It was reassuring to read that Google have started to examine web pages for malicious content. But scarier to note that, having surveyed billions of sites and subjected 4.5 million pages to in-depth analysis, they had found that one in ten were capable of launching malicious code. It's clearly a big problem so it's good to see someone taking an initiative to address it. But where will all this monitoring end? At the same time the media have also spotted that Google has filed a patent outlining its plans to compile psychological profiles of millions of web users by covertly monitoring the way they play online games. It's all further evidence that we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society. And there's not a lot we can do other than embrace and accept the risks that new technology brings.