Google, the constant companion on our Internet excursions, probably knows more about us, than we would ever care to admit. Cory Doctorow (of Boing Boing fame) imagines a ‘Scroogled‘ world, where an omni-present Google is evil. In other words, what if Google were the all-seeing ‘Eye of Sauron‘ of the digital world ? A world where you are profiled (sometimes wrongly), by the Google Ads cropping up during your searches.
Snip from the article:
The man nodded. “I understand, sir. And that’s just why I’m here talking to you. Why do you suppose model rocket ads show up so frequently?”
Greg racked his brain. “Okay, just do this. Search for ‘coffee fanatics.'” He’d been very active in the group, helping them build out the site for their coffee-of-the-month subscription service. The blend they were going to launch with was called Jet Fuel. “Jet Fuel” and “Launch”—that would probably make Google barf up some model rocket ads.
They were in the home stretch when the carved man found the Halloween photos. They were buried three screens deep in the search results for “Greg Lupinski.”
“It was a Gulf War–themed party,” he said. “In the Castro.”
“And you’re dressed as…?”
“A suicide bomber,” he replied sheepishly. Just saying the words made him wince.
“Come with me, Mr. Lupinski,” the man said.
This is great stuff. Like DC Comic’s Elseworld imaginings of Superman being raised by the erstwhile Soviet Union or by DarkSeid. Unfortunately, it will also give the conspiracy theorists among us, something new to worry about.
Link to the article from Radar Online.