Clever tactic, or invasion of privacy?

I'm sure it's been written about online before, but I saw an article in my email edition of Advertising Age today that caught me a bit off-guard. The article (linked to the title of this post) talked about how, just in a search engine, Google can target consumers with ads, based on what they search.

On one hand, that's all well and good. We all hate pop-up ads, and most of us probably have pop-up blockers on our computers. However, if those pop-up ads appeal to us, would we be more likely to turn off the blocker and actually pay attention to what they're trying to sell us?

Say I'm doing a search on Google for a synopsis on a movie. All of a sudden, an ad pops up for Netflix; or a small little advertisement for Red Dot. That's actually clever. Of course, I already subscribe to Netflix; so the ad would have fallen subject to being "x'd out." I was just looking for a synopsis on a movie.

Or, I could be doing some sort of product research. An ad pops up for just that product and maybe a "click to save 50 cents" sort of thing. That probably appeals to consumers.

But, on the other hand, what about the unusual searches? Sometimes, people search for the oddest things on Google. Price even said in the interview that the internet was becoming more "personalized," so he's trying to adapt ads to meet that personalization. Might that approach become too personal in some cases? Almost like a case of Big Brother knowing what we're doing on the internet?

If that's the case, will it turn consumers off?