I like Google, but the contextual advertising can still step way over the line.

My wife and I had an argument a couple of years ago, and sent a few
not-terribly-pleasant emails back-and-forth. So I’m sitting there
reading an email from her, and what do you think was being displayed in
the gmail banner ad?

“Need a divorce lawyer?”

I’m sorry, but I found that pretty damn offensive.

You know they just revealed that Google can now
run as a power company right? It won’t be soon till they control your
water mains and your trash collection.

Google will rule all. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

I have to agree with the CEO of Google. If there’s
something that you’re doing that you dont want other people knowing,
maybe you should quit doing it or quit being so iffy about it. 99% of
the time I’ve learned people just don’t freaking care when they find
out.

I don’t care about my privacy, I don’t do anything wrong. Hell, I’d even walk around naked if it wasn’t illegal.

As a moderately honest individual that likes a tightly integrated service, I have nothing to lose.

Now I log into Google and everything is there. No
having to log into multiple services on multiple websites and having to
read multiple agreements and set multiple privacy settings.

Google will not share any more about you then you set in your privacy
settings. It’s just that most people don’t bother going over them and
then complain later.

Even the Buzz launch. I just read the opening screen, clicked yes,
logged into my privacy settings, made the changes I wanted to make and
everything was done and set.

Don’t call them evil just because you didn’t RTFM.

My tip: Don’t leave. If you leave and join a
service that a lot of other people join, Google will see it as
valuable, buy it, and then once again own you. You. Can’t. Escape.

I
don’t know why everyone keeps complaining about the accelerator pedals
in Toyotas. Only an ignoramus wouldn’t know that you can easily open up
the hood, cut a few wires, reprogram a couple modules, and the car
works perfectly fine. Who expects their products not to have a few
minor, fixable glitches? Clearly, all those people blithely assuming it
will just work deserve their collisions.