His contention is that life consists of persistent patterns of information, and that since these can be mimicked inside a computer, the resulting programs can be said to be alive.
Much irritation has already been caused by aggressive internet marketing, such as persistent pop-up ads, says Hal Varian, professor of information management at the University of California at Berkeley (and an adviser to Google).
The definition of personal information requiring parental notice and consent before collection now includes "persistent identifiers" that can be used to recognize users over time and across different websites or online services.