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Julian Assange is an idiot. He blames the victim. Google is a problem for privacy!? The US government is! Nobody forces you to use Google, and Google isn't the

Julian Assange is an idiot. He blames the victim. Google is a problem for privacy!? The US government is! Nobody forces you to use Google, and Google isn't the organization secretly gathering information with secret warrants. That's the US government, who is forcing Google (and any company in their way) to do their bidding. Why not focus attention on the actual bad guys: The NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the White House, and the entire fucking national security committee.

phaer 13y ago
Because Google's (and other) gadgets are the sugar coating for surveillance. Nobody would voluntarily wear a government-mandated gps-tracker with a remote-controllable microphone, but most people (including myself) are readily buying them from Google which enables governments to access a lot of interesting data with far less outrage as if they would access is directly. I am not following closely, but Mr. Assange does seem to have some public criticism of the organizations you mentioned.
- dreamdu5t 13y ago
  Right. So instead of directing our ire at the government which is using the gps-tracker with remote-controllable microphone to spy on you, we should be angry at Google because the government happens to use them to accomplish this end? If Google closed up shop tomorrow, the government would not stop doing this! I'm sorry but in no way does Google deserve scrutiny over the FBI/CIA/DoJ.
quadrangle 13y ago
"Nobody forces you to use Google" is an example of a very problematic common bit of rhetoric. You can also say nobody forces you to use the internet or have a car or whatever else. Google is not a true monopoly, but they are monopolistic. They exist in a world of oligopolies. There is not as much choice as there should be, and this is a threat to privacy and to freedom. Having non-democratic oligopolies is already a threat, period. Forced to use Google? No, but Google is certainly interested in convincing you to use them. So many people are convinced and aren't aware of any issues. In the end, "forced to use" is bad rhetoric because it is a straw man. Nobody was arguing to the contrary. Tearing down that straw man fails to address the actual problems.

phaer 13y ago

Because Google's (and other) gadgets are the sugar coating for surveillance. Nobody would voluntarily wear a government-mandated gps-tracker with a remote-controllable microphone, but most people (including myself) are readily buying them from Google which enables governments to access a lot of interesting data with far less outrage as if they would access is directly. I am not following closely, but Mr. Assange does seem to have some public criticism of the organizations you mentioned.

dreamdu5t 13y ago
Right. So instead of directing our ire at the government which is using the gps-tracker with remote-controllable microphone to spy on you, we should be angry at Google because the government happens to use them to accomplish this end? If Google closed up shop tomorrow, the government would not stop doing this! I'm sorry but in no way does Google deserve scrutiny over the FBI/CIA/DoJ.

quadrangle 13y ago

"Nobody forces you to use Google" is an example of a very problematic common bit of rhetoric. You can also say nobody forces you to use the internet or have a car or whatever else. Google is not a true monopoly, but they are monopolistic. They exist in a world of oligopolies. There is not as much choice as there should be, and this is a threat to privacy and to freedom. Having non-democratic oligopolies is already a threat, period. Forced to use Google? No, but Google is certainly interested in convincing you to use them. So many people are convinced and aren't aware of any issues. In the end, "forced to use" is bad rhetoric because it is a straw man. Nobody was arguing to the contrary. Tearing down that straw man fails to address the actual problems.