I also don't really care and actually like a lot of the corporate targeting. The problem is there's a fine line between narrowing advertising and taking direct action based on "suspicious" activities. As long as the government can't analyze or pay or otherwise coerce others to analyze the data we'd be pretty safe, but the problem is there's nothing stopping them from doing the same thing. They just aren't as open about letting the targets know in a lot of cases.
Copyright ©2000-2008 Jeremy Mooney (jeremy-at-qux-dot-net)
I laughed pretty hard at the baby clothes bit. :P
As for data mining, pattern matching truly is amazing. I really do not have much of a problem with it, considering that if anyone bothered I would probably just tell them what I bought anyway. In a sense, it helps me avoid irrelevant advertising and just maybe I will find something I appreciate.
Of course, I can see the other side of the argument too. When I got a free razor mere months after my eighteenth birthday, I thought it was a bit strange.