I don't completely understand the privacy issue so it's difficult for me to make a socially conscious judgment about this one. On a personal level, however, I'm starting to feel that transparency is the key to happiness as more and more of our life is digitized. The idea of Google having some level of access to my data actually makes me more comfortable with the new reality because it drives me to be more open. The more I want to keep private, the more I, personally, have to worry about that privacy being eroded. It's karma really. That sounded strange to me adamc...why would you feel comfortable with some MAJOR institution like Google having access to all your *stuff*? I'd rather the CIA or FBI have access. That being said...when you have nothing to hide or be ashamed of...I agree with you. They'd all be bored to tears with what I'm interested in. Hmm . . . given the amount of info Google could collect on me from my searches alone, if I was the type to be paranoid, I'd've started a long time before this (especially given the amount of time I spend on public computers). Google is extremely prominent and powerful, in a competitive market. It has an enormous amount to lose if it does something unpopular, and it's prominence makes for a serious incentive for insiders to blow the whistle (reporters lining up, lawsuits, etc.), or for competitors to prove it's acting improperly. If information is misused, I suspect the public will know about it in short order. And with Google's reputation on the line, combined with its power, it will be dif... thats why i never use big company stuff. google is just another big company now. some of its stuff is good, but only the foolish trust them. A few hundred years ago: Do you realize how many hands your letter goes through before reaching its destination? Do you know how simple it is for someone to steam open the envelope, read its contents, and reseal it with no one the wiser? Haha Godfrey, technology may change, but human concerns stay the same. I wonder what the ancient Egyptian equivalent was. I'm with Adam on this one. I like Gmail, a lot actually. They seem to have SPAM problem pretty well handled, much better than my ISP. It's very handy when used with Calendar and other apps from Google. I guess if one want to have totally privacy - probably needs to move to the woods somewhere. Gmail or not - there's no privacy on the Net, however one can still function very well if taking appropriate precautions about the data entered, firewalls, anti-virus, anti-spyware etc. 1} all of your data belongs to any server it lands on: work, isp, whatever. all of the email you ever wrote is stored on backup tapes in some company's data vaults. your employer, in fact, is now required by law to keep all of your email on archive forever. 2) get an anonymous account on hotmail, invite yourself to google, use the new anonymous account for private stuff. sheesh. |
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