Give into Google? Good idea or not?

overseer · 08-14-12 at 01:12 PM

I've tried to stay away from Google mainly over privacy concerns (switched to Duckduckgo, choose Skydrive instead of Google Drive, deleted my web history, etc.) but I do admit to love their stuff. I think Google Calendar and Gmail are great and very useful to me.

I'm thinking everything will mesh better if I just use more of their features and give them more of my information. I'm loving Google Now (have it on my phone and tablet/netbook) and think that will be even more useful if they have more information about me.

Now that comes back to the privacy concerns...and come to think of it, do I REALLY care? What will they really know that can hurt me? I'm not doing anything illegal that can bite me in the ass. I have a blue collar job and wouldn't have any sensitive business information on there or anything. I wouldn't have a scan of my passport or drivers license on there. I just want to know the worst case scenario I guess.

**Oamey** · 08-14-12 at 01:39 PM

Have you seen the new outlook.com or the new skydrive app? They're much more streamlined and in my opinion do look better than what Google is currently offering. You may want to wait a bit longer and play around with the new things Microsoft releases in the coming months before finalizing your decision.

overseer · 08-14-12 at 01:54 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Oamey

Have you seen the new outlook.com or the new skydrive app? They're much more streamlined and in my opinion do look better than what Google is currently offering. You may want to wait a bit longer and play around with the new things Microsoft releases in the coming months before finalizing your decision.

I do think Skydrive is better than Google Drive. I get 25GB of storage with them compared to 7GB (I think). And editing Office files on their website is much much better. The file explorer I use with Android supports Skydrive too so it's working perfect for me. And I don't care if Android has an official Skydrive app, I don't see the need for it at all.

Things I was considering are putting in my home and work addresses into Google Maps, giving my cell number (they ask for it now and again when I log into Gmail) and enabling my web history with them.

Notorious_dog · 08-14-12 at 01:57 PM

I think that with google spying on us, they actually stand to give us a free and useful service! (well, maybe not too useful) and that is by offering us products that we might actually WANT by means of showing us advertisement that is tailored to us and our supposed interests (which they have gained knowledge of by spying) and to be honest, if that's ALL they're doing, then I really couldn't care less. (I use ad block anyway)
Not that most of us buy products everyday or something, and are going to make use of their advertisements each day.

My local trade site does pretty much the same thing. They know what Iv been purchasing (obviously) and they send me emails with other auctions of products which are in similar categories to the products that iv already brought.

That's just what I think. What is the truth REALLY? Only the Illuminati know!

liquidtoon · 08-14-12 at 01:58 PM

In all actuality you, like most people, dont interest big companies on a personal level. What they are looking at isnt your drivers lic or passport, its where do you go online, who do you shop with, and what can they advertise to you. If you dont care that they see what you're doing then it isn't an issue. To some the idea that google (and other companies/governments as well) can see everything you do online disturbing, but if you're not breaking any major laws there isn't going to be much difference.

Privacy is just the concern that what you do is being seen, not so much what you're doing. There are cameras in stores "to prevent theft" , cameras on street lights "for public safety" , the computers at work can legally watch what you do "for productivity", they can listen to your phone "for national security" , and now they watch what you do online "for marketability". So they question is just how far is to far. It is a question only you can answer, for me I dont like where google is headed but I like the products they make and so I choose to let they have my info.

hiddukel32 · 08-14-12 at 02:48 PM

Just because you have nothing to hide now, doesn't mean 10 years from now, when laws and ideas change... you won't wish there wasn't a database full of information about you and your habits and every other intimate detail of your life as you express it digitally.

Lets pretend that you'll never have anything you wish Google didn't know about you.

Using google and friends even if you have nothing to hide, still supports a reality FULL of annoying/invasive advertising... where an insane amount of extra spending money is made off of your actions and thoughts and interests, and none of it is shared with you, except in the form of a 'service' that makes more money off of you.

That type of business does not encourage an exchanging of money between everyone (as it was intended in my opinion), it encourages a funneling of it... and guess who's getting richer and who's getting poorer?

