It's ads everywhere, I just signed into google and searched about some earphones I could get at a reasonable price on Amazon, and other few sites I trust to buy online. I couldn't find something which could be delivered within a week under this COVID situation. So I left the idea and moved to buy one from an offline store. Then I moved onto my regular stuff, Facebook and youtube kind of things. Where I scroll through now I'm seeing an ad of earphones.
This was also a big talk on the Antitrust congressional hearing. Google tracking the customer data, they said that it's being done for giving the customers the favourable adds other than of something random. I can accept the fact that, if it weren't an ad for earphone there will be something else. But the thing that disturbs me is the feeling of someone's tracking me. In this modern era, privacy became a joke, but when things like this happen in front of you it feels like something completely against a persons privacy.
I can even accept the idea of tracking my single google account, but this is like my youtube is signed in on different Gmail and Facebook is some other one. I made these Gmail for different purposes, but here it is seeing everything as the same. It feels like I don't even have the privacy to browse. Whatever I browse about, they easily pick up starts showing me these. Some of them may be useful, but tracking everywhere feels totally awkward.
I think it will be a little bit better if they ask permission for these in a manner where people could really see it. Here it's like that dialogue from a famous tv series "You Are Being Watched", the situation is like I need to get tor or some incognito tab to browse about something.
I think it doesn't just end at looking upon the products I loom for, it extends to the searches I make about drawing or programming or some other research. They are just showing me the ads for courses to sign upon, some of these courses are even great. But the thing is my identity become completely open to google. They knew me more than even my parents, they knew that I'm interested in drawing or music things like some of those I don't share with any.
If I search from the problem I have or some other stuff about small medical conditions, they easily got the data about my medical conditions. So, in the end, I become an array of data which they could easily use to sell to other business firms. They are saying that it stays on google, they only direct us to those business firms services. At bigger a picture, there isn't that much distance between the change.
If I'm trying to buy this android phone which google produces it's simply like I'm selling myself wholely to google. I don't know much the cases about iPhones, but they have come forward with some slogans in their usual marketing style to use this a marketing opportunity for their products. It's like "Whatever happens in the phone stays on the phone". It seems something interesting, but still, there is also not much of a feeling it's true. It's not like possible to simply run away from google, but there is really a need for some regulations on these things. Privacy needs to be taken in a more serious way.