http://www.idkfa.com/v3 idkfa: syndicated http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5889 Also relevant: http://abstrusegoose.com/553 kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Tue, 21 Jan 2014 01:02:22 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5889 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5882 As Josh would say: Relevant. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Mon, 20 Jan 2014 12:46:22 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5882 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5881 A link from that article: of course the onion nails it. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Mon, 20 Jan 2014 03:28:33 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5881 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5878 It has more to do with my privacy than anything else, I suppose. My online information is largely kept in a couple of silos that, for most purposes, never really interact. As this article states, Google likely knows more about me than the NSA (or any person, really, including my family). I find that idea supremely disconcerting. I don't mind providing personal data to a service online if I have some reasonable expectation of control of that data (say: the ability wipe my email and expect to to actually be deleted, which is not provided for inside gmail. or the expectation that my Home/Away status from my thermostat is not linked to the registered address provided for my Google Wallet account). None of these things are allowed inside Google. They collect every scrap of information they can get their hands on about you and collate it into one file, and you don't get any control. I'll happily pay for services like email/calendaring/web hosting/etc if it means I have control over its interaction/life span/use. Fastmail works great for my email, Fruux keeps my contacts and calendar synced, OTR provides a secure way of using GTalk without being spied on, and my NAS obviates the need for Google Drive. Once I find a place to store my recipe archive, I'll be taking steps to remove myself from Google's ecosystem entirely, which will definitely take some time. You are right, however, that it is an ideological pursuit. The simplicity and efficiency of a shared single ecosystem are outweighed by my fear of its eventual corruption or misuse. Final thought: I readily admit that Amazon knows everything there is to know about my spending habits. However, they also don't get to see my emails to friends, internet search history, or my plans for Friday night. Individual silos are something I've learned to deal with. Aggregate data about everything in my life? I don't want any part of that. conrad@idkfa.com (conrad) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 19:39:14 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5878 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5877 There is frequent discussion of what Alaska Native Corporations, shareholders, and descendants are going to with the "afterborn," a legal term for those born after Dec 19, 1971, who did not receive shares in an Alaska Native Corporation. Considering that people living in this current time will likely fill up the "good" or "simple" usernames (firstname.lastname@google.com, etc), what will we do with the "internet afterborn" who will have to find new combinations for their login? kitacek@idkfa.com (kitacek) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 16:44:35 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5877 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5876 GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. kitacek@idkfa.com (kitacek) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 16:41:41 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5876 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5875 But how can a company that's stated central philosophy is to do good ever cause us harm? BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE EVIL. BUT GOOGLE IS GOOD. GOOGLE IS GOD. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:59:35 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5875 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5874 We are probably the last generation to have a choice when it comes to what a computer knows about us. And we'll also probably be the last to care, or to be at all aware. We will always have to balance convenience versus trust. Is it convenient to have a reliable email service with which to conduct the majority of my personal affairs? Certainly. Can I trust that a corporate entity will never use my correspondence and recorded behaviors for nefarious means, no matter the price, or politics, or ethics/morality of its employees? No. But the risk, for me, has yet to outweigh the reward, so on Gmail I remain. We haven't seen a company like Google before. We also haven't seen one fail. Or be split apart. Or be compromised on the scale of the recent Target intrusion. Google is smart. But they cannot be perfect. I'm sure people at Google also take great care to make sure data doesn't disappear. Things we store in the Google services will be around for a long, long time. Let's say in 20 years, GoogleGlaxoSmithKline decommissions its original data centers by throwing its old platter drives in a dumpster. They only used pre-quanta encryption algorithms, which can be broken in constant time by performing the break in the higher-plane universes. How many passwords did I email to myself? How many accounts are still active? How much compromising information is still valid? How much incriminating information? However inconvenient, the choice to avoid something like Google is the choice to deal in impossibilities rather than improbabilities. There will always be inherent risk in storing sensitive information in a computer. For some, it's a step too far to transmit it to somebody else's computer. kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:23:06 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5874 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5873 The above reply being stated, the idea of an information monopoly is compelling. This is interesting because there's never really been a company quite like Google. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:32:13 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5873 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5872 I will invite them in, mostly because of that last paragraph (well, 2nd to last paragraph counting that last sentence)... whenever I get a home. Efficiency! I still don't understand the harm from them knowing more about my behavior, since this knowledge would ultimately save me money/make life more efficient. Sure, companies like Amazon and other retailers manipulate behavioral data so that I spend more money... but, so what? Are you saying these companies are going to coerce me into bankruptcy against my will? That they're going to form megacorporations, build robots, and take over the world? I'm pretty sure this is ultimately ideological for you, and perhaps I'm missing something about how this is going to subvert the control I have over my own life (or something) and turn me into a pod-person. But I will say my life is probably easier now than it's ever been, in many ways thanks to services provided by Google. And I've never had to pay a cent for anything from them (and their ads are perhaps the least annoying on the internet). And they are coming up with some really interesting ideas. Scrotor@idkfa.com (Scrotor) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:24:52 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5872 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5870 I'd be willing to bet whatever trending and thermodynamic principals that back the Nest are well within your skillset. If it interests you, I say sling some Python, drop it into cron, and roll your own. (Pending your tolerance for wires and microelectronics handing out of your hallway.) kaiden@idkfa.com (kaiden) Mercy General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:11:41 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5870 http://www.idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5869 'Google won’t break into your home. You’ll invite them in." conrad@idkfa.com (conrad) Mercy General Thu, 16 Jan 2014 21:54:29 -0900 http://idkfa.com/v3/v_thread.php?thread_id=5869&msg_id=5869