race? My religion? Patriotism?

Any of those answers could be it for me as an individual, but for a society (market) – it’s simply because there are better options.

More specifically, better options combined with effective marketing. Marketing done through the social constructions of family heritage, societal role definitions, gatherings, speeches, curriculum, blog posts, entrepreneurial seminars, and autoresponders.

The real “Big Brother” is not the progression of technology. It’s the vacuum created by the disintegration of quality marketing that sells education and opportunity.

Way too long as usual, but those are my thoughts.

thanks for the forum to read and post insights and questions.

Nick

What happened to Joe the Plumber recently is a prime example that privacy is dead. His personal information was used to try and discredit him, and it literally happened overnight.

Technology is a double edged sword, indeed.

Paul

Eat Well. Live Well.
PurpleGreenPops.com

On June 3, 2005 Google CEO Eric Schmidt made this statement on the Charlie Rose show:

Search is a force for peace and a better world.
Google will reveal how everybody lives and thinks
and speaks and looks and that is beneficial to world peace.
Societies get along better when they know/see/hear more about each other.

Welcome to the hive mind.

Regarding the above quote, in their 2008 SEC filings it was revealed that Google spent $425,000.00 on Schmidts personal security, so I guess it only applies to the rest of us.

While it may be impossible to prevent tracking, it is possible to obfuscate the results and make your profile unreliable. For instance, for private searches use http://www.scroogle.org/scraper.html. They act as a proxy between you and Google. No cookies, no geo location, no data retained.

When using Google for business research there are free high speed proxies such as UltraSurf and Hotspot Shield.

Again, you can’t really stop all tracking but you can make the data unreliable.

there’s this “internet is dangerous MEME” that gets a lot of press since it appeals to the conspiracy theorist in everyone!

i think this is BS actually.

what does google really know? where you are and what sites yo’re clicking on? so what?? who cares really? they are serving up more relevant ads which is a better customer experience.

if you’re really worried about it, don’t use your name in your account.

but all this “they know all this stuff about me…” is a bit of nonsense. at best they know your name, city, state.

All we need is a well publicized event where security is compromised on a Google server somewhere in their HUGE network of servers – and personal information gets leaked. Then there will be a massive outcry for reform, and Google will listen not because of the government, but because of their customers! Such an event is bound to happen one day.

I’m imagining two men with high-powered rifles.

The first man lives in the open country. The land is unpopulated, untamed, unregulated. He uses his rifle to hunt game, and he’s good at it. His family always has enough to eat.
This man’s name is Google.

The second man lives in the city. There’s tall buildings, cars, people everywhere. No one really knows what this man is hunting after, but he fires his rifle haphazardly, and sometimes he misses wildly. But he’s been around so long, no one does much about it.
This man’s name is Microsoft.

We have no reason to fear Google, because we know what game they hunt: advertising. Like a good hunter, they’re watching the trends and thinking two steps ahead of the game.
(They could make themselves even less scary by allowing easier methods to opt out — like easier ways to get your google docs back, and easier ways to dump your gmail.)

We have lots of reasons to fear Microsoft, because even they have forgotten where their target is. They’re firing blindly, hoping to hit something that will make them enough money to keep afloat for another decade.

Forget the technology the Most High has; I’d like to know how He created us and put us on autopilot to have guy like Google, create watchdogs. I’d like to know that.

One more thing on the sense of entitlement Perry spoke of.

It reminds me of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged”, where the most successful businessmen are constantly hemmed in by new restrictive laws which intentionally cut into their profit for the “public good”.
People screamed for these mens’ products at the same time as they made every effort to make their production impossible.

Forget “1984″; Google doesn’t care about controlling us. Ayn Rand’s dystopia is already upon us, and THAT should scare every entrepreneur a lot more than an imagined Orwellian society.

People are concerned about privacy? Really?
If they are, how do they explain the popularity of Facebook, and Twitter? Twitter’s mission is to ask people that volunteer to participate…”What are you doing?”

What am I doing? I am doing what I want to do…and what that is, is my business! Not only that, I don’t understand why you’d want to know what I’m doing. And I don’t think you do care what I’m doing…you just want to tell me what you’re doing — whether I care or not.

I don’t tweet. I don’t bare my soul on Facebook. That’s what I can do to protect my privacy. And you can do the same thing if you want to protect your privacy. If not …tweet and bare to your heart’s content — but don’t pretend to be concerned about privacy.

