it’s alive
The angel, or monster depending on your views on the matter, that goes by the name of Gmail has my number. Altough i am not quite sure yet if i like the idea i have signed up for my free 1 gig webmail account anyhow.
For those not in the know; Google’s free email service is it’s answer to Yahoo and Microsoft moving into the search market. By offering 1 gig of free space and a very smart webmail interface Google intends to blow both companies offerings out of the water, and Gmail probably will.
All this comes at a price though since Google is in the information business in a serious way. They intend to add your mail messages to the giant info mountain that is Google + blogger + orkut and use that mountain to target you with very specific text ads. Altough that is harmless enough the implications of one company knowing who your friends are and what you mail, search for and blog are quite, well… mind boggling actually.
One could argue that Google has access to the largest single database of human behaviour on the internet, allowing for great insights on a general scale. The problem is that -in theory- it also allows them to track the behaviour of individuals, and if Google has access to this info so has the FBI. Luckily i am a positive kind of person and i like Google’s track record on these matters so i intend to trust them on this one, for now. But before you sign up yourself you should at least be aware of the possible implications.