Although already tiring, the discussion about Google Web History is anything but over.

Difference is: it's just gotten a bit scarier.

So far we're thinking about Web History as the personalized search that isn't, general user profiles and highly targeted ads.

But how about psychologically profiling you? Figuring out what kind of a person you might be?

Far fetched?

Google has filed a patent detailing how it can profile players of online virtual world games -- in real time.

Profiling will take place by evaluating language used as well as game play style.

"User dialogue (e.g., from role playing games, simulation games, etc) may be used to characterise the user (e.g., literate, profane, blunt or polite, quiet etc). Also, user play may be used to characterise the user (e.g., cautious, risk-taker, aggressive, non-confrontational, stealthy, honest, cooperative, uncooperative, etc)."

How you can be gamed with this (no pun intended)?

"If the user has been playing for over two hours continuously, the system may display ads for Pizza Hut, Coke, coffee."

How much of this can be used outside of virtual worlds? How much of this is a testbed for psychological, toolbar-driven Web History?

About the Author: Ruud Hein

I love helping to make web sites make it. From the ground up if needed. CSS challenges, server-side scripting, user and device friendly JavaScript tricks search engines have no problems with. Tracking how the sites perform and then figuring out how to make that performance and the tracking better. I'm passionate about information. No matter how often I trim my feeds in my feed readers (yes, I use more than one), I always have a couple of hundred in there covering topics ranging from design to usability, from SEO to SEM, from life hacks to productivity blogs, from.... Well, you get the idea, I guess. Knowledge and information management is close to my heart. Has to be with the amount of information I track. My "trusted system" is usually in flux but always at hand and fully searchable. My paid passion job at Search Engine People sees me applying my passions and knowledge to a wide array of problems, ones I usually experience as challenges. It's good to have you here: pleased to meet you!