“You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you know when I click and what I search; you discern my purpose from afar.” Two of these three lines are from Psalm 139. I address the third to Google.
According to Google, I’m a 65-year-old woman with interests in Alternative Music, People and Society, and Shopping. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart,” says the Lord in Jeremiah, but Google thinks they can play God a bit better, because they have a lot of access to where and when and how you use the Internet. Want to find out who you are, in the good news according to Google? Go here.
What’s this all about? The link has been going around the web ever since Google announced changes to their privacy policy, and raised the hackles of some Internet watchdog groups who are concerned about the ever-growing trend of gathering personal information about Internet users. Google is using a particular cookie assigned to each user to keep somewhat general track of where you go on the Internet, so that they can serve up ads more tailored to your interests and thus charge advertisers more for targeted ads.
They’ve got some work to do refining this sucker (I hate shopping), but at least I now understand why my sidebar is always asking if I’d like to meet Singles Over 50.