Valid_Username · 08-14-12 at 03:28 PM

It is at least (in theory) possible to bypass the direct glare of Google when using the Interweb, but if you're using say an Android phone, they've pretty much got you over a barrel.
The amount of 'signing in' and agreeing to terms you have to do is nothing short of ridiculous.

There's no question in my mind that Google has become exponentially more intrusive and controlling, and personally I don't buy into the rather absurd "if you're not doing anything wrong" slogan, when it comes to privacy.
To its logical conclusion, that's an open ended renunciation of all privacy, individuality, basic humanity and about anything else that's worth living for.

The biggest worry to me is that they've already become so enormous and ingrained that it's effectively impossible for the average Joe in the street to even conceptualise their reach and influence.
We're talking about a company that you wouldn't have even heard of 10 years ago.

srs1 · 08-14-12 at 04:51 PM

Personal data is just an other type of currency. Nothing is free and Google offers a lot of different, great services, so its not a shame to give them something back. Though Id keep it on a minimum and would consider that not just Google, they partners and they workers get acces to it, but theoretically everybody if it gets hacked.

Besides like other users noted, something harmless now, may end not as harmless later.

**SteveJones7** · 08-15-12 at 02:47 AM

In the past on other forums Ive written pages and pages on why no one should bend over and take it from these companies, obviously that was time well spent lol, as people still have no idea why its such an end game to let them invade your privacy like this.

Ive often stated the orwellian issues, today I will go with kafka, to illustrate modern mans inability to see beyond immediate events;

Franz Kafka's The Trial.

Quote:

"Somebody must have been telling lies about Joseph K, for one morning without having done anything wrong, he was arrested."

This is the ‘knock on the door’ which was to become an everyday experience for millions in the years that followed.

Kafka's novel centers around a man who is arrested but not informed why. He desperately tries to find out what triggered his arrest and what's in store for him.
He finds out that a mysterious court system has a dossier on him and is investigating him, but he's unable to learn much more.

The Trial depicts a bureaucracy with inscrutable purposes that uses people's information to make important decisions about them, yet denies the people the ability to participate in how their information is used.

The trial focuses on a system that has become all too powerful.

In this post we are discussing google, not gov.

But.. big business in many aspects over powers governmental authority, also when your busy signing your life away to business agreements, you can often miss the fine print describing how under "certain and extremely vague circumstances" all your information provided can be shared with gov agencies etc..

Im saying that you are freely and without thought, paving the way for your own enslavement.

If I want to control you, I find out EVERYTHING I can about you, and watch you all the time, then I can pre-empt every move you make, and shut down any recourse to objection you may attempt before you even try.
I can take facts about you "out of context" to prove my point, I can "claim" irrefutable accuracy that what I say about you is 100 percent factual.
As you do not have records of your own life anywhere near as detailed as the records "I" have on your life, you cannot defend your own actions, if falsely accused, If it is my will, you are to be held liable for any actions you have taken.

Thats an extremely brief possible scenario, that I typed in 3 minutes.

Imagine what multi billion dollar companies and gov agencies could dream up in the next 10 years.

By all means give away all your info freely..

Myself.. I have curtains in my house for a reason.
Not that I do wrong, rather that I know human nature.

**BlueDragonFire** · 08-15-12 at 11:33 AM

And let's not forget the FACT that everyone logged into tehParadox is, by definition, doing something illegal considering that TP is a known site which shares pirated software/movies/etc... Can you prove without a doubt that you're registered on TP but have not downloaded anything illegal? No, you cannot. Do you really think that you won't get busted if they really wanted to press the issue? Every one of us could be.

I use Google to search and I also have a GMail account {which I rarely use} but that's about it. I've blocked Google Analytics and whatnot so I'm sharing my info as little as possible. If I want to see ads I'll watch regular TV {something I don't do that often anyway}. I also have an HTC Evo {Android} which I only use as a data pad {don't even have phone service on it}. After I found out the smartphones have a program which "reports" your every keystroke whether you want it to or not {even without the phone service} I rooted/modded it.

