Google ad service raises privacy fears

Is Google's new targeted advertising service a boon to users, or is it Big Brother in disguise?
Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter
From Times Online
March 11, 2009

Google knows more about you than any organisation in human history. It can give you a bird’s eye view of your house, allow friends and family to track your every move through their mobile phones, and through its search engine - knows your likes, dislikes and even your vices.

Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced yesterday that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users' individual tastes.

The move was met with fierce criticism. MPs described the new system as the introduction of “big brother” advertising, and leading privacy campaigners said the development was “dangerous”, calling on the government to launch an investigation into the activities of the company to see whether it was becoming too powerful. the rest