Here is but a small sample:
- Natural Cannabis E-liquid: All natural, 30% Hemp. No THC in a bottle;
- painless toenail fungus removal [the images were blocked, thank goodness];
- Vydox: Men: You can feel 20 again [there are many variations of this];
- Take Control Of Your Alcohol Problem with Rehab;
- JOB OFFER: Reply For More Details [dammit!];
- Now's The Time To Become A Nurse;
- Find Love through Faith at ChristianMingle;
- Kanika: Someone in Etienne Pass REALLY wants to date you;
- Owe Back Taxes to the IRS That You Can't Pay? We Can Help;
- Melt Your Fat like Butter:
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If I took it personally, much of the stuff above is as offensive as anything for which people were booked under Section 66A. They cast aspersions on my gender, appearance, social life, habits and hygiene, financial status, qualifications, and fitness, after all. Unlike the menace of unsolicited text messages some years ago, which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was effectively able to staunch, "WWW" is a global beast that no government can control, even though China has tried hard to do so for many years.
The puzzling thing is this. The internet is supposed to be the new All-Seeing, All-Knowing entity in our lives, the unseen Presence that even the most hardened Atheist cannot deny. E-commerce companies thrive on the access to the global marketplace that it offers and employ hundreds of people to do an impressive thing called Data Analytics, and splice and dice Big Data to "target" their customers more accurately.
The inference is that my email address gets captured when I visit such sites, so I become the recipient of such targeting. Yet, I can promise, Arnab Goswami-style, that I have never, never, never, ever, ever, ever visited any site that offers - dating/matrimonial services (Christian or otherwise), substance suppliers, jobs, or anything to do with bodily fungus, the physical functioning of organs I do not possess, or de-addiction advice.
To confess, I have visited several sites for urgent advice on knee exercises after a bad injury, but have so far received no unsolicited mails even remotely related to this or any other joint in the human body. I once signed a petition to save stray dogs in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) and received just one petition after that, to save the Killer Whale. I signed that, too, but have never been approached again, though I understand many thousands of species in the animal and plant kingdoms are in danger of turning extinct every day.
E-commerce sites are no better at tracking my habits, though you think they would be better at it since their business depends on it. When I bought a pair of light ankle weights (as treatment for self-same knee problem) I was besieged by price-offs for gym equipment so evolved they resembled medieval torture instruments.
I mostly buy books online - non-fiction: history, politics, current affairs, that kind of thing. Regardless of what I buy the "best reads" I get are: Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi, A P J Abdul Kalam, our former Prez and indefatigable writer of "inspirational books", Devdutt Pattanaik, one-time Chief Belief Officer - yes, you read that right - of the Future group and popular commentator on Indian mythology, and the Sadhguru. Now, I have nothing against these fine gentlemen except that I do not order any books remotely connected to anything they write. Bar two of Mr Bhagat's books, I have not even read the other authors.
As far as I can make out, the Data Analytics teams on these shopping sites have simply identified someone who buys "books" and lists current bestsellers that randomly pop up when I log in. Amazon is rather cleverer at buyer profiling, persuasively suggesting other books or music that were bought by other buyers along with the one I'd ordered. Occasionally, it's worked, too.
There is, however, a worrying element of this random profiling and the ease with which all manner of websites seem to get hold of my email address. Many books have been written about the dangers, hidden and explicit, of the internet - from promoting obsessive-compulsive behaviour to stalking, cyber-bullying and other forms of harassment. In Net Delusion Evgeny Morozov suggests that the internet empowers dictators and other crazies - true enough if you take a look at sites advocating Holocaust denial, the targeting of ethnic minorities and so on. These are clear and present dangers that polities haven't worked out how to address and 66A couldn't have helped even if the term "offensive" were defined.
Anyway, the mildly amusing spam I receive stem from a single email address. Goodness knows what I would get if I were plugged into multiple social networking sites as many people are these days. Come to think of it, I wonder what kind of spam Narendra Modi receives.