Do I worry that Google knows too much about me. Not much. I think Google is too smart to use that information against me. What’s in it for them?

Now…if Microsoft had all that information about me, I’d be very worried!

Perry you are one smart dude, but on this issue you are worrying about nothing.

You could take these same recent articles and posts, backdate them 10 or 15 years and change the ‘villain’ to Microsoft…. Because that was what the public dialogue was about then.

EVERY SINGLE prediction was that Microsoft would rule the world! They would take over television (remember that?)… they would own all forms of communication. They would be the primary producer of phone system software.MSN would kill all other internet providers.

You name the technology, MS would be in it and drive all other competitors out. All the talk was about, “Does Microsoft need to be broken up?” Do we need a Chinese wall between their OS division and the Application division?

Did it happen? NO. They remained dominant in their core products (OS and Office suites)as they had been for many years. In all other markets they are a loser (MSN, etc)

Google will meet a similar fate. just give it time.

Thanks you, Perry, for vital information. You jor somebody told me about google tracking two years ago and I have put up with yahoo search ever since. google is far better–and its there if I need it. If they get jonly SOME of my searches, then they don’t know as much about me as they’d like to.
I want to try Linux and OpenOffice on one of those little netbooks, and see if I can get away from Microsoft as well. Gates just worships spying and BigGuv and gives them everything he can, so if I can escape from him I will.
The “market” is based on what people know. Nobody would put up with google’s competitors if they didn’t know about the privacy violations, so you do a major service every time you warn us.
Thank you, everybody who switches. You jgive financial strength to competitors, imporving their chances.

I agree with Nick Neilson’s mom… nobody gives a shit, and the government can’t even stop the biggest con man in the history of the world who took investors’ money and never made a single trade, even after they were handed warnings with evidence multiple times. Sure, there’s danger in aggregating information – but since the Internet and Google, I see the free flow of information as more dangerous to tyrants than to freedom loving people. Google will run into the same problems Microsoft had with anti-trust lawsuits and competition from new companies and new technologies. But overall, they have added tremendous value so far, and so did Microsoft.

Hello Jack

Well said and nicely put.

Best wishes

Ian Pritchard

http://www.pritchard-heating.co.uk

Bugger; no point me complaining about privacy violations.

I can’t even remember that I don’t have to fill in EVERY field on the comment form.

I blame the marketers.

I’m using more and more Google tools and less and less Microsoft tools. I switched to Mac two years ago for most of my computing-while maintaining an XP PC.

I don’t believe unconditionally in a free market finding its own way to nirvana (i.e. the $55 Trillion worth of bets that have scrambled this economy) but the government is so far behind the technology curve… Let them go at it and we can hope we as consumers win as well. Gosh know that the monopoly system for cable TV and phone companies have done nothing to enhance the consumer. Now the kid in Iran can send video to the world on his cell phone easier than I can in the US.

I don’t care if they know everything there is to know about me and my use of computing… as long as Bert the Burglar and Ian the ID stealer don’t know. Develop tools that help me and I’ll use them.

There has been little privacy for sometime now. Even 40 years ago, a satellite could read a cars license plate. Now there are so many surveillance cameras to catch everyone from card counters to shoplifters to speeders that you cannot help but be traceable no matter where you go. (Even IF you decided not to use your cell phone.)

Now that Google has Hadoop, they are pretty much invincible. They know what you want, when you want it, how you like it, where you want it and who you like sharing it with. (They may even know WHY you like it!)

Nostradamus anyone? He calls the third ‘anti-Christ’ ‘Ali’ using the rules of anagram (change add or remove one letter). Most of the ‘conspiracy theory’ guys claim that means he will be Middle Eastern. (Nostradamus does say ‘he’ will be born in the ‘land of the eagle in a city a mile above the Earth’ (Denver?). Anyway, remove one letter, the ‘l’ and you are left with AI or Artificial Intelligence. Who really knows whose in charge at Google. Ever since Hadoop went on line, the ‘boss’ might not be human. Lol.

The Chrome OP SYS is based off of an Ubantu OS. My understanding is that it makes use of Hadoop computing. (Also known as ‘cloud computing’.)

