Google's new privacy policy went into effect this week, which means that your Google searches can influence what you are shown on YouTube or other parts of the web that Google controls. Tim Carmody didn't want to be reminded of his web history and erased it all:
Titanium plating and rehabilitation clincs for a badly broken arm. Disability and unemployment benefits. Speech therapy for toddlers. Emergency child care. Respite care. Autism. Autism. Autism. I remember these things, and that time, every day, with or without Google’s help. … Google and its partners, Facebook and its partners, do not get to choose when and how I am made to remember the moments I needed to turn to it. I want no targeted advertising, no special YouTube results, playing on my nostalgia or purporting to understand who I am and what I need based on the web activity of a person who is no longer here.
Alexis Madrigal mitigates such concerns:
The saving grace may end up being that as companies go to more obtrusive and higher production value ads, targeting may become ineffective. Avi Goldfarb of Rotman School of Management and Catherine Tucker of MIT's Sloan School found last year that the big, obtrusive ads that marketers love do not work better with targeting, but worse.
In the meantime, Wired provides a guide to erase your Google web history.
The Dish 