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Google has published a patent for a method of tracking user behavior through its downloadable toolbar software and serving ads against this information in addition to the content of a Web site. In the filing, Google's Krishna Bharat happily explains how one method Google could use to accomplish this task is through "a cookie which is a persistent means of storage on the client computer." The problem with this: Before regulators approved its DoubleClick acquisition, Google executives promised privacy activists that it would carefully restrict how it uses browser "cookies" to keep track of user behavior.

Specifically, they said Google's engineers would create cookies that "crumble," or self-delete. But then, after the deal went through, Google CEO Eric Schmidt publicly backtracked on this pledge. Bharat's patent is just further proof of Google's institutional, tech-obsessed indifference to privacy.