In any case, eventually the technology would get good enough that someone would know every little detail in our lives; I’m just glad it turned out to be Google. It could have been someone far worse. (Assuming of course that when they turned Hadoop on, ‘it’ did not become self-aware.;))

Perry,

Despite what Dan said for years in his Magnetic Marketing speech and what you just said now, privacy in America is NOT dead… it’s just “difficult” and “inconvenient”

It’s also a pretty loyal market too. My new website deals a lot with the real meat of privacy issues as well as a ton of other “legal” type of topics. And I sell a couple products that help with this too. Damn good ones, I might add

So no, people DO care about privacy… maybe just not our circle of marketing buddies. We’re used to having our info spread all around because that’s how people find us to do business and how we track customers for marketing. But “out there”, there are wealthy people and backwoods types alike who want to hide and for good reason.

Frankly I think Google is trying to bite-off more than it can chew.

The ramifications of this could screw-up the entire internet. Because if Google fails who is there to pick-up the slack? Bing?

What is the internet without Google’s search engine? The wild, wild, west. An incomprehensible heap of webpages.

Google should focus on what they do best. Which is PPC. And stop trying to re-invent the wheel.

PPC is footing the bill for all of these megalomaniac ideas coming out of God knows where.

Google has the goose that laid the golden eggs I just hope they don’t kill it too.

I agree with Dr Howell on that point too. Google is financing a bunch of B.S. projects with PPC money and being billed as “visionary” by people who don’t really understand where the cash is coming from and why.

WOW Perry,

Reading your comments and all the comments on
your comments is the most fun I’ve had in a long
time. I think your all right. How long has it taken for all “that” to come about?

AND What’s next? When I was in high school There
were no hand-held calculators. Now look what you
can hold in your hand, seems like G-D is not the
only ONE with “the whole world’.

Keep it up. What an education gratis.

google’s not putting a gun on your head to use them, if u hate them why use them?
BS

It’s interesting how Google has all this power while at the same time depends completely on just 1 thing: Their Search Engine.

All that has to happen is for Google to lose search market share and they´ll go broke.

People don’t use Google search because of all their great services like Gmail, Maps, Docs, etc. They use Google search because it’s the most attractive and rewarding way to search the internet.

As soon something comes along that’s a more attractive and rewarding way to search the internet, they´re going to lose search market share. (And that’s where they make their money.)

Search is not like an operating system that people get so used to that they don’t want to change. It’s just a website where you can do a search.

It amazes me how some (smart even) people don’t want to change to Google Chrome browser. Chrome starts up instantly (even on slow pc’s) while I.E. takes 10′s of seconds before you´re even allowed to click somewhere. Yet they stick to what they know.

A search engine does not have this behavioral need so strongly.

Even Linux tries to look like Windows as much as possible and it still has a small market share. And Linux is for FREE!

All the opensource software in the world can’t beat Microsoft. And Google knows this.

However, Larry Page said recently: “I wanted the operating system to kind of be out of the way”. In other words, he doesn’t want people to be aware of who’s running their computers.

If they can manage that they will reduce the financial power behind Microsoft, but that still doesn’t reduce Google’s risk of losing search market share.

Google will, sooner or later, be hit by competition and when that happens, we will see how free Google services really are.

Perry, you put together a real nice piece.

Network computing can and likely will get real “Big Brother.” Creating services that can cloak members from this invasion of privacy will be huge. Maybe even the next Google like “thing” to take the web by storm.

Application Service Providers are going to also be the next big wave on the web. This is not even in infancy, more like the gestation period right now. Fortune 500 companies spend millions of dollars on internal webapps for scheduling, ERP, CRM, AP/AR, Training Management, HR, you name it. They have their own IT staffs and can better leverage these assets for competetive advantage over small and midsize companies. The proliferation of ASP’s on the web is going to be a gamechanger.

Mobile computing is in its infancy. We have yet to really tap into this market. Today there is but a small blur between our business lives and out personal lives. This will gone completely within the next few years. Most mobile apps are proprietary even though there is good open source technologies that can be used to deliver to this space. This is an exciting marketplace to contemplate!

These are mostly exciting and sometimes frightening times we live in. There is enormous market potential in the three areas I mention.

PS – I disagree with you that Windows sucks. And, windows has far more high quality free software available than the Mac. Just go to snapfiles.com. But, an OS like Windows, Linux, or OS is nothing more than a means to an end and elongated debates about which is better seldom bear fruit. It is the carpenter that is more important than the saw. An operating system is nothing more than a saw.

Nick Neilson wondered what the next revolutionary ‘thing’ may be? I believe it is another up and coming launch by Google (again open source).

It is called Google Wave and has the potential of heavily changing how people currently communicate and interact. Email/Chat/Blogs/Forums/Etc – it is a game changer in my opinion.

