From: jfusion@xs4all.nl   
      
   Google has now gone farther.  I have noticed this slipping into social   
   networking with many of its services.  First it was Google Wave, people   
   who were in my gmail address book ALONG with those I invited were added to   
   my contacts automatically.   Ok this was convenient, noone else could see   
   my contact list except Pa Google himself.   
      
   Then Youtube (remembe it is a google service) started prompting me to   
   subscribe to people on Youtube because they were in (you guessed it!) my   
   gmail address book.   
      
   Then there was Buzz.  Nuff said about that.   
      
   Then Today I noticed something new in the flagship product: Search.   
      
   Under the regular search results is a NEW category:   
      
   Results from people in your social circle for [search term] - Beta - My   
   social circle - My Social content   
      
   the results are from a friend's blogspot blog (yet another google   
   service).   
      
   Now I am torn.  I have always believed that humanity creates networks not   
   just to share data but to connect people to one another, and social   
   networking is that by the very definition.  What tears me is that it is   
   intrinsicaly tied to profiling of personal information and tastes to   
   target advertising and make other people money. While I do want to connect   
   to fellow human beings I don't want to prostitute that connection to make   
   other people money.   
      
   -- johnny   
      
      
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       ///   ///  ///\\\ ///   ///             Johnny Fusion   
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)