But things like that already exist, and in a way creepier sense than the police having your DNA on file in case you ever commit a crime. I mean, look at facebook. My girlfriend and I have been looking at engagement rings, and just from comments we've written, or from google searches (since I think it looks at those, too), all our little sidebar ads are aimed at engagements rings, or gay cruises, or all sorts of weird things that it attempts to "personalize" to us. To me that's way scarier than a police database...
Oh! Fortunately I can answer that part for ya. It's a little tangeting off because it spins into the IP tracking and internet world. I mean they could attach your net browsing habits to your DNA information, I can see that. But as of right now, the gov has no such thing
yet.
What you're seeing is really, two words.
Google AdSense.
It's even here on the board.
Google, however, is a privately owned company. All the data coming from adsense is based on what you're typing or what you see on the page. Companies then are also shelling out $$$ to google to have their links promoted in the adsense pages.
I think I read somewhere that you need to have around a ~$200,000 or something annual earnings to qualify for the big fish or something, it's on the google adsense terms of conditions somewhere. 200k might be a bit high, but I do remember reading a minimum somewhere. There's also adsense for the little guys but I've never looked into it indepth.
They
probably aren't exactly storing who is typing what at other sites such as FB (bought by google, if you knew), sites that incorporate google tech into it. Maybe they log your ip for your search, but I doubt the data is kept really long because it is just useless logfiles only good for the duration they're conducted. Most ad choosing is processed right when the page is loaded, your inbox/chat words are used for further refining of the sensing tech.
However if you use gmail, little do you know your mail is private yes, but google has the terms and conditions that you allow them when you register to "use" your email secretly to help improve their searching and researching progress. I mean, they store all your data somewhere, free of charge with a ton of extras for you, in return they privately use what you have on there to help them earn cash. I would not be surprised this process works the same way with yahoo and hotmail, any other free email services out there. After all, how are they gonna earn money?
In the main googleplex, their headquarters in Mountain View, CA, there is a public display of what people are typing in that search box real-time live. Saw it and was slightly amused at some of the searches being conducted, it was ludicrous.
Google is by no way affiliated with the US government or any form of law enforcement services. They
fiercely support their user privacy (You'll see this in some of the YouTube lawsuits - google owns youtube also) , but if the Supreme Court really calls for them to pass out the info they have, then they do so only if it is the last option thing.
That pretty much sums up the google sensing section of surfing the net.
If it wasn't for google, you wouldn't be seeing all these "related links" on the page you're viewing out there.