I kept the browser tab open throughout the day. All the random word pairings had the strange associative logic of a dream, as though I had been made privy to the InternetвЂ™s unconscious. Upon waking, I reviewed my browser history. The browser refreshed with random word combinations while I slept-an accident of timing that may have influenced how I think about Internet Noise. I stared at this whimsical procession for a while and then went to bed. вЂњFact cereal,вЂќ вЂњfire mind,вЂќ and вЂњraft flankerвЂќ were the first ones вЂњfinal hotel,вЂќ вЂњcomponent nation,вЂќ and вЂњgiraffe cloisterвЂќ soon followed.

A new browser tab opened and began to refresh every few seconds with search results based on random pairings of words. I heard about it that night, went straight to the charmingly bare-bones page, and clicked the вЂњMake some noiseвЂќ button. Sometime before dawn on March 29th, not too many hours after Congress approved legislation that allows Internet-service providers to sell your browsing history to whoever wants to buy it, a coder named Dan Schultz released a search randomizer called Internet Noise, which offers a way of veiling oneвЂ™s real interests online.

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