I don’t know if Google can be called a big brother (just yet), but they are definitely hearing us (at least when we use Google Talk).

I woke up this morning, entered my Gmail account (which I mostly use for malling lists, or spam I know people will send me ), and I saw a new folder on the left side of my screen with a new icon: Chats. On the folder you get the following text:

Get Google Talk so you can chat and make free voice calls with friends. Your Google Talk chat history can be automatically saved right here in your Gmail account. Also coming soon: chat in Gmail!

It is unclear whether this is done by default or not, but it does raise some concerns.