privacy invasion

gmail is creepy. so i realized this today after katie, one of my pharmacists, pointed this out to me... and i varified it was true... gmail finds keywords in the emails we send and filters "sponsered advertisements" to those keywords... for example... one of my recent emails discussed college entrance essays and MCAT scores, and i had a bunch of advertisements on the side of my bar offering MCAT studying, writing improvement, etc. i'm sorry that's just creepy.

so here's my question...

how far should advertisers go? how far should companies dig into your privacy to specialize results to your specific interests? is this helpful or just creepy?

er... i suppose it could be helpful... but honestly... i just feel a little violated. supposedly they are not providing other companies with my person information provided in emails... but who's to say that if they aren't now... what going to stop them? and yes, i know blogger is in sync with google... it just still all creeps me out. i just thought i'd let you all in on something i realized today...and see what you all thought of this as well...