By John M. Simpson

Have you seen the cloying and annoying video produced by Google called “Google Chrome: Coffee”?  It tells the tale of a man using the Internet to get back in the good graces of his estranged girlfriend.  

It ends with him asking her to join him for a cup of coffee and concludes with the tagline, “The web is what you make of it.”

Naturally the man uses the Internet giant’s browser Chrome to access the web and the full range of Google products from Gmail, to maps, to Picasa, to docs, to YouTube as he remembers the past, apologizes and asks her to join him for coffee.

It’s just sooooo cute.

The problem is that Google doesn’t tell you that while you’re using Chrome and its other products it is amassing a huge digital dossier on your activities so you can be marketed to advertisers.  That’s where 98 percent of Google’ revenue comes from: advertising.  You’re not Google’s customer; you’re its product.

Just to remind folks of the reality, a technologist has produced his own little video called “Google Radar: Coffee.”  It overlays on the original Google video all the information that is sent back to Google for possible inclusion in digital dossiers as the the hero of the tale makes his plea for reconciliation.

Google should really change tag line.  It ought to read, “The web is what we make of you.”

The technologist sent me a link.  Check the video out below.