Google’s all-knowing Siri-esque personal assistant has confirmed some suspicions, veering from cool feature into creepy stalker territory, said the Atlantic Wire publication.
Google announced ‘Google Now’ as the Apple Siri competing product and said: ‘Google Now is a service that gets you just the right information at just the right time’
One must realise that Google knows more than the average company. They know who you email, what you search, who your friends are, what your hobbies are, where you live, where you work, what your friends say about you, what the latest gossip is, which sport and teams you support, how old you are and may even have your credit card details. Google changed it’s privacy policy in January to provide for the combination of all data into one database, this data is going to be used and for commercial purposes.
Combined with recent Google purchases and the technology those purchases provide, like Meebo, it is clear that Google is headed to a more polished and shiny version of those irritating old style porn popups. Maybe it is a younger generation at Google that appreciates the commercial assault allowed by abusing the search information and big data that your previously trusted ‘do no evil’ search engine was gladly given. Maybe not. Maybe it is an indication of a controlled and completely commercialised view of the Internet, where every bit of data has to be squeezed for maximum commercial potential.
One thing is completely certain: People will not change that much that they will appreciate, allow and support this extreme form of capitalism and although the resistance may be sublime at first (Like Google Plus not gaining momentum and popularity) it will over time and eventually see a decline in all it’s services.
Is your Gmail account your primary email account? Maybe the time has come to consider slowly changing that…