None of google's services are free, you just pay for them with your privacy. That's WAY too expensive for me.
"When I use Google Maps, I feel empowered. I feel assured. I feel confident. "
When I use google maps (very rarely), I feel dirty. Like I need to shower, after being forced to walk through a sewer to find the info I wanted.
What a sad world we have become, inculcated with the notions that it's okay to hand over every detail of one's life to data mining and data analysis companies.
This a related and sincere question: Have you figured out some way to prevent your financial information, family dynamics, legal dealings, even some medical data, from being mined and sold? Totally honest question as my real-life information being bought and sold bothers me much more than my anonymized and often completely hidden on-line activities. Yes much of what I do in forums and such can be identifiable with some effort but it's avoidable: Just don't use the web as much. I don't know how to start to avoid my real, identifiable and very personal information from being harvested from the things I do and the places I go on a regular basis.
None of google's services are free, you just pay for them with your privacy. That's WAY too expensive for me.
"When I use Google Maps, I feel empowered. I feel assured. I feel confident. "
When I use google maps (very rarely), I feel dirty. Like I need to shower, after being forced to walk through a sewer to find the info I wanted.
What a sad world we have become, inculcated with the notions that it's okay to hand over every detail of one's life to data mining and data analysis companies.
This a related and sincere question: Have you figured out some way to prevent your financial information, family dynamics, legal dealings, even some medical data, from being mined and sold? Totally honest question as my real-life information being bought and sold bothers me much more than my anonymized and often completely hidden on-line activities. Yes much of what I do in forums and such can be identifiable with some effort but it's avoidable: Just don't use the web as much. I don't know how to start to avoid my real, identifiable and very personal information from being harvested from the things I do and the places I go on a regular basis.
This is a really good question, and one I'd be happy to talk about in more depth, but not in a public forum.
Very short answer is that you certainly can't stop *everything*, but with enough effort one can avoid the vast majority of this crap. It does involve some lifestyle changes, but most are not super-challenging. The biggest daily challenge, honestly, is Google (and a few others like facebook, to a lesser extent), which is why I'm so harsh on them and their business model. The reasons are primarily 1) ubiquity, and 2) that *other* *people* feed the beast constantly, and try to force you into using their tools and services, either directly or indirectly. Gmail is the biggest ongoing problem, but I'm actually fighting another battle on this front just today, where a company wants me to "register" my family using a googledoc form, and this registration requires personal information. Because of this choice for the sake of *their* convenience, they're going to have to deal with (at least) a couple families' pushback and making at least one or two exceptions. I hope it makes them think twice about this choice of tools next time, because it's not appropriate.
If you're interested in more info/details, and willing to take the conversation private/offline, let me know.
Comments
Have you figured out some way to prevent your financial information, family dynamics, legal dealings, even some medical data, from being mined and sold? Totally honest question as my real-life information being bought and sold bothers me much more than my anonymized and often completely hidden on-line activities. Yes much of what I do in forums and such can be identifiable with some effort but it's avoidable: Just don't use the web as much. I don't know how to start to avoid my real, identifiable and very personal information from being harvested from the things I do and the places I go on a regular basis.
Very short answer is that you certainly can't stop *everything*, but with enough effort one can avoid the vast majority of this crap. It does involve some lifestyle changes, but most are not super-challenging. The biggest daily challenge, honestly, is Google (and a few others like facebook, to a lesser extent), which is why I'm so harsh on them and their business model. The reasons are primarily 1) ubiquity, and 2) that *other* *people* feed the beast constantly, and try to force you into using their tools and services, either directly or indirectly. Gmail is the biggest ongoing problem, but I'm actually fighting another battle on this front just today, where a company wants me to "register" my family using a googledoc form, and this registration requires personal information. Because of this choice for the sake of *their* convenience, they're going to have to deal with (at least) a couple families' pushback and making at least one or two exceptions. I hope it makes them think twice about this choice of tools next time, because it's not appropriate.
If you're interested in more info/details, and willing to take the conversation private/offline, let me know.