Gmail is Creepy

This is another of my writing pieces from last year.


Gmail is great for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it is also creepy. It has content-related-ads, which means that it scans your emails for keywords and chooses ads from a database that are related to what you are talking about. For example, I sent an email (just to test how far it would go) saying "My mom died. Would you please help plan the funeral?" and I got an ad that said "Bereavement packages: take advantage of airliner's policies!"

This, if my mother had actually died, would offend me. Some of the ads are OK, but when issues discussed become sensitive, I would rather not be bombarded with offensive offers. Perhaps Google should use less keywords, or deny some ads entry.