This is a response to

Big Brother Marketing, blog post by Mark Graham.

Many find it alarming that so much of our personal information ends up in the hands of Google, available for sale to various third party organizations, calling it an invasion of privacy. Perhaps in ways it is, but it’s also undeniable that this new exchange of information has allowed for new communications between consumer and supplier to be more efficient than ever, and that might not be a bad thing. Yes, our information on our preferences is being sold but to what result? Hearing messages about things we might actually be interested in. Instead of the classic pebble throwing approach, marketing is quickly becoming something closer to a carefully thrown dart, reaching its specified target without wasting energy on those at the periphery.

While I am also concerned at the amount of information it seems necessary to give certain websites in order to access its features, with a certain sense of caution this buying and selling of information can prove extremely beneficial to all parties. We should pay attention to what information is being sold and what information we’re putting out in the first place, but I also believe it’s likely the company buying our information is more likely to use it to sell us a pair of shoes than to ruin our lives, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Marketing is the delivery of a message and this is a way to make sure the recipient wants to hear it.