Here is the video, well worth investing the 80 minutes to watch it in my opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

In terms of privacy, I’d trust Google with my data over our (UK) government who seem to leave it lying around in skips, on trains and in randomly lost briefcases.

I can also see why Google wants all the data – to make money – whereas I can’t see why the government needs a lot of the data it either gathers already or intends to gather in the future.

Knowing Google just want my data to make money off me is strangely reassuring.

Another difference with Google is that you have a choice: if you don’t like Google tracking everything, don’t use them. If enough people do that they’ll get the message and change, otherwise they can only assume people are happy with things.

Governments often don’t give us a choice or an opt-out and, furthermore, the power endowed to governments makes them far more dangerous if they were to misuse our data.

We must remember that the stable Western democracies we currently have won’t last forever – if there’s one thing history teaches us it’s that governments change, wars happen, superpowers rise and fall and the world’s political spectrum changes.

Imagine an evil, repressive, despotic and possibly racist government with CCTV on every street corner, satellites that can recognize faces from space, constant snooping and tracking, explicit data on everyone and DNA samples to reveal who knows what about people.

It’s governments I worry about, not Google.

Best analogy ever. What’s worse: that people want to know what you’re doing or that they don’t give a damn?

But it does go back to choices as Perry points out. We don’t HAVE to use Google. We just feel betrayed because we thought we’d get to use all their free stuff forever.

I don’t really see what the big deal is anyway. If anyone is motivated enough to find out anything about you or your boring day to day life they’ll can do it without Google. Most people put enough stuff on their Myspace or Facebook for the whole world to see through their whole life. I don’t even want to mention Twitter. How’s that for the ultimate tracking device?

It’s interesting to notice that Google’s services are considered “free” while the government’s services aren’t considered “free”. But everybody is using many more services provided by the government than services provided by Google.

Also the government services are considered “crappy” usually, while that in countries like the usa is not true.

And yes we can choose to use Google, but don’t we choose governments too?

You can even choose not to use government services. Just go live in the middle of nowhere where there is no civilization.

There is a lot of talk about google knowing too much. But what about your cellphone carrier?

Your cellphone carrier knows:
* where you are
* who you talked to
* content of voicemail
* all web-traffic from your phone
* content of text messages
* your name, address, and phone number
* and, they retain these records forever.

Google, by contrast, knows nothing personal about you unless you “login”. If you don’t want them to know anything, don’t login. And, Google has a data retention policy of only 9 months.

Why are we worried about Google and not AT&T?

It is mind boggling how much information we all willingly post on myspace, twitter, facebook. Every “fun” facebook survey I take can show one more aspect of my personality. What Google collects on each of us isn’t nearly as interesting as what we volunteer on facebook! Data collection, data collection. In the hands of a totalitarian regime… well scary stuff indeed.

perry-
OMG. i just checked out hypergeometricaluniverse.com
that is hard core science stuff!
I couldn’t read more than 3 sentences without getting a headache.
adam

I doubt Google has a book, or even a page, on my individual search behavior, rather they group the billions of searches into patterns that they use to strengthen the search experience for us all. Because of that I am not really concerned about the “big brother” issue.
I do agree with you though Perry that the politicians have their head up their asses. Heck they could have saved the 18 million they spent on the “what we did with the stimulus money” website and put a picture on the web of a toilet. Maybe with a virtual flush.

We’ve been operating without “data privacy” for decades. We opt in (agreeing to let our data be captured) whenever we buy—online and off. Many of us ask our own customers to do the same, to our benefit.

We will exchange personal data for the Privilege of access, because we recognize the awesome power housed in Google’s servers. The “alternatives” don’t even bear thinking about.

Perry, you are so right. And as usual, seeing both sides clearly. Rock On.

I recently came across a marketing intrusion I did not like.

I signed up for a very well known marketer’s product… went through their butterfly OTO sequence… and at the point, the sequence goes to “refer friends” email contacts, but rather than asking, their software apparently searched my mail inbox to automatically display my highest Alexa ranked email contacts.

I think such intrusion should be illegal.

Cheers!
Jim

Ahhh Yeah!

Just wait until the next RECESSION and Google is so big that it starts to faulter – just like GM has. Who ever thought GM would stumble?

What happens next? The government buys 61% and then you truly do have

BIG BROTHER !

Scary stuff….

@ Gerry,

Well, actually, *I* thought GM would struggle. Along with most of the U.S. auto industry. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the world-wide auto industry take a HUGE hit.

Why?

