__/ [ Ian Semmel ] on Tuesday 26 December 2006 23:10 \__
> On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:24:49 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Microsoft in push for targeted online ads - WSJ
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | The company has begun combining personal data from the 263 million users
>> | of its free Hotmail email service with information gained from
>> | monitoring their searches, the paper said.
>> `----
>>
>>
http://in.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-12-26T110332Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-281442-1.xml
>> http://tinyurl.com/yac6mh
>>
>> As I said months ago, IE7 is spyware. A lot of Microsoft's software is
>> used to collect data about the user. The company has history of handing in
>> data to the US government (recently under no pressure from the DoJ).
>>
>>
>> Also see:
>>
>> Microsoft In Talks To Buy Claria
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | For the last two weeks, Microsoft has been in talks to buy Claria, an
>> | adware marketer formerly called Gator, and best known for its pop-upa
>> | ds and software that tracks people visiting Web sites.
>> `----
>
> Back in the early 1970's, I did a few jobs for Readers Digest which
> involved building profiles on people based on what ads and direct mailings
> they had responded to. This information was used to determine what future
> mailings and offers would be sent to them.
>
> This tecnique is not new and is used by thousands of companies.
Very true. A lot of companies exchange (sell) our data, whether legally or
not. When done at this scale (computers make this possible), it's quite the
Orwellian vision becoming a reality. The point to make here is that vendors
are interested in using personal data in ways that benefit /them/, sometimes
at our own expense. Even search engine results are intended to be refined in
this way, based on a statement made by Microsoft earlier this year. Still
open for abuse...
I also saw the following article earlier today:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=avL4PSqZrcj4
"`People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see
everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,'
said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the
incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to
chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight
outside bars."
--
~~ Kind greetings and happy holidays!
The Intel-Dell-MS oligopoly/treo can be weakened by competition (Freedom)
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