I know this has been going on for a while, but today was the first day I really noticed it.  Not sure why really, but I did.

I have a Gmail account.  Yes, I also have a Hotmail account.  It’s hard to get through life with only a couple of email addresses I have come to find out! ;-)  I digress.

I was reading an email today in Gmail, and over on the right side of the page is a list of Sponsored Links that mapped directly to the things we were talking about in the email.  I wasn’t interested – I am an advertisers worst nightmare since I almost never click a link or remember a TV spot.  But the idea that Google is reading my email to figure out what to advertise to me was just creepy.

The content and the adds were nothing important, but what if I was discussing personal things.  Sure, Google is taking all the necessary steps to protect my privacy, but that is now.  Phone calls used to be safe, but it is trivially for the government to get access to them now.  Google has buckled to other foreign governments (most notably China) that, to me anyway, seem to be contrary to Google’s much publicized corporate ethos.  So clearly capitulation can happen given the right set of circumstances and the right amount of money.  Google is by no means the only company that fits this bill, I am just using them as the an example.

There is a lot of hoopla over privacy in the context of privacy from the government (which is absolutely important in many areas) but I have always been surprised at how little people seem to care that there are a handful of companies that are collecting as much if not more personal information about you than the government does.  And in some cases, it is not even close.

The times we live in I guess.