jake_lex

So I saw my first context-based ad on my new Gmail account (courtesy of Sadistic_Bastard -- once again, thank you very much.) If you'll recall, Gmail was attacked for an "invasion of privacy" because they said they'd scan the content of emails to put ads on the side.

So here's what it is: I'm having an email exchange with some friends about a cookout. In these emails, we're trying to figure out what to bring. So when I open that email (Gmail, very conveniently, combines all replies to an email into one big one, with tabs to separate the individual emails), I saw a little box off to the side hawking gourmet hot dogs, and linking to some news articles on grilling out. It looked pretty much exactly like the ads you see on the side of Google searches.

So that's it. That's the dreaded invasion of privacy that got at least one legislator to try to ban Gmail.

Somehow, I do not feel that Big Brother has been watching me.