Google acquired Measure Map, A service which gives blog owners information about their blog statistics and it's relation with other blogs and websites. This service for itself does not sound unique or innovative as other services exist such as "links to this post" from Technorati and other blog aggregators. Additionally various web counters provide information about statistics, referrals and incoming links. I'm not going to talk about the service itself because it's not the real story behind this purchase.
The thing is that this kind of service at the hands of Google, combined with other services Google provide, is another nail in the coffin of our privacy. But this nail is bigger then others.
Look at this scenario: An innocent blogger wakes up in the morning, and checks his Gmail. He then looks and read his favorite blogs and post at his. The next thing he does, he writes to his friends some emails and looks for a nice present for his girlfriend's birthday. He pays with his Google payment system (announced but not yet released).
But from Google side the story is more interesting.
They know the guy's IP from various sources. His Gmail account or his desktop sidebar By now they can link the IP address with the person. They know his address and personal details because he uses the Google payment system or from just looking at the signature on his email.
They can see where he is surfing and what he likes to watch and buy.
The one thing which Google did not have to complete its information card on a person is which website or blog he owns. When they know which site is owned by each person. They can complete the picture on the person. They can know for example if the person sells a product or what's the person's political view. The blog says it all! Installing a measure map snippet on your blog is like telling Google. Here are all the details you may not know about me. I've written them for you and you can know what I say and who reads it. If that's not all, Google can now see where the other person reading about me is going because measure map tracks him wherever he will visit.
Now look at the big picture. Google collects the information mentioned above into a computer and ask the computer who likes George Bush and support the war in Iraq. The computer spills out names and contact information, addresses, hobbies, favorite shopping places, preferred food. You name it. It’s all in the blogs. This is what blogs are about. No intelligence agency in the world can reach that kind of information. With Google collecting wide scale blog information and connecting it with individuals it's possible.
If the scenario sounds a little too far fetched, I can only say that even today it is already possible because many websites has Google Adsense ads. These ads tell Google who is the blog owner. This is why I think Google purchase of Measure map is only a nail in the coffin of privacy It's not that its not a big harm to your privacy for itself. It's not a big harm because the potential damage is already happening without it.