Privacy IS NOT just a matter of hiding what you're doing from "the man"! That's the kind of BS governments tell you to embarrass you into giving up your privacy. If you want to give up your privacy that's your business and you might as well just go live in some government-sponsored dormitory and let them watch everything you do all day 24/7/365.

There are things that could be discovered about me if someone really wanted to, but my private life is wholly my own and it's going to stay that way for as long as I can manage it.

Peace to you and yours,
Matthew "Dra'Gon" Stohler

edjpl · 08-23-12 at 01:05 AM

If you're worried about privacy issues when searching the net, with google or any other you could check the dutch search engine called "Ixquick".
It may not be as powerful as Google but, as far as I know for using it on a regular basis, it usually answers the same "good matching" links.

As for privacy, i quote :

"Ixquick's position:
You have a right to privacy.
Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands.
The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with.
Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore.
Your personal data are not shared with any third party.
We are the first and only search engine to do so."

If you want to check by yourself :

Code: Select All

https://ixquick.com/eng/

Let me know what you think about it...

overseer · 08-23-12 at 08:02 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by edjpl

If you're worried about privacy issues when searching the net, with google or any other you could check the dutch search engine called "Ixquick".
It may not be as powerful as Google but, as far as I know for using it on a regular basis, it usually answers the same "good matching" links.

As for privacy, i quote :

"Ixquick's position:
You have a right to privacy.
Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands.
The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with.
Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore.
Your personal data are not shared with any third party.
We are the first and only search engine to do so."

If you want to check by yourself :

Code: Select All

https://ixquick.com/eng/

Let me know what you think about it...

I've been using duckduckgo for searching. They seem to be pretty serious about privacy. Think I'm just going to stick with gmail and google calendar as far as Google services go.

Soothsayerlive · 08-27-12 at 06:58 PM

There is an easy solution. If you are really worried about your privacy. Log out, turn off your computer and read a book.

**SteveJones7** · 08-28-12 at 02:02 PM

Quote:

There is an easy solution. If you are really worried about your privacy. Log out, turn off your computer and read a book.

08-15-12 at 02:47 AM	#9
SteveJones7 Too sexy for this board Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: teh earth Posts: 1,541	In the past on other forums Ive written pages and pages on why no one should bend over and take it from these companies, obviously that was time well spent lol, as people still have no idea why its such an end game to let them invade your privacy like this. Ive often stated the orwellian issues, today I will go with kafka, to illustrate modern mans inability to see beyond immediate events; Franz Kafka's The Trial. Quote: "Somebody must have been telling lies about Joseph K, for one morning without having done anything wrong, he was arrested." This is the ‘knock on the door’ which was to become an everyday experience for millions in the years that followed. Kafka's novel centers around a man who is arrested but not informed why. He desperately tries to find out what triggered his arrest and what's in store for him. He finds out that a mysterious court system has a dossier on him and is investigating him, but he's unable to learn much more. The Trial depicts a bureaucracy with inscrutable purposes that uses people's information to make important decisions about them, yet denies the people the ability to participate in how their information is used. The trial focuses on a system that has become all too powerful. In this post we are discussing google, not gov. But.. big business in many aspects over powers governmental authority, also when your busy signing your life away to business agreements, you can often miss the fine print describing how under "certain and extremely vague circumstances" all your information provided can be shared with gov agencies etc.. Im saying that you are freely and without thought, paving the way for your own enslavement. If I want to control you, I find out EVERYTHING I can about you, and watch you all the time, then I can pre-empt every move you make, and shut down any recourse to objection you may attempt before you even try. I can take facts about you "out of context" to prove my point, I can "claim" irrefutable accuracy that what I say about you is 100 percent factual. As you do not have records of your own life anywhere near as detailed as the records "I" have on your life, you cannot defend your own actions, if falsely accused, If it is my will, you are to be held liable for any actions you have taken. Thats an extremely brief possible scenario, that I typed in 3 minutes. Imagine what multi billion dollar companies and gov agencies could dream up in the next 10 years. By all means give away all your info freely.. Myself.. I have curtains in my house for a reason. Not that I do wrong, rather that I know human nature. Last edited by SteveJones7; 08-15-12 at 02:49 AM.

