Comments on: Bill Gates and Company Want to Watch You Watch TV, Buy Groceries, and Use Your Credit Cards and Cell Phone (and Take Notes)

By: Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:22:37 +0000

Hi Victor,

It does seem pretty invasive now, doesn’t it?

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:34:01 +0000

What kind of company could earn my trust to the extent that I’m comfortable with all these privacy implications? What would it take?

“I would gladly die for my cable and internet company” — I can’t even say it with a straight face.

By: SearchLab » Blog Archive » Nicht du schaust Fernsehen, der Fernseher schaut dich

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:52:53 +0000

[...] Der Autor des Blogs SEO By The Sea, Bill Slawski, hat zwei Patentanmeldung vorgestellt, die ein erschreckendes Zukunftsbild des gläsernen Menschen aufzeigen. Urheber der Patente, die am 3. Januar 2008 veröffentlicht wurden, ist Microsoft. [...]

By: SEO Igloo Blog » That’s MY Business - When Companies Ask For Too Many Details

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 04:49:48 +0000

[...] Also rolling around in my head is Bill Slawski’s recent post on Microsoft’s application for two patents that would enable them to collect offline data from sources like credit cards, grocery store cards, cell phones, digital television systems and other systems that they would then use to determine which ads and which organic results to show to people on-line. For months now, SEOs and marketers have been shaking their heads over Google’s tracking of people’s Internet habits to determine which results and ads are shown to them (personalized search), but Microsoft’s idea really takes the cake. [...]

By: SearchWebLog

SearchWebLog — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:26:48 +0000

There privacy tocsin has been rung long enough now. Its time that users grew up to the fact that the online services can survive only if they are profitable and that means they have to appeal to marketers and that means they have to put up ads.

Google having been such a success at targeting ads, Microsoft would be kicking itself you know where for having missed this bus. Thus it makes if the Redmond giant wants to try a few of its tricks at getting ads targeted at users.

And if that means tracking online transactions, and what not, then we have to live with that. But to put in the words of Google’s Sergie Brinn, ” how much of a loss have you faced recently with the private data being put online” ?

By: Friday Tea Time - 1/11/08

Friday Tea Time - 1/11/08 — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:41:45 +0000

[...] * BIG BROTHER!! BIG BROTHER!! Bill Gates please fuck the hell off. Where is Orwell? He’s turning over in his grave saying “I told you so”. Let’s give thanks to Bill for spotting this stuff so we can try and stop it before it materializes (like we can actually stop Bill Gates from doing anything). [...]

By: William Slawski

William Slawski — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:31:13 +0000

Gab, The use and exchange of data is something that people are paying more attention to these days. Haven't seen much new in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's section on Privacy and Search Engines though.

BTW, how do you find all these patents? When I went to the USPTO site, their search function sucked. How do you sort through the recent filings and such?

A lot of searches. I've been doing it for a while now, so I know somethings to try to look for that are helpful, but there are quite a few new granted patents and patent applications that come out every week. It can take a while to look for all of them.

By: William Slawski

William Slawski — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:21:23 +0000

Are they planning to mashup the various vendor databases with the passport database?

Good question, and good points. It’s really hard to tell at this point how the processes here might be implemented, but I do suspect that some data might be purchased while other data might be exchanged through other business relationships. Some data in the examples may be either really difficult or impossible to acquire.