5 ms·

>Google is 90's Microsoft with better PR. Well actually it's worse than that because MS didn't usually have access to my private data while google knows almost

>Google is 90's Microsoft with better PR. Well actually it's worse than that because MS didn't usually have access to my private data while google knows almost everything about their users if they have an Android phone and use gmail This is the statement that I have known for years but never put into words. And it rings terrifyingly true.

dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
What is terrifying for me is that when it was happening - and it didn't happen overnight, it was a long process - relatively few people were objecting. The ones who objected were often ridiculed as the tinfoil-hat group. The people who should have been smart enough have been blinded by shiny new releases, the amazing things we can do now, for free. It's only recently that the general public started to discover the ugly truth, whereas we could clearly see it already many years ago!
- crankylinuxuser 8y ago
  That's a tough one. When I started using Google services, I knew they were siphoning my data and using it personally and as a group to do machine-learny things. TANSTAAFL. I made that choice voluntarily, knowing they weren't going to be upfront about it. I also made $8.35/hr at a crummy job when I made that decision. I couldn't afford the services Google offered for free from anywhere else. These days, I'm working as a competent sysad, making appropriate pay. Now, I can afford for-pay services that can supplant various googly-eyed services. But now, my problem is different: how do I know non-google company doing X that I pay for isn't also making similar deals with advert companies? How do I know my data is private? Obviously, Google is a SPOF in many ways. I don't like that. But the converse is to pay individual companies for service, and hope they're better than Google with respect to service, privacy, and ethics. But those are awfully nebulous to gauge.

dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago

What is terrifying for me is that when it was happening - and it didn't happen overnight, it was a long process - relatively few people were objecting. The ones who objected were often ridiculed as the tinfoil-hat group. The people who should have been smart enough have been blinded by shiny new releases, the amazing things we can do now, for free. It's only recently that the general public started to discover the ugly truth, whereas we could clearly see it already many years ago!

crankylinuxuser 8y ago
That's a tough one. When I started using Google services, I knew they were siphoning my data and using it personally and as a group to do machine-learny things. TANSTAAFL. I made that choice voluntarily, knowing they weren't going to be upfront about it. I also made $8.35/hr at a crummy job when I made that decision. I couldn't afford the services Google offered for free from anywhere else. These days, I'm working as a competent sysad, making appropriate pay. Now, I can afford for-pay services that can supplant various googly-eyed services. But now, my problem is different: how do I know non-google company doing X that I pay for isn't also making similar deals with advert companies? How do I know my data is private? Obviously, Google is a SPOF in many ways. I don't like that. But the converse is to pay individual companies for service, and hope they're better than Google with respect to service, privacy, and ethics. But those are awfully nebulous to gauge.