[Ilugc] Opening Google..
- From: ksriram@xxxxxxx (Sriram Krishnan)
- Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 20:23:00 +0530
Now, what gmail proposes to do is to process my mails, figure out my
"personality" and keep targetting ads based on the keywords
found in my mails. so if I'm applying for jobs through GMail, I'm
sure to get job ADs at office (and if my manager / employer is
smart, he can figure out that I'm finding a job!).
Yes..he probably can. But think for a moment as to how me might be able
to find out. He might have
(a) done some funky packet sniffing
(b) Looked at your browser cache
(c) Looked over your shoulder
Now, if you are applying for a job in Hotmail (since you say you work in
Yahoo :-) ), any one of those methods can get you caught with your
existing mail account.Say you open up an offer letter from Bill Gates in
your Yahoo account in your office...any one of those 3 techniques will
get you caught.
Now, Google only shows you ads related to a few emails..and that too
only when you open them. So as long as you don't open your job-related
mails in office...you're pretty safe..or as safe as you can be with any
current day service. Gmail doesn't try to "figure out your personality"
as you say..it only tries to show some ad relevant to the current mail
you have oepn.
As for the question of your search terms being associated with your
mail, Google has said that it only associates your email with you. So
even if you search for ...err..Britney Spears pictures at home, there's
no way Google is gonna know about it when you're at work...because
Google (the search engine) is separate from the Google searching through
your email.
As for ads, I really don't mind the targeted ads. For example, I see
tons of ads in Yahoo and Hotmail...and so far 0% of them have been
useful. I mean...MSN Groups shows me lingerie ads whenever I log
on!!(Yahoo isnt better...it keeps showing me ads for Yahoo
personals...now how did those guys figure out that I don't have a social
life? :-) ) So if Google can actually do something useful with all that
screen real-estate...and do it in a tasteful manner as they've been
known to do in the past, then why not.
Do remember that we're talking about Google's engineers here..not
exactly the dumbest people on the block. I'm sure these guys are
thinking of these problems as we speak (say you get spam related
to...err..Britney Spears pictures..you shouldn't start seeing ads on
Britney). So far, all the people I've spoken to say that not only are
the ads really, really unobtrusive (something you can see in the
screenshots)...but they only appear for a few mails.
I haven't personally tried out www.spymac.com but I'm pretty sure they
must have some sort of ad-based service. Instead of watching irrelevant
ads, why not watch ads that might actually interest me?
Regards,
Sriram
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