Why I don’t like Google Autolink
Kottke thinks that the Google toolbar is a good idea. Here’s why I disagree.
I have a strong visceral reaction to this because it disturbs the decentralized nature of the web. It’s the same reason people got upset about DoubleClick tracking visits from one site to another through a shared cookie. It’s because a lot of what makes the web the web is that there are disparate competing resources from LOTS of different sources, and Autolink gives that the finger.
For me, the issue isn’t about modifying layout or even content, it’s about Google standing between the user and every other site and saying “you go here now”. Some things are bad just by being ubiquitous. In a sea of Amazon and Google Maps links, everything else will start to look out of place.
As for reasonable intelligent adults being able to make their own decisions, as I’ve said before, I think that technology has gotten to be too pervasive for the non-technical to have enough information and perspective to make these decisions, and the informed experts need to take a stand against what we perceive to be detrimental trends being enforced without full and knowledgeable consent.
Jason thinks this isn’t like DRM, but it is – it’s about centralized control. Don’t think for a second that this “puts the power in the hands of the user”.
