I guess privacy will be this week's theme. On the heels of my big rant about you shouldn't expect privacy if you're fooling around outdoors, comes this little bit of news that you shouldn't apparently expect privacy ever. If you've heard of Claria, you'll know that it used to be Gator. Much in the same way that Altria changed their name from Philip Morris to get away from that whole cancer death stick thing. To put it simply, Gator/Claria is evil. You know how your email is filled with spam, you get a bajillion pop-up ads for Viagra, and everybody seems to know that you need a 6.8% fixed rate mortgate? You can thank Claria/Gator for that. These people have had no scruples when it comes to mining your computer and your clicking habits for every ounce of private data, and then selling it to anybody who has the cash. To find out that a former executive at one of these companies has been appointed to a White House/Homeland Security executive panel on privacy is akin to finding out that we've just named Osama Bin Laden as the new Homeland Security chief. Next up on the agenda, Kennith Lay will be named head of the US Energy Department, and Ebbers will be the new head of the SEC. I'm not a Bush Basher, but seriously, WTF is going on down there in Washington? What's the point of low taxes if we're gonna collectively bend over and let scum companies like Claria ream us? Whatever happened to the government protecting the consumer? [Via Monkeyfilter]
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