A new service from google

I had a dream last night about a new service to be offered by google, as part of their email service.

What they will offer is the ability to replace the second part of your email address, in my case 'gmail.com' by something which has been customised to you, something which somehow encapsulates what you are. Drunken student, bored suburban housewife, cultivator of garden gnomes, whatever. The clever bit is that the people from google have somehow embedded a cartoon of you - caricature if you will - into this second part of your email address. A bit of short text which is also a bit of multi-media, complete with illustrative images and sounds.

But there is a catch. They have yet to decide whether the customer gets to choose the cartoon, how they want to be seen by the world, or whether google gets to decide on the basis of your internet activity. The real you; what you are, rather than what you would like to be. A totally condensed version of your Facebook persona.

The European Commission is taking an active interest in the matter, with the president, Jean-Claude Juncker, taking the chair of the relevant committee himself. See reference 1.

Also an illustration of the way that dreams can play fast and loose with reality. Very vivid at the time.

Reference 1: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/presidents_en#president.