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We all hate the spam ads peppered throughout the internet, but do you really want advertisers viewing your “location, recent product searches and … age or household income” in determing the right ad for you? Until recently, people who didn’t approve of similar practices by internet powerhouses like Google could simply use alternative services. Recently, however more and more top web companies are adding these forms of intrusive targetted marketing. In the case of Kevin Rose’s Pownce, for example, even startups are beginning to intergrate these strategies from the start.

Unfortunately, it seems that Google has set the industry standard that others seek to meet.� It is hard to imagine how their practices won’t trickle into the development of privacy-related issues on the web, so long as they remain industry front-runners. Are these issues of concern to you? Reason enough to switch services, either for searches or for email? Or do you just take them for granted, shrug, and move on?