On November 2, 2004 11:03, Jeffrey Clement wrote: > Again I fail to see why Googles use of machine's to target ads to you based > on your e-mail content is any more of an invasion of privacy than blocking > messages that look like spam or providing server-side filtering of any > sort. Yes a computer is reading your mail but that is pretty much a given > regardless of which mail provider you are using.
this major is difference is that they collate, collect and then store this data. spam scanning is usually done by a single-pass daemon that spot checks for certain characteristics of the email, including in the headers, but which doesn't corelate content to deliverer or store the content it scans in a searchable repository. moreover, spam filters tend to be oblivious to who the mail is for, whilst ad-targeting takes identity into consideration as a core component of their task. these sorts of things makes these two actions fundamentally different. don't get me wrong, i think Google is well within their rights to do this: you are using their resources and the price they ask is to read your email. personally i find that creepy and an affront to my privacy. i believe that the less we value our privacy, the more it gets invaded and the less valuable our lives become. the more we allow companies to profit by giving them the details of our lives, the more they ask for. i do not want to live in a society where my bedroom is open to the world, where my thoughts are scrutinized and acted upon by the highest bidder. i am not for sale. as for the 1GB of storage, that's worth peanuts. i have hundreds of GBs of storage available to me on my private, network-connected machines. trading my privacy for a mail box (which i have) and 1GB of disk space (which is equivalent to an investment of a few dollars) simply isn't worth it. one of the beautiful things about Free Software is that it brings the price and availability of technology down to the point that we can all have convenience without sacrificing our individuality and privacy. i have and will continue to take advantage of that. -- Aaron J. Seigo Society is Geometric
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