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For years now, Google has watched and often recorded where you've gone online, what things you've searched for, what videos you've watched and even what you write in your emails. But the advertising and search giant has always said it only used that data to make its services work better, and that the company did not build dossiers on its users. Instead Google used the term someone searched on that moment or what content was on a partner's web page to decide what ads to show. That wall toppled Wednesday -- when Google announced that it would begin selling behavioral profiling ads. Of course, this was inevitable since Google recently spent more than $3 billion to acquire DoubleClick, a banner ad serving company that derived its value from having profiles on visitors to the net's most popular sites and letting companies target their ads to particular groups. Google will now combine DoubleClick's targeting with info from its sprawling AdSense network (which usually serves small text ads) and will quickly be able to build up robust profiles on Google users, whether they have an account or not. But more intriguingly, Google also announced YouTube ads will become targeted by categorizing what you watch, say and do on YouTube -- combined with the other info from its DoubleClick. That's stunning. That's where the future lies for Google. That's Google slyly telling you where all this is heading. Google says its mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google often says that it believes ads are information. What it doesn't say, but clearly believes, is that you are information to be indexed, made accessible and useful. This is why Google fought government regulators who wanted search engines to limit how long they stored personal data on users. Inevitably, Google will soon be building ways to combine all the data it knows about you in order to sell you to advertisers for a higher price.That is making you useful. But really, it's not personal -- Google mostly doesn't know your name or care what it is, the company just wants to know you well enough to sell you. And it may even genuinely think you will like the more targeted ads. After all, it's really an advertising company that uses technology to draw in eyeballs. It won't take long for Google executives to look at the stock price and then at the data its not using and argue that the company could make even more money by selling finer and finer slices of its user base to advertisers. Soon everything of Google's that you touch -- from its website analytics program, sneaky Big Brother-esque Web History program, checkout system, image search, cellphone location reporting service, book digitization, news site and GMail email and chats will all become part of your profile. That profile is not fine-grained right now. The categories are boring. But how hard would it be for Google to categorize you as a Libertarian, Democrat, Republican or Communist based on your Google behavior? How profitable would that level of profiling be? Simple and very easy. Sure, Google is letting you opt out and even add and delete profile categories, if you like. And there's a plug-in too. That's fine and transparent, but no one will use either tools. It's not that the new advertising is evil; it's just the ads are nothing like the Google search box you fell in love with. But it is certainly is the Google you will live with.
guess i need to find another place for email...
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