Poll: How much do you trust Google? • Hacker News Board

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#31

Post by ronaldx » Sun, May 04, 2014, 6:59 PM UTC

jqm wrote: post #5

I trust Google to honor their terms of service which is all we can really ask for I think. Outside of that, I trust them as much as any other large company with a profit motive. Which is to say about as much as I trust my dog watching the Thanksgiving turkey while it cools.

>I trust Google to honor their terms of service which is all we can really ask for I think.

I trust Google to honor their terms of service (which are not the same as what I first agreed to) for as long as it doesn't benefit them more to break them and take the consequences.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#32

Post by Sir_Cmpwn » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:01 PM UTC

anirudh24seven wrote: post #6

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #3

There could be another option: I no longer trust Google and I have moved some of my data to other services I have moved my stuff off of Drive, stopped using Google+, but I continue to use GMail until I feel like I have a good solution for email.

Can you let us know the other services you have migrated to? Would help.

I use rsync+gpg to sync encrypted files on a VPS. I use Twitter instead of G+. I share photos/videos/audio with MediaCrush.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#33

Post by gordaco » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:04 PM UTC

I still use google, but I try to avoid it when there is a better alternative. Nowadays the search engine is almost the only thing I use. I also have a gmail account that has devolved into a spam sink used to register in websites I intend to use only once or twice. And once in a blue moon I use google maps.

They may have metadata about myself (which is still a lot!); but data, like photos or personal conversations, not any more.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#34

Post by icantthinkofone » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:09 PM UTC

jimrandomh wrote: post #21

I don't want to trust Google with possession of my photos, but with Glass, there is no choice; it automatically backs up every picture and video to Google+, and you can't stop it from doing so, even with root.

So what other service would you trust more to have possession of your photos?

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#35

Post by danpalmer » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:10 PM UTC

None of the above.

I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US.

As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that add a lot of value to things like email (i.e. Google Now). As far as I'm concerned, this is a totally fair trade-off, and one I'm happy to make.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#36

Post by wellboy » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:17 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #24

ntakasaki wrote: post #9

I posted recently about how they lost my trust after snaring schools with offers of free email and Chromebooks, used that captive audience of kids to secretively build profiles to show ads, denied it when caught, but chickened out about lying in federal court and now they declare they've stopped doing it. Add to that statements that it couldn't be turned off and silently switching language about tracking on their web…

Evil is kidnapping a school because you feel that western education is against the rules of your religion. Boko Haram kidnapped over 230 schoolgirls in Nigeria. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/hundreds-march-... But even if we avoid extremists, it's easier to call people evil when they spy on their pupils using the webcams on the school provided laptops. And then, after people have complained, they do it…

Ok then the "evilness" per pupil is higher, however what's more evil?

Kidnapping 230 puplis or spying on 23,000 pupils, or 230,000 or 23M?

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#37

Post by wellboy » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:18 PM UTC

danpalmer wrote: post #35

None of the above. I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US. As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that…

It was not 100% impossible for Google to not turn over the data, there would have been ways. It's not about if Google is evil or not it's about how evil it is.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#38

Post by sebastialonso » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:22 PM UTC

wellboy wrote: post #37

danpalmer wrote: post #35

None of the above. I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US. As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that…

It was not 100% impossible for Google to not turn over the data, there would have been ways. It's not about if Google is evil or not it's about how evil it is.

Can you explain further? First time I here about this.

And in which context are you using the "evil" word?

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#39

Post by danpalmer » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:24 PM UTC

wellboy wrote: post #37

danpalmer wrote: post #35

None of the above. I trust Google, but not the US government (or the UK govt for that matter) to not order them to turn over data, or take it anyway, and because of this I have moved most of my data, everything important, to my own server outside the US. As far as Google themselves go, I realise they are driven by profit and use my data "against" me in advertising, but in return for that, I get reliable services that…

It was not 100% impossible for Google to not turn over the data, there would have been ways. It's not about if Google is evil or not it's about how evil it is.

It wasn't impossible to not cooperate, but from what I've heard they (and Apple and Microsoft) really tried hard not to comply, and pretty much ran out of things to try. Unfortunately as it was all secret, they didn't have public support, and the amount they could fight it in court was limited.

Re: Poll: How much do you trust Google?

#40

Post by rch » Sun, May 04, 2014, 7:25 PM UTC

I'm skeptical that anyone ever really trusted free services. Such a thing would be far different than simply using free services, and providing personal data as it is necessary or convenient in order to make use of compelling features.