Truly targeted advertising - coming to a desktop near your soon?

For the Windows users out there who've been affected by adware, this might be salt to the wounds: ArsTechnica is reporting that Microsoft of all firms has patented the "mother of all adware systems" - an advertising framework that allows adverts to be matched to data you search, and potentially data on your hard drive as well.

There are, of course, huge privacy concerns that we'll be watching, and seeing whether Microsoft can address these whilst providing more relevant adverts (something we'd love, if we really have to have adverts). The patent application lists "user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)" as examples of the technology potentially coming to a system near you soon.

Tags: advertising, adware, microsoft, onlineads, software, windows