Printable View
I'm getting very worried about Gmail and googles information collection policy...
They store all of your emails... so know who is dating who, where you shop... basically anything you send in an email via their service...
Now, they introduce autosave!.
Seems like a helpful idea on the surface... but what if you write a letter, decide not to send it after all... Google still keeps that data!
Its all very "big brother is watching!"
I like the thought that they are watching, its kinda like having a god looking after you. It makes me feel important. But I only use gmail for unimportant chit-chat.
Every webmail provider can and does (spam filter) scan your mail and save them (for example to improve the spam filter) even if they don't tell you they do. Google at least tells you that they use your data to decide what ads to show to you. I really don't see the problem. It's not like they would only have 100 clients and could read your mails, it's just a machine.
Now if the US gov. would buy Google ... than I would start to have a problem with it.
Fredi
Exactly... you just proved my point... all that data and personal info is just sitting there... waiting to be accessed...Quote:
Originally Posted by Subway
Who says google will always use that info just for advertising? How much of that info are they passing on, and to who?
Everyone just accepts google is a company thats doing right... what if they're not.
It's pretty funny how Google has become God-like.
How do I? ...Ask Google.
Where would you? ...Ask Google.
And of course everything Google returns is the truth.
Yeah, but that's the case with most other web-serices as well. Just think about all the posts you've made on this board. Someone could for example scan at which times you've posted how much on FK and than sell that information to your boss. Would you like that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Markp.com
Information is stored all the time everywhere, it just needs someone evil enough to use that information against someone.
And as you're using Windows, have a look at this: http://microsuck.com/content/ms-hidden-files.shtml You don't even have to use Google, Microsoft is already storing your mails without that you being able to easely delete them.
Fredi
Go get paranoid about Echelon. It's closer to you anyway... and is real.Quote:
Originally Posted by Subway
But I guess you didn't know... google stands for "government overtly observing general (populance) leisure everyday"... tin foil yourself right now.
lol :p
Fredi
Um, doesn't it just stick it in your drafts folder? What's the big deal?
It'd be nice to be able to turn it off though. The refresh is annoying.
No, it stores it and sends it to the government so they can see if you is a terrorist and stuff!Quote:
Originally Posted by PAlexC
no joke. since the advent of gmail, google earth, etc. FK has been inundated with google fan-boys/girls. I've laid off of the google banter for the most part, but have been waiting for someone (of the fanboy genre) to bring up one of these "what if" threads for quite some time now.Quote:
Originally Posted by admedia
While 5 years ago, Google might have been an advocate for the people, today they are a public company, no matter how "cool" people might think they are. They are still a corporate machine that is going to respond to NOTHING more than the almighty dollar/yen/euro. (trying to be P.C. here) More importantly, they respond to NO ONE but their shareholders. At the end of the day, they are in the business of making money, NOT applications. They might have the coolest app ever, but if they cant sell it/advertise on it/profit off of it, it ain't worth squat.
Personally, I use my own email hosted at my ISP or at my hosting provider. For on-the-go, the Blackberry helps there. To be honest, I dont want anyone (even Google) managing my email more than I manage it myself. They have a very nice application, but it just doesn't suit me.
RH
p.s. lol @ tinfoil.
you guys got a lot to learn ... a lot.
Echelon
This is from 1998 the program have evolve a lot since then.
The only way and I mean only way to do communication without getting tapped is to use cryptography . That is on any form of communication. Sorry folks but today security is the 1st thing for secret service and they need to know anything to prevent and form of attack or intruder.
i hope google stores all my info. I'm getting old and starting to forget a lot of things. I'd pay them to buy my info back a few years later, and see what the hell i was doing with my life.
Do you know how many times I've written "send me a ticket and I will take care of Bush" on this board? If they would be able to scan everything on the net ... lol, I would be on their black list for a long time! :p
But you know what? They can't! The whole internet is now so big, that it's very difficult to:
1. Scan everything
2. Decide what is meant as it's written and what not
And you know what? There are things like the freenet and some P2P applications where you can create your own private net with your friends that makes it nearly impossible to even scan the data in a form they would be able to read.
Always have in mind, what you see in Hollywood movies is to 99% nonsense.
Fredi
They don't have to scan everything. They have to scan only for keyword and combinations.
Echelon can do that for all of the communications going in and out of the UK in the late 90's. Imagine the processing boom since that time.
And that is the truth.
Yeah, but if they scan for "Bush" and "kill", they will get so many results, there's no way they can easely find out what is actually a terrorist and what just someone like me.
Anyway, if they use a highly encrypted private P2P network, there's simple no way to scan for words as there are no more words, just noise and not nowhere enough CPU power to decrypt it in an acceptable time.
Fredi
Its not like that Fredi... its like a filter or algorythm... a multiple search to filter down... so it'll be a selection of key words over time... way things are written, any previous activity... cool stuff as long as it doesn't spy on the wrong people!Quote:
Originally Posted by Subway
they don't get results like you're thinking... you're thinking in terms of a search engine.
this is real-time dude. I mean... in the minute you posted that, it was probably one of a few worldwide - I'll limit it to the two continents Europe and North America to keep it simplified - combinations of those terms if they were indeed trigger words, at that moment.
It's not a cached, go back and look for it type of thing. Even though that's a possibility and ability of the aforementioned systems in question. But with Echelon, it'd probably be more efficient if they capture, report, investigate as it comes... not go backwards and hope they find it in time.
I'm stopping here.
Add what he said to what I said and you'll get it... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by gerbick
You guys are over reacting...I just googled this issue and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with what they're doing. ;)
http://www.raptureready.com/photo/tulsa2/50.jpg