penkapp.com

I feel sick. I have discussed my feelings about Google before and, as of today, I bid Google farewell. Just like many other ISPs, Google has decided to ramp up its knowledge of everything we do during a browsing session and “announced a new feature for its AdSense Advertising network – Interest-Based Advertising.” Jesus…where do I start?

Firstly, as the Wired article points out, this nonsense should be opt in. Google is making us opt-out or install a plug-in if we don’t want them to “track your online moves and build a collection of ‘interests’ based on which websites you visit.” Wow. I must be clairvoyant, because not two days ago, I posted an article, entitled “Secure Your Browser: Locking Down Firefox.” I can’t stress enough how important it is to install/use add-ons like Adblock Plus and NoScript.

Secondly, many have commented that “you’re getting all this online content for FREE.” I call BS. If I get all of this online content for free, why must I pay my ISP $60/month? Oh, that’s just the bandwidth, you say? Oh goodie. So now I get to pay $60/month just so the free services I use online can track every website I visit, compile the data, maintain the data, and most-likely share all of that information with their business partners with or without my knowledge. Uh-huh…right.

This naive commenter believes it’s about how much we are “willing to pay to not see ads.” I wouldn’t mind using a free service and putting up with seeing ads. It’s not about ugly, flashing ads. What Google is now doing [to a greater extent] is tracking, harvesting, and sharing your online behavior solely for the purpose of displaying specific information that will make them money. Every website you visit will be used to build up your personal, ad-based profile, shared amongst all of Google’s affiliates and business partners. Not cool. The commenter even says:

Dry up?! You’ve gotta be pooping me. Wake up, Bob, this is Google we’re talking about. Somehow I doubt their revenue would dry up. There will always be mindless sheep like yourself who feel that your online privacy can be sacrificed for the “luxury” of using a service for free.