|
|
|
|
|
|
by arindone
4792 days ago
|
|
|
I've said this before and I'll say it again -- why the complaints now, when Google has been doing this for years? Essentially, they can collect your information from emails, purchasing habits & financial information from Google Wallet, income, and combine that with Google+ social data, files you put into Google drive, and you have a complete profile that's ripe for advertising. |
|
|
I just want people to acknowledge that what Google has been doing and what everyone else is doing is essentially the SAME THING. No reason one company should get a pass over others.
Now as for whether privacy is a legitimate concern or not is another matter entirely and I think comes down to a bit of personal preference too.
I for one, don't care about my privacy -- to an extent. There I said it. I don't care if Google knows that I eat somewhere or do something because it's trivial to me as long as my data is SECURE and I have fine grained privacy CONTROLS. If you give me security and control, then I'll gladly hand over my data for a useful service such as mail, or chat, or photos or whatever it may be.
Privacy in 2013 is different, and we must acknowledge that. This is a new generation, a new era. If you want to stay disconnected, then you don't get to experience this new world and if that's your preference, that's perfectly fine. (note: there will always be a subset of vocal technically inclined people like many of us on the forum that will try to resist, but in the long run, we won't prevail; I have ghostery installed for the hell of it, but a large amount of people don't even know what it is).
I think moving forward, every individual is going to have some type of public web presence that will be as much a part of who they are as anything else. Some parts of this presence will be private and tucked away behind anonymous usernames and private content. Other parts will be open for the world to see. To an extent, all of this is already true, but think about all the kids born from 2005 onward. They're only 8 years old now and are going to be part of the new, always connected generation (meaning, they've never known a world otherwise).
Therefore I think security of data is more important than EVER. Every company should make security of user data a TOP priority. In addition, every company should provide FINE GRAINED privacy CONTROL to allow the user to decide what he/she wants to show and to whom. On the other hand, a user should expect that a web company pays its bills through targeting via user data, and should reflect upon his/her expectation of privacy on the web.
The web is the new TV, but different, and more powerful, much more powerful.