Not that I'd suggest a "run on the bank" ... but what's the easiest way to download a copy of all my GMail to load it into another service? (Linux or OS X, preferably command line util or Python script)
Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
171–180 of 287 posts
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they wouldn't. I'm saying this as somebody who built a product around identifying your 'inner circle' from your email patterns[1]. The part I spent the most time on was figuring out how to protect people's privacy, and these scenarios were painfully obvious even to me. Plenty of people at Google have to have thought this through, but decided the benefits to adoption of the current process outweigh the privacy pro…
What are the benefits? Why couldn't they just have a lightbox appear that says, "Yay! We've invented google buzz, here's a list of people we gathered from your frequent contacts in gmail. Click the check boxes by the people you want to include in your inner circle, or click here to disable Google Buzz."
That's the route I went (opt-in) but a large chunk of people just don't understand what on earth that means and end up inviting nobody. Defaults really matter, especially for new concepts like this.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#173If you have concerns over privacy, move your data somewhere that doesn't obviously look into your private data for the purposes of advertising. Stay anonymous. Use your ISP's email. Use accounts you pay for and can hold accountable for transgressions like this. You give your data freely to google without understanding the terms of that transaction and they will use those rights in some way you arn't happy with. She s…
"Stay anonymous. Use your ISP's email"
You ISP is the least anonymous email provider available. They know exactly who you are, where you live, and can see everything you do online.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
This morning, I've watched two coworkers open their gmail accounts for the first time since Buzz went live. In both cases, they clicked "No thanks, take me to my inbox" instead of the button to "Check out Buzz", and in both cases, Buzz was enabled anyways, and a bunch of people were listed as following/followers. We looked at their profiles, and all the followers/ees were publicly listed. What, exactly, should they h…
> In both cases, they clicked "No thanks, take me to my inbox" instead of the button to "Check out Buzz", and in both cases, Buzz was enabled anyways That's exactly what happened to me. I'm really pissed off with Google now. If they are going to throw this sort of crap at me, I will have to reconsider whether I want gmail and reader accounts.
Clicking "No thanks" in this instance is not a command to disable buzz it is actually a dismissal of the tutorial page. Buzz will still be enabled either choice you make. There should be an obvious opt out of buzz on the splash screen page.
The way to turn it off is a very small textual link in the footer of the page that says turn off buzz.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, a friend and I were having a big discussion about Buzz, using Buzz. And, to my surprise, a few Buzz devs jumped into the conversation: http://www.google.com/buzz/tmgrone/brHidEYC3jh/I-wish-Google...
And then all your privacy concerns quickly disappeared!
It's a public thread. You'd rather the dev's ignore what people say about their product on an open discussion?
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#176Can anyone tell me how I can (1) get off buzz, (2) not forward anytthing from me to anyone using buzz, (3) not have buzz appear in my gmail window? I've never opted in to buzz, don't want it, and don't want anything to do with it. There doesn't appear to be any obvious setting where I can get out of it.
First, open the "Buzz" label in GMail. Click on your list of followers and block all of them. Click on "connected sites" and remove any connections. Now edit your Google profile (if you have one) and remove any information that you don't want public (including "display my full name"): http://www.google.com/profiles/me/editprofile?edit=b Finally, go to the footer of the GMail site and click "turn off Buzz."
But do make sure to do these steps in that order- clicking "turn off Buzz", as far as I can tell, only keeps you from seeing Buzz-related stuff, including the Buzz privacy and follow/follower settings. It doesn't disconnect you from those followers, hide your (by default) public or shared information, etc.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#177"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place..." -Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in 2009.
As I pointed out two months ago, this quote is taken out of context [1]. I'll reproduce the full quote here:
Judgment matters... If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place... If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines - including Google - do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.
Schmidt simply suggested that if you have an extraordinarily high need for privacy you should not use Google. He's right and I agree with him. This is the CEO of a company reminding his consumers that Google has to conform to the PATRIOT Act. He's saying something that could potentially hurt his business by pointing out how your privacy is hurt because of the laws they have to comply to.
Remember the attack on Google by China a few weeks back? Where the subject lines of the email of civil rights activists were compromised? This happened because of a mechanism Google was forced to put in place to conform to federal wiretap laws. Schmidt was spot on in what he said.
We've got a strong enough case against Google without resorting to cheap tricks. What they've done with Buzz is unforgivable. I may well be migrating away from Google's services in the next week or two, depending on how this pans out.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#178I think the biggest breach here is the forwarded emails. I have used email forwarding to maintain pseudo-anonymity (just barely, anyone with a brain can figure it out).
It is a valid breach in privacy and trust. Careless on Google's part to consider that use-case.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#179This is the sort of thing that was absolutely predictable.
If you are certain that this was absolutely predictable, you are implying either: a) The Google Buzz people are so stupid that they couldn't have predicted this absolutely predictable thing (no one else did that I know of until it bit them) or b) they knew this would happen and chose to allow it to happen in the bad times hoping the love they'd get from those who like it would be greater than the pain experienced by…
(b) is almost certain. I have trouble believing no one at Google thought, "I have people in my email contacts I don't want to share with on Buzz." They probably thought that these cases would be in a tiny minority, and that they could respond to complaints with pointers for how to block people.
Re: Automatically followed by abusive ex-husband (and his friends) on Google Buzz
#180Not that I'd suggest a "run on the bank" ... but what's the easiest way to download a copy of all my GMail to load it into another service? (Linux or OS X, preferably command line util or Python script)
Gmail is accessible via IMAP: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...
Use the client of your choice to copy it to another account or download it to your computer.