Playing With Google !

( From LETTERS in the Economist)

Google play

SIR – Claiming that “consumers hand over their data freely” to Google “and get something back” is stretching it a bit (“Googlephobia”, September 6th). Google’s algorithm rummages through its subscribers’ Gmail messages to decide which advertising to direct to them. When I learned this, I began closing each e-mail to friends with a tagline to throw the algorithm off, such as, “jabberwocky gilgamesh nude dwarf tossing leather chaps latex dictionaries”. Unfortunately, my Gmail feed responded to the leather-chaps phrase and began offering me motorcycle accessories. The banality of “don’t be evil”.

Andrew Horn
San Francisco