Maybe the fear is based on Google having done its job too well in the past. They've kind of transformed the Net, made blogging a social force, and no says "I'll altavista you." Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and all that. A gig of email in exchange for a consensual full-cavity search for advertisers sounds like a Faustian bargain to me. Optimally you'd want your email in a lot of different places, keep moving it around, delete as much as you can, and of course assume no privacy. Make it harder to detect patterns or allow bogus assumptions to be made about you. I don't think there's anything wrong with aspiring for email to be like snail mail--i.e., the thought of opening it is abhorrent to most people. Ads and official searches may be inevitable, but I can't see volunteering for them.
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- tom moody 6-21-2004 10:18 pm