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The best replacements would be local applications under one's full control that seamlessly sync all data on a peer-to-peer network encompassing all of one's dev
by cs702 14y ago
The best replacements would be local applications under one's full control that seamlessly sync all data on a peer-to-peer network encompassing all of one's devices -- desktop PC, tablet, phone, etc. Alas, AFAIK, such applications don't exist yet.
The next-best replacements would be paid services that work with all of one's devices, but transmit and store one's data only after it has been encrypted, with the private keys fully under one's control. Alas, AFAIK, such services don't exist yet.
As a compromise, I would pay for a decent integrated alternative to Google's Gmail, Contacts, and Calendar that doesn't use my private data for anything else and works across all of my devices (Linux desktop, tablet, phone). Alas, AFAIK, such an alternative doesn't exist yet.
Only a tiny number of people today care enough about their privacy to worry about it, so companies have no financial incentive to do much in this regard (except as required by law).
- icebraining 14y agoownCloud seems to be going in that direction. Contact and Calendar syncing on Android is "in development".
- jrabone 14y agoYes, that is exactly what I want. I rooted and upgraded my S2 to a Cyanogen 10 nightly over the weekend (trying to fix the seemingly un-interoperable Android VPN implementation for my setup) and I was appalled to realise that one of the things I was losing was a local calendar and contacts provider - apparently that was something Samsung added, and vanilla Jellybean is cloud-only. I don't WANT my contacts phone numbers in Gmail. I don't even want Gmail, really; it's a fall back and a throwaway don't-trust-you-with-my-real-email account. I run my own mailserver (Exim + Courier IMAP/POP servers). Is there a good server-only contacts & calendering system written in a sane language (I refuse to use PHP, life is too short) I can add? TLS support a must. Anyone fancy writing one plus the Android integration?
- alextingle 14y agoI do fancy writing that actually. Sadly I'm busy for the next year or two but after that, this is one of the problems I would love to help solve.
- amirmc 14y ago> The best replacements would be local applications under one's full control that seamlessly sync all data on a peer-to-peer network encompassing all of one's devices -- desktop PC, tablet, phone, etc. Alas, AFAIK, such applications don't exist yet. This is the kind of thing we're working on (http://perscon.net http://perscon.net). It's a open-source effort, currently happening through academia. That gives us the luxury of solving some tricky problems without the pressure to 'lash something together' (though academia has other issues). Privacy conscious software will eventually reach the masses but I've no idea how long it'll take. I also believe it needs to be created from the ground up if it's really meant to care about your privacy. An open question is how such software can be commercialised, since the economic incentive is currently around 'Big Data', and people don't want to manage their own infrastructure. Both of these push us towards more centralised services. DEspite this, nearly everyone I speak to seems wary of how much companies like FB/Google "know about you" but people just accept the data-leakage almost as a cost of engaging online.