[Air-l] Google scares me again

[Michael Zimmer]

Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I think psychological profiling of  
users based online habits is a tad more problematic than just  
"somewhat" of an ethical minefield.

Microsoft recently announced their hopes to do something similar:
http://michaelzimmer.org/2007/05/23/msft-wants-to-identify-all-web- 
surfers-based-on-surfing-habits/

One wonders if any part of one's earthly existence will remain  
untouched by those wanting to track, capture, aggregate, and profile...

-mz

-----
Michael Zimmer, PhD
Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School
e: michael.zimmer at nyu.edu
w: http://michaelzimmer.org



On Jul 9, 2007, at 9:31 AM, Tom Shelley wrote:

> This is such a pertinent area of discussion. On Project Red Stripe  
> (the
> Economist's internet innovation unit) we were looking at many  
> different
> areas where we could develop services, and the magic really happens  
> when you
> start aggregating the data of individuals. The psychological  
> profiling of
> users will happen in the not too different future, I believe. It  
> will be
> able to serve you exactly the content/people/job opportunities you  
> like
> (think Last.fm but for everything) but it is also *somewhat* of an  
> ethical
> minefield.
>
> On 7/8/07, Jeremy Hunsinger <jhuns at vt.edu> wrote:
>>
>> oh... it could be worse  Spock.com is a search engine that is
>> predicated somewhat on the unity of identity of people.     It ties
>> in as much of your publicly available info as it can into a profile:)
>>
>>
>> On Jul 8, 2007, at 5:59 PM, Barry Wellman wrote:
>>
>>> When Google aggregates different social software types, how is it
>>> going to
>>> handle the different amounts/kinds of disclosure that the different
>>> softwares now permit/forbid. Will it encompass Business software
>>> such as
>>> Visible Path, Linked In or (cursed be its name), Plaxo.
>>>
>>>  Barry Wellman
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________________________ 
>>> __
>>> _
>>>
>>>   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC              NetLab  
>>> Director
>>>   Centre for Urban & Community Studies           University of  
>>> Toronto
>>>   455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8     fax: 
>>> +1-416-978-7162
>>>   wellman at chass.utoronto.ca   http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/ 
>>> ~wellman
>>>              For fun -- updating songs, movies and history:
>>>              http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
>>>           Elvis wouldn't be singing Return to Sender these days
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________________________ 
>>> __
>>> _
>>>
>>>
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>>
>> Jeremy Hunsinger
>> Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,
>> School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>> (www.cipr.uwm.edu)
>>
>> Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a
>> thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions,
>> think. --Byron
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Tom Shelley
>
> Project Red Stripe
> Tel : + 44 (0) 782 441 5491
>
> team blog : www.projectredstripe.com/blog
> personal blog : www.fedoralreserve.wordpress.com
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