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Comment by yanw | Hacker News Reader

A machine parsing text is not the equivalent of a human "reading" it, all webmail services parse emails either to check for spelling errors or combat spam, Gmail uses adsense as well which is a much less annoying ad system than most.

The "reading" analogy is FUD employed by competitors to scare the uninformed, HN community should know better.

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No, sir, the "reading" analogy is not FUD at all. Reading e-mail or whatever other text algorithmically has only one aim - to extract VALUABLE information. It's the nature of the information extracted that defines its value. And the more context this information defines, the more valuable it is. Spam filters also "read" emails but they don't care if it is you or me that the e-mail is directed to - the information they gather is not valuable. SMTP servers "read" mail headers in order to route the message and pass blindly its content - still no valuable information. But Google is building a highly specific profile of you. It doesn't matter if they do that algorithmically or there is a real person involved reading your mail. Google gains higly contextual information (and the context is YOU) with every message you receive or send. Their algorithms know more about you than you do yourself.

I don't mind if AdSense shows me ads for computers when I browse a computer related site. I mind when AdSense shows me ads for computers on every site I visit just because it have learned that it's me - the computers loving guy that happens to have a Gmail account... That's intrusive and Microsoft nabbed it right in their video. Btw, I don't like Microsoft too.

Their algorithms know more about you than you do yourself. There is your FUD.

Also sender and recipient "identity" have central role in identifying spam. Microsoft is building a profile about you as well and owns an ad network, which makes their propaganda video hypocritical as well as deceitful.

Identifying spam does not require building a profile of your browsing and communication habits, nor does it require information of what videos you watch on YouTube. If I put a task on my schedule to buy va from the nearby pharmacy, would that mean that I'd like to receive spam about it?

Habits is what we are. Habits make us predictable. There are habits that you don't know you have or just refuse to accept that you have them. That's why Google's algorithms know more about you than you do.

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