08-23-12 at 01:05 AM	#11
edjpl Newcomer Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: France Posts: 19	If you're worried about privacy issues when searching the net, with google or any other you could check the dutch search engine called "Ixquick". It may not be as powerful as Google but, as far as I know for using it on a regular basis, it usually answers the same "good matching" links. As for privacy, i quote : "Ixquick's position: You have a right to privacy. Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands. The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with. Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore. Your personal data are not shared with any third party. We are the first and only search engine to do so." If you want to check by yourself : Code: Select All https://ixquick.com/eng/ Let me know what you think about it...

08-23-12 at 08:02 AM	#12
overseer Newcomer Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 78	Quote: Originally Posted by edjpl If you're worried about privacy issues when searching the net, with google or any other you could check the dutch search engine called "Ixquick". It may not be as powerful as Google but, as far as I know for using it on a regular basis, it usually answers the same "good matching" links. As for privacy, i quote : "Ixquick's position: You have a right to privacy. Your search data should never fall into the wrong hands. The only real solution is quickly deleting your data or not storing them to begin with. Since January 2009 we do not record our users' IP addresses anymore. Your personal data are not shared with any third party. We are the first and only search engine to do so." If you want to check by yourself : Code: Select All https://ixquick.com/eng/ Let me know what you think about it... I've been using duckduckgo for searching. They seem to be pretty serious about privacy. Think I'm just going to stick with gmail and google calendar as far as Google services go.

08-14-12 at 01:39 PM	#2
Oamey Professional Garden Gnome Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: USA Posts: 200	Have you seen the new outlook.com or the new skydrive app? They're much more streamlined and in my opinion do look better than what Google is currently offering. You may want to wait a bit longer and play around with the new things Microsoft releases in the coming months before finalizing your decision.

08-14-12 at 01:54 PM	#3
overseer Newcomer Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 78	Quote: Originally Posted by Oamey Have you seen the new outlook.com or the new skydrive app? They're much more streamlined and in my opinion do look better than what Google is currently offering. You may want to wait a bit longer and play around with the new things Microsoft releases in the coming months before finalizing your decision. I do think Skydrive is better than Google Drive. I get 25GB of storage with them compared to 7GB (I think). And editing Office files on their website is much much better. The file explorer I use with Android supports Skydrive too so it's working perfect for me. And I don't care if Android has an official Skydrive app, I don't see the need for it at all. Things I was considering are putting in my home and work addresses into Google Maps, giving my cell number (they ask for it now and again when I log into Gmail) and enabling my web history with them.

08-14-12 at 01:57 PM	#4
Notorious_dog Elder Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 3,974	I think that with google spying on us, they actually stand to give us a free and useful service! (well, maybe not too useful) and that is by offering us products that we might actually WANT by means of showing us advertisement that is tailored to us and our supposed interests (which they have gained knowledge of by spying) and to be honest, if that's ALL they're doing, then I really couldn't care less. (I use ad block anyway) Not that most of us buy products everyday or something, and are going to make use of their advertisements each day. My local trade site does pretty much the same thing. They know what Iv been purchasing (obviously) and they send me emails with other auctions of products which are in similar categories to the products that iv already brought. That's just what I think. What is the truth REALLY? Only the Illuminati know!

08-14-12 at 01:58 PM	#5
liquidtoon Newcomer Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 36	In all actuality you, like most people, dont interest big companies on a personal level. What they are looking at isnt your drivers lic or passport, its where do you go online, who do you shop with, and what can they advertise to you. If you dont care that they see what you're doing then it isn't an issue. To some the idea that google (and other companies/governments as well) can see everything you do online disturbing, but if you're not breaking any major laws there isn't going to be much difference. Privacy is just the concern that what you do is being seen, not so much what you're doing. There are cameras in stores "to prevent theft" , cameras on street lights "for public safety" , the computers at work can legally watch what you do "for productivity", they can listen to your phone "for national security" , and now they watch what you do online "for marketability". So they question is just how far is to far. It is a question only you can answer, for me I dont like where google is headed but I like the products they make and so I choose to let they have my info.

