Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
techcrunch.com
Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
1–10 of 50 posts
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#2> " They are willing to give up privacy for free email. "
How exactly does Google/GMail violate the users' privacy with email?
They process the messages, show hyper-targeted ads. End of story.
But is there a Cambridge Analytica for GMail? Can some "app" exfiltrate the emails? Or the contacts of users?
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#3> Indeed, this is the very foundation for the GDPR policy in Europe: users should have a choice about how their data is used, and be fully-informed on its uses in order to make the right decision for them.
I still fundamentally disagree with Europe's stance on data ownership. If I collect data on a person in a public location, I believe I own that data, not the person. If a person walks into my store and I take a picture of them, I don't believe I've "stolen" anything from them, nor do they have the right to demand I give them a copy of the picture I took and delete the picture from my hard drive. This fantasy world where everyone should be able to be perfectly anonymous and erase all evidence of their existence anytime they want is a bad idea. There has to be a balance between publicly available information and private information. If you are in a public location, I should be able to glean information from observations.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#4> " They are willing to give up privacy for free email. " How exactly does Google/GMail violate the users' privacy with email? They process the messages, show hyper-targeted ads. End of story. But is there a Cambridge Analytica for GMail? Can some "app" exfiltrate the emails? Or the contacts of users?
What you describe sounds exactly like giving up privacy to me, even if it doesn't sound like giving up privacy to you.
And then when you add in all the other tracking that Google does of your web history, search history, location data, that is pretty much all your privacy gone.
Let's say I pay an assistant to help with my email. Even though they are in my employ, I'm still giving up my privacy for the service. Google gives us email service in exchange for that peek in to our private lives.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#5The irony, of course, is that when you open TechCrunch in the EU the first thing you see is a GDPR disclaimer saying “hey we’re gonna collect your data to do whatever we want with”, which 95% of consumers will just click through. This isn’t a Google or Facebook problem as much as it is an internet problem.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#6> Indeed, this is the very foundation for the GDPR policy in Europe: users should have a choice about how their data is used, and be fully-informed on its uses in order to make the right decision for them. I still fundamentally disagree with Europe's stance on data ownership. If I collect data on a person in a public location, I believe I own that data, not the person. If a person walks into my store and I take a pic…
I think the question of who owns it is normative, since ownership itself is just a legal/social construct. The question is which policy leads to a better world. On that front, I tend to agree with you. There are few people who will be materially happier or better off from GDPR, and it does close off some analysis that would be beneficial to business. If business is hurt and no one is helped, I call that a net negative.
But, it is the law of the land, and unlikely to change in the near future. Lots of things are suboptimal and I’m not sure GDPR is very close to the top of my list. So you get over it and move on.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#7> " They are willing to give up privacy for free email. " How exactly does Google/GMail violate the users' privacy with email? They process the messages, show hyper-targeted ads. End of story. But is there a Cambridge Analytica for GMail? Can some "app" exfiltrate the emails? Or the contacts of users?
That hasn't been the case for nearly five years... Gmail messages are NOT used for any ad targeting.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#8> Indeed, this is the very foundation for the GDPR policy in Europe: users should have a choice about how their data is used, and be fully-informed on its uses in order to make the right decision for them. I still fundamentally disagree with Europe's stance on data ownership. If I collect data on a person in a public location, I believe I own that data, not the person. If a person walks into my store and I take a pic…
If you take a picture of a person naked on a beach without their permission, is it ok to use that picture as you like?
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#9> " They are willing to give up privacy for free email. " How exactly does Google/GMail violate the users' privacy with email? They process the messages, show hyper-targeted ads. End of story. But is there a Cambridge Analytica for GMail? Can some "app" exfiltrate the emails? Or the contacts of users?
What you describe sounds exactly like giving up privacy to me, even if it doesn't sound like giving up privacy to you. And then when you add in all the other tracking that Google does of your web history, search history, location data, that is pretty much all your privacy gone. Let's say I pay an assistant to help with my email. Even though they are in my employ, I'm still giving up my privacy for the service. Google…
"An assistant to help with my X" is a pretty solid, concise description of Google's service suite, complete with the observation about privacy.
Re: Why no one really quits Google or Facebook
#10> " They are willing to give up privacy for free email. " How exactly does Google/GMail violate the users' privacy with email? They process the messages, show hyper-targeted ads. End of story. But is there a Cambridge Analytica for GMail? Can some "app" exfiltrate the emails? Or the contacts of users?
Yes, developers can request permission to access your inbox "offline" (i.e. at any time, with a long-term access token). The scope is clearly identified in the OAuth authentication process, and the consent screen clearly asks for permission to (IIRC) "read, write, and delete emails." There are a few well-known applications (Earny and Unroll.me come to mind, off the top of my head) that are known to work with consumer research operations with the resulting data.