1. The price of cars relative to the amount of income has skyrocketed. 2. For the privilege of taking more and more of your hard-earned money, most of the auto industry pushes product that their customers don’t want. Sure, there’s a few seductive gems out there. A few gotta-haves. But take a good look at most of the inventory that the auto makers push. It’s crap. The auto industry knows it. And they’ve been living in some alternate reality thinking they could profit from it for years.

That ship has been sinking for a VERY long time.

First reaction to this thread . . .

Boy, I wish I was working on a “privacy/security” product right now.

. . . Amazing grist for the copywriting mill here.

seems you used the word ass a lot.

excellent writing. I prefer your words without the curse factor

Perry,

I’m less concerned with Google knowing all that information than with the other people who might want access. A few million quid to the right insider could get the scoop on an executive at a large company or someone else in a position of power that could be controlled. And the insider wouldn’t even know (or care?) that he was providing blackmail or corporate takeover or stock manipulation information to Bin Laden or Madoff or some other sleazy character.

Even my 7 year old daughter believes Google is the all knowing. It came as a total shock to me.

We were driving home from the lake and she asked me the same question I asked my mom and dad at her age. “Dad, if God made us, then who made him?”

She was obviously unsatisfied with my answer that God has always existed and even though we can’t understand it, he is the Ultimate Creator and did not have to be created by anyone or anything.

After a few minutes of silence she said, “Dad, that don’t sound right. I’m going to ask Google and see if they know.”

Needless to say, I was shocked by her response! But when we got home I helped her Google “who made God for kids” and she was able to find the information she wanted in terms that she could understand.

Google is amazing!

The next Google is out there being born by some very smart undergrads. Don’t believe me who would have thunk Google would replace Yahoo and bring MSN to its knees forcing them to change their search engine name.

Gates and Ballmer are no longer entrepenuers, Microsoft is just another lethargic and lazy Fortune 500 company.

So far Google keeps learning and bringing better experiences to the table for the end user (us).

When they don’t as you have said in the past, someone else will eat their lunch.

Great post!

Oh dear.
Google vs. Microsoft.

And I’m spending 2 days in a Microsoft Office learning business

Here’s the simple truth.

Privacy: Worry about it because you cannot actually conceive of all the uses your information can be put to. Nor all the people who might be able to access it. INCLUDING your, or foreign governments.

Google is doing ??? You don’t know.
Microsoft is doing ??? You don’t know.

In fact, Microsoft doesn’t know.
I learnt 2 interesting things about Microsoft today.

1. Every year, Microsoft redefines its objectives in the light of the current trends and its previous successes and failures. It can completely change objectives in 12 months.

2. Microsoft is not a business, Microsoft is a market.

The top levels of Microsoft define their objectives.
The next level use those to produce their KPIs

Everyone else? Is basically a vendor. They are run by “program managers”. The 2nd level management pick programs to meet their KPIs.

More picks = more funds.
No picks = goodbye.

The guy running the course worked for Microsoft for 6 years before he could figure that out. He’s a vendor. Training is not core business. Only core business has permanent staff. If you’re not permanent staff, you don’t find out much of anything.

Now, if a guy specialising in organisational training can work thre for 6 years and not understand what’s going on. How the hell can any of us assume that we know from the outside.

The same applies to Google.

Perry – I’m impressed =) I actually do think my wife knows me better than Big-G does – ofcourse I’ve seen adwords commercials pop up, when I least suspected it – not embarrassingly so yet either =) I think matters would be worse (much) if suddenly the security cams of UK or microphones at every junction along with the cams and all hooked up to big-G, then it would really be 84′ all over.
Only thing missing then is big-G becoming self aware =)
The future seems challenging…
Best, PeterPC
http://pcbix.dk

Google and Mac are built on an open source, decades old (and proven) operating system – Linux. MS is proprietary thus the difference in performance.

What is the difference between MS/Bing and Goggle/Ops? Do you really think that MS doesn’t know everything on your computer? Not just your email and your surfing habits? Any hacker worth their salt can get into your Outlook folders and wander around on your MS based computer. And of course so can MS.

As you pointed out so clearly, there are alternatives to every single one of Google’s offers. To expect the government to stop anything is ridiculous – if anything they’re probably trying to get Google to give them the info that can be collected.

In an internet based society we trade information about ourselves for convenience on a constant basis, either willingly posting it on social sites or allowing it to be collected through cookies and other means. We’ve been doing it for years, so I don’t understand the noise now. It’s not a monopoly, Google doesn’t come pre-installed with every PC. You have other choices, and every single one of those choices tracks your habits, can get at your email and knows about you than you ever believed.

