Are Google users stupid and anti-privacy?
One of the cool people on Twitter posted his two cents regarding Google and privacy concerns. I was going to reply to it, but when the website insisted, even when logging in with an OpenID, that I would create an account I thought I would just write my reply here instead.
This is what he wrote:
Are you under the impression that people who use Google services does not realize that their activity is logged? Do you think this is some sinister uber world domination plan by Google you just suddenly discovered?
We know that we are constantly logged and we still use Google. Not because we are forced to use Google or that there are no good alternative to their services. We use it because we want to use it and because they are, in most cases, genuinely superior services.
Don’t assume people who use everything that comes out of Google are stupid and ignorant. I actually want Google to log all my activity so that I can have a more connected experience with all the Google services I use. Thats the whole idea, its not a sinister plan.
I can not stress how much I agree that if you love the Google products you should use them, regardless of what other people say; what you should not do is to act like you are right and they are wrong.
What most people who blindly love Google and do not mind being monitored by them forget is that not everyone wants to be monitored; but they still want to play with you guys too. The issue is how Google release features and disrespect privacy. When it comes to privacy at Google it is always only opt-out; or at least, that is how it feels like. Also it seems that users need to scream really loud sometimes to actually get an opt-out choice; like having faces pixelised in Street View.
I will present to you two simple examples.
When Twitter released their Geotagging feature it was released as an opt-in feature, in respect to all users privacy. This is so extremely simple to do, but Google is more concerned about having you test a new feature than giving you a choice about it.
As a vegan I would love it if everyone stopped eating meat; but being a realist I understand that is not going to happen tomorrow. I still will respect someone eating meat if they respect me not eating meat. What is more important to me is that I will at least have non-animal choices when buying food.
Here you can kind of look at Google as the meat eaters and those who are concerned with privacy as the vegans; and food is Internet (to us geeks).
If I suddenly had fewer choices as a vegan just because a big company is taking over other smaller food companies one by one, I would be extremely annoyed. We have companies that produce food products containing animal products, but the same company sometimes produces vegan friendly products too.
This is my issue with Google. They want Internet their way, and they do not care about you and me as long as they are making money from us. I do not mind Google or that people want to use Google services; what I mind is that I can not opt-out from being monitored when using Google products, and that they are taking over more and more companies and services. If this continues we will not have an Internet left, it will just be GoogleNet; and that is not the free Internet I grew up with or that the creators of Internet intended it to be.
I know I was harsh when I said that many Google users drink the Google cool-aid, but I still stand by that statement. If you take a look at what Google is doing you will see they are heading down the same path Microsoft went. Buying up smaller companies and taking their technology to brand it as their own or just close down the shop.
If Google ends up in court because of breaching a anti-trust law I will not be surprised.