08-14-12 at 02:48 PM	#6
hiddukel32 Newcomer Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 47	Just because you have nothing to hide now, doesn't mean 10 years from now, when laws and ideas change... you won't wish there wasn't a database full of information about you and your habits and every other intimate detail of your life as you express it digitally. Lets pretend that you'll never have anything you wish Google didn't know about you. Using google and friends even if you have nothing to hide, still supports a reality FULL of annoying/invasive advertising... where an insane amount of extra spending money is made off of your actions and thoughts and interests, and none of it is shared with you, except in the form of a 'service' that makes more money off of you. That type of business does not encourage an exchanging of money between everyone (as it was intended in my opinion), it encourages a funneling of it... and guess who's getting richer and who's getting poorer?

08-14-12 at 03:28 PM	#7
Valid_Username Expert Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: UK Posts: 720	It is at least (in theory) possible to bypass the direct glare of Google when using the Interweb, but if you're using say an Android phone, they've pretty much got you over a barrel. The amount of 'signing in' and agreeing to terms you have to do is nothing short of ridiculous. There's no question in my mind that Google has become exponentially more intrusive and controlling, and personally I don't buy into the rather absurd "if you're not doing anything wrong" slogan, when it comes to privacy. To its logical conclusion, that's an open ended renunciation of all privacy, individuality, basic humanity and about anything else that's worth living for. The biggest worry to me is that they've already become so enormous and ingrained that it's effectively impossible for the average Joe in the street to even conceptualise their reach and influence. We're talking about a company that you wouldn't have even heard of 10 years ago.

08-14-12 at 04:51 PM	#8
srs1 Master Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: here Posts: 1,011	Personal data is just an other type of currency. Nothing is free and Google offers a lot of different, great services, so its not a shame to give them something back. Though Id keep it on a minimum and would consider that not just Google, they partners and they workers get acces to it, but theoretically everybody if it gets hacked. Besides like other users noted, something harmless now, may end not as harmless later.

08-15-12 at 11:33 AM	#10
BlueDragonFire I plead INSANITY! Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Eville, Indiana, USA, Psychotic State Posts: 1,753	And let's not forget the FACT that everyone logged into tehParadox is, by definition, doing something illegal considering that TP is a known site which shares pirated software/movies/etc... Can you prove without a doubt that you're registered on TP but have not downloaded anything illegal? No, you cannot. Do you really think that you won't get busted if they really wanted to press the issue? Every one of us could be. I use Google to search and I also have a GMail account {which I rarely use} but that's about it. I've blocked Google Analytics and whatnot so I'm sharing my info as little as possible. If I want to see ads I'll watch regular TV {something I don't do that often anyway}. I also have an HTC Evo {Android} which I only use as a data pad {don't even have phone service on it}. After I found out the smartphones have a program which "reports" your every keystroke whether you want it to or not {even without the phone service} I rooted/modded it. Privacy IS NOT just a matter of hiding what you're doing from "the man"! That's the kind of BS governments tell you to embarrass you into giving up your privacy. If you want to give up your privacy that's your business and you might as well just go live in some government-sponsored dormitory and let them watch everything you do all day 24/7/365. There are things that could be discovered about me if someone really wanted to, but my private life is wholly my own and it's going to stay that way for as long as I can manage it. Peace to you and yours, Matthew "Dra'Gon" Stohler

08-27-12 at 06:58 PM	#13
Soothsayerlive Novice Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 212	There is an easy solution. If you are really worried about your privacy. Log out, turn off your computer and read a book.

08-28-12 at 02:02 PM	#14
SteveJones7 Too sexy for this board Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: teh earth Posts: 1,541	Quote: There is an easy solution. If you are really worried about your privacy. Log out, turn off your computer and read a book.