Really getting slapped in the face the last week with the extent of the tracking. Bought a Spanish learning software program and am now getting a bunch of Spanish language ads. Got one to vote for a Democratic candidate for Georgia governor.

Other than financial hacking, most of this is just demographic noise.

There was a time when a print ad campaign could make a national product. Then radio joined in. Then TV.

But over time, consumers get accustomed to the commercial noise level and the effectiveness of campaigns falls off considerably.

We happen to be on the front end of the Internet social engineering curve right now But it's effectiveness will trail off over time like all the media before it. Contrary to popular belief, most people with money to spend are smarter than the advertisers.

Even now, with everyone in an uproar, the most this data mining can effectively do is find people receptive to your point of view. There is zero evidence at this point it is effective in changing anyone's point of view.