I was out and about just now, and heard something disturbing on NPR's Morning Edition, and no, I don't mean the voice of the recently-fired Bob Edwards.¹

In a piece on search engines, Edwards interviewed some whiny-voiced fellow who had connections to the "search" industry. Aside from the interviewee's horrible grammar (typified by his constant reference solely to "search" without saying "search engines" or the like; it's comparable to saying "blog will be the future of the internet" instead of saying that "blogging will be the future of the internet") the man blathered happily about a disturbing view of what the search engine providers want.

What they want, he explained (and Edwards elaborated on) is to be able to get more data and get more comprehensive data about the searches run. Here's the rub: They want to make it personal. This engineer spoke approvingly of the need for companies to be able to match a pattern of searching activity over time, so that "the most relevant results" can be provided. In other words, they wish to create a user-specific profile that knows what I've looked for in the past.

The example given was to be able to discern what I'm looking for when I punch "china" into say Google. Currently, I'd have to pick between sites regarding a very large country in the Pacific Rim, or something that belongs on a dinner table. What the next-generation search engine types want is to be able to know in advance, based on past activity, whether I'm looking for info on the country or on the plates.

Edwards noted that privacy advocates objected to this, but it was also pointed out that generally technology advances anyways. The repellent individual who Edwards was speaking to happily pointed out that there were "billions" in revenue for this sort of activity, and gave me the impression that this was only a matter of time.

I find unacceptable the notion that Google will keep track of my searching habits on a personal level. A detailed list of one's WWW searches is not something that should be kept, even by the Federal government. I do not trust someone simply because they're from Silicon Valley. In fact, when you take into consideration Oracle's Larry Ellison, my trust in them plummets lower than the government.²

Also mentioned was Google's upcoming e-mail system that mines the content of your messages in order to provide targeted advertising. It'll be a cold day in Camp X-Ray before I use that system. I don't usually march with the Internet privacy advocates, but both of these things go too far. I miss the Internet as it used to be.

The quotes and attribution are not offered as wholly accurate statements; if I can get the piece from NPR's RealAudio section, I'll link it and also correct this article. more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I don't play massively-multiplayer online role-playing games, but this is still funny:

[Anarchy Online] chat log taken when the RMS Titanic sank

Yes, I know that the loss of ~1500 people is a bad thing, and yes it's awful that RMS Titanic sank, but this is still funny.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Dodd Harris for this little gem.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It appears that the "green" movement is after another dangerous threat to the environment, i.e. the cellular telephone in national parks.

The Interested-Participant is covering this, and promises to have more information as it develops. The IP also notes that while, "cell phones can be an annoyance", he doesn't "think that freedoms in America should be taken away just because some people are annoyed. I also believe that the action by the environmentalists is only a small initiative in their overall campaign to outlaw everything that annoys them in society."

For what it's worth, I tend to agree. The basic observation I have of the radical environmentalist movement is that they're not interested in a sustainable equilibrium, or even that much in the way of human progress. I won't go so far as to tar them with the brush of the folks in Rainbow Six, but one wonders where the logical end of their preferred policy objectives are. Now, let me mount the soapbox, and hope that the wood's been kept up: more...

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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