9 comments

  1. Google’s intentions might be noble and good but the problem is that of allowing ONE company to dictate everything we do or do not do online. It’s risky, to say the least.
    But unfortunately there seems to be no stopping Google. They have the billions of dollars of funds to create and even buy up more of those services/tools that we use and merge them into the monster they already are.
    Who can save us from Google? Not Yahoo, not Facebook… maybe YouTube ? Oops, that’s also owned by Google, 🙂

  2. Me thinks, Mitch, you’ve been drinking a little too much of the Google kool aid. 🙂 Careful.

  3. Oh, the whiff of the cheerleader…
    I will say this. Very soon, we will be able to divide the world in two groups: those who don’t care about their privacy (the majority) and those that do and will start opting out of the shared economy in droves. It’s already happening but it will accelerate. And just as the current Mayor of Toronto calls everyone a “taxpayer” (as opposed to a “citizen”), people are resenting being called “consumers” or “datapoints” as opposed to, well, people. Digital folk still think they’re king(s) of the hill and can’t even conceive of people not being as enthused by their vision of paradise as they are. Well, we also know it can be lonely at the top.

  4. Great point Arjun.
    I am caring more and more about my privacy and have gone from a huge advocate for all these “advances” to one who is questioning it all and its dark sides.

  5. This post wasn’t about privacy and opting out. I see that as another (huge and important) issue. Whether I am a Google fanboy (I am!) or not, was not the point or intent of this piece. I am trying to highlight new functionality of communication and our online social networks to (hopefully) change email and make it better. I think Google is doing more than most to make it so. That being said, I don’t disagree with any of your sentiments.

  6. Mitch – thanks. I’m sorry too, if I came across as being snide about what you’re talking about. I think the promise of it all is fantastic and would be a new way of doing things, for the better.
    I do think however, that though it’s true your piece was not about privacy (or that all of these services are provided by Google) the “all the eggs in one basket” aspect is what I find most troubling and privacy is a piece of it.
    At any rate, I love your posts and so glad you write about these things. I’m a fan boy of Mitch.

  7. As far as individuals in their roles as private citizens go, I’m inclined to concur. As far as business decision-makers, for example, go, not so sure.
    To me it looks like the present—and by the looks of it, increasing—fragmentation of the social media landscape is making generalizations about what’s going to “win” a losing game.
    The only truly ubiquitous communication platforms seem to be the mobile phone and an email address.

  8. I think the person who can create an person to person encryption file app will make a bunch of money. Something simple that automatically encrypts anything leaving your computer over the internat. This would eliminate anyone like Google Dropbox etc from actually having your info unencrypted and keep people’s stuff private. I’m surprised someone hasn’t done this already – poeple are more and more scared of losing there privacy and something this simple would elimante that fear.
    I’d use something like this – would you?
    Person u send things regularly too just has to install app on there end – no need for passwords etc it would just protect files while they were in transite.
    Just my two cent.

  9. Whatever Google does there will always be “old-school” email services available. We existed just fine without gmail for years (I was one of the original JUNO email customers, back when it was dial-up email service!)

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