According to paragraph 1, Google, Yahoo and others
Google as well as Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL among
others are gearing up to keep a much closer eye on all of us,
so that within five years these and other firms will routinely
track our movements, friends, interests, purchases and
5 correspondence – then make money by helping marketers
take advantage of the information.
These companies' brash plans are pushing us toward a
thorny choice that will determine the future of computing.
Google and other Web-oriented, information-service giants are
10 determined to build a breathtaking array of services based on
your personal information, and they're betting you'll be willing
to share it with them in order for you to reap the benefits. But
if we cooperate and let them in on the details of our lives, we'll
lose much of our privacy, and possibly a lot more.
15 A privacy backlash, however, would stifle these potentially
revolutionary services before they get off the ground – and
leave the computer industry's biggest plans for growth in
tatters. That may be just what some people want. The U.S.
Congress is considering four bills that would make it illegal to
20 collect and share information online or through cell phones
about people without clearer warning and permission. These
sorts of restrictions are already in effect throughout much of
Europe, thanks in part to European Union directives on privacy
and electronic communications passed in 2002 and 2003.
25 The good news is that there's no reason to choose
between technology and privacy. New technologies are
emerging that can doctor our data so that companies know
just enough about us to ply us with customized services, while
preventing them from getting a clear picture of our private
lives. The question is again one of trust: in this case, whether
people will come to trust the companies that are trying to build
these new technologies.
(abridged from Next Frontiers in Newsweek, April 3, 2006)
According to paragraph 1, Google, Yahoo and others