The Word Cloud

I have, in the last few minutes, witnessed something that has confirmed the next step along the road to privacy invasion.  To some extent, Mr. Orwell was right: 1984 in 2011.

A few months ago, AlanP and a few of us carried out some tests to see what internet Google-ads we could get to come up on the World Cloud.  More for laughs than anything else, we concluded that the content of our Word Cloud posts were being analysed: adverts related to words in the posts would appear at the foot of the page.

Yesterday, in the mundane drudgery of consumerism existence, I asked a friend of mine if he had any suggestions that could help me find a cheap folding chair bed online.  Snore.  He found one and sent me a link via private email – Microsoft Hotmail.  I clicked on the link, which took me to the details of a ridiculously expensive folding chair bed on the John Lewis store website.  Not what I was looking for, so I shut that browser page down almost immediately, and thought nothing more of it.

Until just now.

I’m in Hotmail, and the ever-present intrusive advert panel fires some more animated junk at me.  Smother me with jam and lash me to a thirty foot anthill if it isn’t the exact John Lewis folding chair bed.  The animation reels some other colour options of the same chair bed past, and then a couple of other different sofa beds, before returning to the same one as in the link my mate sent me.  It holds on it for a few moments, and then repeats the loop.

Now, I’m not so paranoid to conclude that my private emails are being read or scanned.  But what must be occurring as a minimum are:

1. My precise internet movements are being monitored (nothing new);

2. Hotmail and John Lewis corporate must have some kind of deal;

3. The information about me specifically and exactly what I’ve looked at is shared between these organisations without my consent;

4. This data is being stored, analysed, and reacted to;

5. The whole thing is turned around in an incredibly short time period.

Right at this point, there’s no real problem to me personally.  But it’s another step along a path that leads to a dark place.  I could suggest where this thing might lead, but really it’s the thousand destinations I can’t even imagine yet that are the issue.

If, on your Facebook profile for example, you select things you like and you get related ads on Facebook, that’s different.  This is highly organised and advanced activity executed through a network of organisations, the number of which I can only guess at.

Has anything like this happened to you yet?  Do you have any suggestions about where this might lead to?  You got a couple of second hand chair beds going cheap?

I am absolutely awe struck by the sensitive spot my blog, ‘To Honour and Obey? Bollocks!’, has rudely prodded.  This has sooooo put my world in perspective.  Here I was having an innocent bitch about my local conservatives, never imagining it still so rife even in modern 1^st worlds. 

Are women still fighting for freedom?  Hasn’t that been won!!!!! by us bra burners?

It strikes me that they are still many woman out there that are not liberated and don’t mind the fact. My mum was, ironically enough,  progressive in her thoughts, maybe I now take this for granted?  But I can’t understand why this is still so steeped in controversy.  To be honest I was prompted to write this misshapen blog by my driving frustrations and my need to commiserate with likeminded people.  It seems this is truly not what developed.

My corner of the world seems to reside next door to everyone?  I actually find that mortifying and totally backward.

Chapter 7 in Elizabeth Gilberts ‘Committed’ she quotes:

 ‘Of all the actions of man’s life, his marriage does least concern other people; yet of all the actions of our life, ’tis the most meddled with by other people.’ -  John Seldon, 1689.

Obviously, this needs to be put in context of men and women, but maybe I should just accept we are all one melting pot of ideas and beliefs and just leave it at that.

Hi guys,

It's been brought to our attention that some of you had your security settings reset. If you were affected by this, you need to reset them to your desired settings, but they should remain at your desired settings now, without any further problems.

All the best,

Tommy.