[arch-general] google wave

[Ng Oon-Ee]

On Sat, 2009-10-31 at 12:15 -0400, Loui Chang wrote:
> On Sat 31 Oct 2009 16:40 +0100, bardo wrote:
> > 2009/10/31 Heiko Baums <lists at baums-on-web.de>:
> > > And with Google!? I don't understand how one can be interested in
> > > letting Google read and use his/her personal e-mails, documents etc.
> > 
> > I'm very careful about my privacy. My google account doesn't usually
> > host private/work e-mails, for those ones I have an account with
> > someone who cares about my privacy (an Italian project,
> > autistici.org). Mails I'm sending from this address are going to
> > become public anyway, so I care more about other features.
> > 
> > > Have you read their terms of use? And do you know what Google does with
> > > your e-mails, documents and other data? Google reads, scans and
> > > evaluates e.g. every e-mail which is sent to or from a Gmail account
> > > and every document which is edited by Google Docs.
> > 
> > I read their terms of use. I'm more aware of the problem than you
> > think, and in fact I'm active in a privacy-related project. And if I
> > *really* need to use gmail for a private message, I encrypt it with
> > GPG.
> > Also, I don't use google docs or similar apps.
> > 
> > > The only thing from Google I'm using is their search engine and this
> > > only without cookies. I won't give Google my personal communication or
> > > documents. And I'm thinking about not sending e-mails to Gmail
> > > addresses anymore.
> > 
> > It should also be noted that, if someone writes you from a gmail
> > address, their communication to you gets logged. This means that
> > there's no way to keep google (or $otherprovider) out of your
> > business. Also, people don't care, because it is in *their* freedom to
> > choose whatever service they prefer. And this is a good thing, even
> > though their choice involves *your* privacy. I suppose that, with a
> > real lot of time, money and good lawyers, you could force google to
> > not "read" e-mails because their customers agreed to their ToS, but
> > not the people they communicate to.
> > 
> > In conclusion, even though I sympathize with your views, I think your
> > battle is lost because it's flawed in its basis. If you don't like how
> > e-mail works, well, there are internationally recognized standards for
> > it, nothing you can do about it. Just change for a different service
> > which is based on technology that doesn't allow the provider to read
> > user's data. After all, there are technologies that allow us to log
> > into services without them or anybody knowing our passwords, why not
> > making it mandatory for contents? We just need a new protocol. And a
> > good reason for users to make the switch, since as we know people are
> > lazy.
> 
> Keeping emails away from google isn't even a half-measure towards
> privacy. If you're actually concerned about people accessing your
> private information, you'll encrypt all your data and transmissions.

Or you'd hand-carry your communications. And only talk to your friends
behind closed doors after scanning for bugs (not the software kind).