Here’s something to scare yourself even more. In the July/August 2008 issue, The Atlantic published an article about Google, in which they reported the following:

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected directly to our brains.

“The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people – or smarter,” Page said in a speech a few years back. “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.

In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, “Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.”

And an eerie and disturbing article entitled “We Are the Web” (WIRED Magazine, Issue 13.08, August 2005) echoes that thought:

What will most surprise us is how dependent we will be on what the Machine knows – about us and about what we want to know. We already find it easier to Google something a second or third time rather than remember it ourselves.

The more we teach this megacomputer, the more it will assume responsibility for our knowing. It will become our memory. Then it will become our identity. In 2015 many people, when divorced from the Machine, won’t feel like themselves – as if they’d had a lobotomy.

Hey Perry,

I keep it short and cynical: “Only the stupid ones need regulations.” And being in the “regulation business” is a comfy home for another special breed of folks.

I don’t want to offend anyone, but getting more common sense into peoples’ heads by — like pimping the education system — would prove to be more useful short term and especially long term than trying to regulate each and every fun out of life.

Same story in Europe. E.g. discussions in Germany about requiring an opt-in process before any attempt to store a cookie on a surfer’s computer. … etc. etc.

And you brought the other major point home very nicely, “Everything has to be free of course.”

Speaking of …, “I think your AdWords course, Perry, is too good, you should have to give it away for free.”

Yours
John

Google’s culture has a lot of room for creativity and innovation, and that’s one reason I believe it can maintain its preeminent position for a very long time.

Compared to microsoft or for that matter any other company, Its anyday better to pay employees to innovate and create products that matches or exceeds anything that your competition can throw up.
Its a win Win situation for google and its employees.

Its called the smart way to make money !

It’s already started: http://wave.google.com/ There is no escape, run though thy might.
~Mark

I read this thread a long time ago, but didn’t remember it until just now when I posted this on my blog:
http://www.danielwatrous.com/technology/creepy-google-stalker-interest-based-advertising

The “do no evil” mantra is wearing a bit thin and it really is freaky the amount of information Google keeps about us.

If you´re subscribed to Perry’s newsletter, you’ll be surprised how much he knows about you!

Every time you open one of his emails, he, or better said: his system, knows. Every link you click, the system knows. And based on that, the system decides what email(s) to send you next.

It’s not a bad thing. You signed up for it so you gave permission. And it’s the reason why you receive the right emails at the time that you´re most interested.

Very cool actually.

I’m facinated with your article… then again it’s a sign of the situation that exists within the ether that is the internet. The internet is a living and breathing organism with thoughts emotions, and feelings put on display for the rest of the world. On the outside managing the ether are the big boys looking to take advantage of the sheep of their gathering. Google no doubt is an intelligent company that saw a big opportunity to capitalize on the internet ether. Google is certainly the brains and brawn behind much of the revenue capitalization and well… I completely understand that. Do I like it? No.

“Do no Evil”
In a capitalistic society where profits go above common sense and governing laws around privacy the, “we are good” mantra is a farse.

Where does it end?
I like the idea of marketing, I like the idea of getting good insight on things I may possibly consume. Do I want to be bombarded with it? No. With Google do I have a choice in who gets my information? No. This is my problem in the matter.

You get what you pay for
I see Google and their attempt at software and hardware as a way to dragnet more information about your life. Free is not free when you are paying for it in giving up more information about you. This is the lie that we are told and like most consumer sheep who are intrigued by that special word “free” really need to realize that nothing in life is truly free except L-O-V-E.

I’m a PC, I’m a Mac, Google Rocks
The messages are all there – you are what you use. You have to use that – you need to use that – your opinion is not worthwhile if you do not attach yourself to a product or service. We live in the Logo/Slogan world now days. We do not know when the logo ends and our own personal world begins.

Google vs. Microsoft
Microsoft is a confirmed monopoly. Google is an unconfirmed monopoly. I do know that I pay cash out of my pocket to Microsoft for a product and they in exchange give me something… whether it’s broken or works great is not of my point… the fact is we make an exchange and the offering is over. As we move more into a service oriented model I believe we’ll see more and more individuals pursuing the “free” and quickly come to understand that Google/Microsoft or whoever knows more about you than your wife and because they have reached their market saturation they are now charging you for it.