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To be fair, Facebook and Google profit from this misunderstanding. I do see your point, but I don't feel they should be able to advertise themselves, effective
by FeepingCreature 10y ago
To be fair, Facebook and Google profit from this misunderstanding.
I do see your point, but I don't feel they should be able to advertise themselves, effectively, as utilities and then refuse to carry the burden of that claim. If Google says you'll be able to store their email with them in perpetuity, one of two things should be true: either they should be legally treated as a utility, or they should be taken to court for false advertisement.
- dahart 10y agoAre they falsely advertising, pretending to be public utilities? And is that what's going on - people actually being tricked and thinking they're public services? To be honest, I can't say I've ever seen an ad for Facebook or Gmail. They entered my world like I imagine most people -- because I heard about them from friends.
- shopkins 10y agoI don't think there's any "effective" advertising as utilities. Where do they say you can store email with them in perpetuity? One of the biggest problems, I think, is user education: the average user sees these widely-adopted services online and assumes they're equivalent to meatspace, where real utilities have been created over time by institutions -- not private corporations. If anything, we need a legally enforceable way to set up true virtual utilities, or for more people to internalize what the media has been telling anyone who listens carefully for years: your data, once handed over, no longer belongs to you.