fantomNews™ — the ultimate know

(rt) Nathan Weinberg of Inside Google points us to yet another super application of Google’s, freshly released as a bet version (what else?): the Google ContentBlocker

Some gems:

Content to block preferences include “Block all content”, “Block all content except Google (recommended)” and, more realistically perhaps, “Block all content except Google and porn”.

What is Google Content Blocker?
Google’s mission is to organize the world’s advertising for maximum exposure to Web users. Unfortunately, annoying Web content often overwhelms the page, causing many users to become distracted and overlook the ads.

That’s where Google Content Blocker comes in. It effectively blocks all Web site content, leaving only the advertisements.

Recent critical voices (ourselves included) will feel reassured that Google are still the good guys and the paladins of ethical behavior, vide their policy towards other providers’ ads:

Google Content Blocker does not block other ads. This is consistent with the “we are not evil” spirit that our PR department always talks about.

See? It’s not that bad after all.

There’s some nifty other information, too:

What can I do once the content is removed?
Click on the ads: Just click ‘em (you don’t even have to read ‘em). Every time you click an ad, money changes hands. As an option, you can install the free Google Content Blocker “ka-ching!” → audio support file.
[…]
Tell your friends about the ads: Tell them how cute and funny the ads are, and tell them how to find them. Also tell them to click on the ads.

Their FAQ is a master piece of outspokenness, too:

4. What if I use this along with an ad blocker?
You figure it out, Einstein. You’ll get nothing. Not a goddamned thing. A white page with nothing on it. Zilch. Nada. Nothingness. Only morons use an ad blocker.
[…]
5. What if I click on a page that has no ads?
A Web site with no ads? What do you think this is, 1991? The chances of that happening are very small. In such a case, we will insert some randomly selected Google AdSense ads so you’ll have something to read.

There’s even a link to a White Paper in PDF format.

From their revamped Privacy Policy:

Google is committed to collecting every bit of data that it possibly can, and storing it forever. You just never know when it might be useful. We recognize that privacy is an important issue, but we’ve gotten so pervasive that we don’t even need to be concerned about it. It’s not like you’re going to stop using Google, right?
[…]
If you want privacy, go into the bathroom and lock the door. You ain’t gonna get in on the Web, so don’t kid yourself. We pretty much know everything there is to know about you — and it’s pretty boring. Get a life, dude.

Well, what shall we say: 1000 marks for spelling it out as it is …

Don’t miss out on this one:
→ J-Walk Blog: About Google Content Blocker

And here’s Nathan’s take:
→ New Google Tool Shows Only Ads

 
Educating our readers to read the fine print:
Readjust your pacemakers – in case you haven’t noticed: this thingy is a PARODY!

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