Google Therapy?

For some reason CNN is reporting that consumers are just now getting a little uncomfortable with all of the information Google collects on internet surfers. Just now? Google has been collecting information on web searches for years. So why are consumers suddenly starting to squirm? It's Google's new line of "therapy" services.

Google has such a large share of the search market that it makes more money in one quarter than Yahoo does in an entire year. People don't say, "Do an internet search for that." They say, "Google it". I'd say that's nearly a monopoly. (And Google was mad at Microsoft?)

Google supposedly keeps track of nearly 1 billion web users. That includes their other services such as Gmail. If you have a Gmail account, you should take note of the ads next to the email you are reading. Your email has been scanned to make sure the ad matches the content of your mail.

As if Google holding your mail up to the light wasn't enough, they also have the nifty Google Desktop search that scans your computer's contents for you. Just a friend coming over to help you look for those files, right?

Then there's Google Earth. Not only can it show you what a town looks like at street level, some of those street level photos include people going about their day. How long before Google works out an arrangement to tap into city surveillance so you can get an up-to-the-minute report of what's going on down on 4th Street?

Some products, such as Web History, make the general public a little more edgy. Web History is supposed to keep track of searches and website content for years. Right now Google holds your data for two years. Why would you want that information stored for that long?

According to CNN “Users learn what predictable creatures they are -- what good and bad habits they have -- when their entire Web search record is revealed, stretching back days, months, even years.

By offering a digital record of users' daily interests, Google is giving those who choose the service an unprecedented level of insight into their own thinking.

Computers have begun to play the confessional role once reserved for the local priest, or psychotherapist.”

Nice try, but no.

Conspiracy theory is not something that drives my day, but this is the stuff sci-fi thrillers are made of. Right up there with surveillance cameras being plugged into every street corner and fingerprints being held on record just to go to Disneyland; Google is topping the list of “Companies that know more about me than my own mother”.

(Photo Source: Mike Reed)