Google Will Trade You Money for Your Privacy

Normally, focus groups only require a few hours of your time, with a free lunch and a little bit of money for your troubles. Google now has plans to start focus grouping as well, except that they'll only give you a five dollar Amazon gift card in exchange for letting them spend three months observing your browsing habits.

The focus group is called Screenwise, and it goes something like this: install an extension in Chrome and start using the internet. That extension will send info back to Google as they figure out "how everyday people use the internet."


For every three months you participate in Screenwise, you'll get another $5 gift card, but only til you've siphoned $25 from them. Um, this sounds like a horrible proposition? Also, lotsa lulz for Google giving out Amazon gift cards. [Screenwise via SearchEngineLand]