08-14-2013, 07:18 AM | #1 | ||
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Google says privacy should not be expected
From Cnet:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-575...on-of-privacy/ Quote:
As has been so often restated, on the internet if you're not the buyer you're the product. Act accordingly. Cnet also has a rationalist commentary: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-57...vacy-were-you/ Quote:
Last edited by fjtorres; 08-14-2013 at 07:25 AM. |
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08-14-2013, 08:16 AM | #2 |
Wizard
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It's a reasonable positions to take when you're talking about Gmail as a traditional web mail service. "It's free what did you expect. If you don't like it use something else."
When you start talking Android and the requirement to have a Gmail account before you can use the store, that is a subtlety which is lost on most consumers. If you don't like it are you supposed to buy another phone? Is that reasonable? I know that you only need the Gmail account to access the store and you can use another email provider for your mail but do they really expect my Aunt Sally to understand that. I disagree with the statement that this isn't news. I'm sure it's news to a lot of people. |
08-14-2013, 08:51 AM | #3 | |
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Quote:
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08-14-2013, 09:31 AM | #4 |
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08-14-2013, 09:48 AM | #5 |
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Plain text email has never been secure, so if someone is concerned about privacy, there are tools like PGP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy Google scanning mail should probably be made more public, and get more transparently stated, though.
Google is not a charity, even if they like to give that impression. The price for using their services is the information (and analysis of it) that we provide when we use their search engine, mail, etc. It is quite valuable. |
08-14-2013, 10:07 AM | #6 | |
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Quote:
Unlike Apple, there are alternative app stores for Android (1Mobile, etc) so that's certainly one route you can take. It just happens to be easier for most folks to use the Google Play store. Heck, I've got an Android tablet that has its wi-fi permanently disabled. No Google account (or any account) linked to it and apps and content are added via sideloading. |
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08-14-2013, 10:29 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
PGP is a valuable resource. Trouble is few people know how to use it. |
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08-14-2013, 10:33 AM | #8 |
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I've been souring a lot on Google lately they have been pulling quite a lot of things like this, reversing course on net neutrality, censoring search results which are getting more and more worthless and also what's really got me annoyed is they are destroying the things they did do well by trying to force them into Google+.
Last example of this is probably Hangouts it's by far the worst messenger I've ever used doesn't give you control of your own contact list (mines full of many many duplicates because it lifts the contacts from so many places and treats each email address as a new contact), doesn't show whose on and offline and is on all the time by default on your android devices whether you like it or not. Some other things like trying to do away with phone/tablet storage by removing Micro SD, USB Mass Storage and USB OTG very blatantly to try and sell their own cloud storage which will never ever be a good alternative. I still like them more than Apple but I can't wait for alternatives like tizen to appear. PS: Did I mention they killed the only two Google sites I ever used iGoogle and Google Reader. Last edited by Teknikal; 08-14-2013 at 10:37 AM. |
08-14-2013, 10:51 AM | #9 |
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If you are on the internet, you forgo some privacy. The more you want done for you, the more you lose.
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08-14-2013, 11:15 AM | #10 | |
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Quote:
You cannot "lose" something you never had. Just because some people all of a sudden decided that they think they should have a presumption of privacy does not alter the reality that they never did. If they want it, they need to establish it, not pretend it was always there then bitch when reality refuses to alter itself to agree with them. And the reason not many people know how to use email encryption is that very few people need it, want it, or care. Even in the military, we never bothered with encryption unless the traffic specifically warranted it, and we have a separate network for that purpose. ApK (The preceding was an irresistible commentary on the so-called 'news' item and the thread as it stood when I glanced at it. I respectfully suggest this thread be move to P&R.) Last edited by ApK; 08-14-2013 at 11:25 AM. |
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08-14-2013, 12:28 PM | #11 |
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And another take on the "News"
http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/08...vacy-in-gmail/ Folks, unless you're encrypting your email, all the email servers in the world have plaintext access to all your email. It's like writing on the back of a postcard. |
08-14-2013, 02:00 PM | #12 | |
Testate Amoeba
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Quote:
Knowing that any individual could be reading any one of my messages is vastly different than knowing that an individual has access to all of my correspondence at once. Someone finding a postcard slightly erodes my privacy in the sense that someone has a snapshot of some aspect of my life. Google, though, is trying to determine (and is apparently succeeding at determining) what advertisements will convert to sales for each individual person. The other important distinction is that with the Post Office, I have the option of either sending a postcard or spending slightly more money and sending a sealed letter. This is on a per-message basis and requires that I do no more setup than buying an envelope (which the Post Office will sell me if I'm even that shortsighted). Google doesn't offer me that option. For me, it boils down to the difference between one person looking at my house while driving by and another obviously casing the joint. Google's reasoning is that since I haven't put up any protections against someone looking at my house, it's OK for them to look in all the windows and maybe try a few doors to see what brand of soda I drink and if I might be in the market for a new TV. |
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08-14-2013, 02:41 PM | #13 | |
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Quote:
Last edited by Alexander Turcic; 08-14-2013 at 04:07 PM. |
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08-14-2013, 04:06 PM | #14 |
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*YAWN* I've been using GMail since launch, and I've been an e-mail user since 1997.
It should really be obvious that there's no privacy whatsoever. You could run your own e-mail server, but that doesn't guarantee privacy on the other end. If you're using a company's e-mail server, of course they'e going to have access to all your e-mail internally, and heck, sometimes it is noted in the signature of these people's e-mails that they are using an address that is actively being watched. It's the public's fault that Google got this big to begin with. I was happily using WebCrawler and Yahoo's search engines back in the day before Google got shoved onto everyone's faces. It's not like you're going to willingly pay to use a search engine, so they have to find another way to make money, and well, "invading" your privacy as some people see it, is just the thing that works. |
08-14-2013, 04:07 PM | #15 | |
Omnivorous
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Quote:
If you want security with *any* email service, you must make the effort to make it secure. GMail is just another online mail service and by it's nature email is text based protocol. There is no and there should be no expectation of privacy. |
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