Aimed Advertising

On March 1st Google made a huge modification to their privacy practices and policies. The main problem the public has seemed to voice is that these changes allow Google to track usage across most of their services. This doesn't immediately seem like a bad thing. For instance preferences in one service can transfer over to another. The problem arises when you go deeper and realize that it is not only preferences that go across services but also usage. This means that if you search on Google for skiing locations and supplies, other Google services would know these tendencies. The main goal here is that Google can now tailor ads and search results to the individual.

Technology is not always morally perfect, there will always be avenues for it to be misused or abused. While this is one of those circumstances, it is by far not the first. Even more interestingly it is not the first technology to be used for aimed advertising. While Google has taken the brunt of the backlash in recent days for aimed advertising there are other technologies both in development and already released that aim to achieve similar things. There are many forms of aimed advertising out there that we see everyday, of course not all of them use technology. However, in the second link below there is another method that would use technologically aided aimed advertising. There is also talk that gaming systems equipped with cameras may also start using visual information and game selections for aimed advertising. Aimed advertising is also a staple in many futuristic science fiction films potentially showing where things are headed.

Aimed advertising mixed with technology is not morally correct and the public reaction to it in any form shows this. It is mainly immoral because these aimed advertisements can be focused at children. However we keep using these services proving that it is something we will just have to deal with. This is because it doesn't really harm adults in any way. Rather it just uses information we would rather be kept secret.

https://www.google.ca/intl/en/policies/privacy/
http://intel.cognovision.com/cognovision/news/83-intel-aim-suite-featured-in-qvending-machine-20q
http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/15/microsoft-exec-caught-in-privacy-snafu-says-kinect-might-tailor/