Google makes money selling advertising.  The more targeted the advertising to particular users, the more revenue Google makes.  So, Google collects huge amounts of personal data about users.  They are currently under investigation for violating their own published Privacy policy in both the U.S. and Europe.

Now, they are also under investigation for spying on users of Apple’s Safari browser software . . . a big deal to Apple users.

Some people, mostly young people, don’t understand what the big deal is.  With this loss of privacy, the advertising they see is more tailor-made to their interests.  Isn’t that a good thing?  Why should they be concerned with privacy anyway, since they have nothing to hide?  Since they have never known privacy, they don’t know what they have lost.

Repeating myself, I was annoyed when Google informed me I could no longer post this blog until I downloaded their internet browser, Chrome.  All those years of work on this blog would have been lost.  Of course, subscribers used to receive copies within minutes, before Chrome was installed.  Now, after Chrome, it might take 24 hours for Google to send out the emails, which means I can no longer write anything too time-sensitive.  Grrrr . . .

It is called “data-mining” when companies spy on you online, and it is legal.  But, is it any different than hiring a private investigator to follow you?

Some languages, like Russian, don’t even have a word for privacy.  Not every nation had jurists like Brandeis.  Fortunately, we do . . . or did.