Google Killing Internet Privacy?

Google is the big bad guerrilla in the search marketing industry. It has literally dominated most aspects of this market. For years, people have warned about Google’s obsession with world domination. It seems the latest revelation about Google’s behavioral targeting endeavours has just opened a few more eyes. Google’s success has been due to its uncanny ability to deal with raw data. Whether it is the search engine or Google Adsense ads, Google does its best by analyzing data to provide better service to its users.

I happen to agree with Sir Tim Berners-Lee that the future of the web is at stake here. The fact that companies such as Google find it acceptable to monitor their users to find out their online behaviors is very disturbing. Conspiracy theorists have claimed for years that the Internet will become the ultimate tracking tool for the government and the powers-that-be. Think about it. If you are being monitored constantly online, there is nothing these companies don’t know about you. Would you watch that controversial video if you knew you were being monitored?

I’d like to think that our elected officials respect the privacy of their constituents. The problem is there is a lot of money involved in this field, and there are very powerful forces at work here. It’d be encouraging to see some laws passed on this very issue, but powerful companies always find a way to get around the laws and bend them. I don’t want to be too paranoid here. My suggestion here is that you should go anonymous if you are visiting sites that you don’t want others to know you are surfing. If you are checking Yahoo! sports or just reading TechCrunch, you’ll be fine.

Your take: should companies have the right to track your behavior?