Privacy??

[billyk]

I was reminded again last night when I discovered, and installed, the cool GDocs app on the Droid, that we seem to routinely give away account ID's and Passwords to allow apps to access the data they need to work.

Not sure about the rest of you here, but I have a boatload of docs/spreadsheets in Google Docs, not to mention 10 years of Yahoo email I just moved over to Gmail in anticipation of getting the Droid. All that content is there in the Google cloud, and full accessible by who-knows-who that's behind the apps we happily download off the Market.

Now I don't have highly private info in any emails or Gdocs (like bank account info, for instance) and never have, but still, there is so much data that, when aggregated, might reveal a surprisingly accurate profile.

Keep in mind that common practices by companies like FaceBook for instance are to take a snapshot of everything they can when you first provide access to your personal info, so even changing your password after the fact does not delete what they've already taken, and stored for their own use in the future.

So how do you folks manage the privacy issue in this highly connected/integrated world??

[hookbill]

I was reminded again last night when I discovered, and installed, the cool GDocs app on the Droid, that we seem to routinely give away account ID's and Passwords to allow apps to access the data they need to work.

Not sure about the rest of you here, but I have a boatload of docs/spreadsheets in Google Docs, not to mention 10 years of Yahoo email I just moved over to Gmail in anticipation of getting the Droid. All that content is there in the Google cloud, and full accessible by who-knows-who that's behind the apps we happily download off the Market.

Now I don't have highly private info in any emails or Gdocs (like bank account info, for instance) and never have, but still, there is so much data that, when aggregated, might reveal a surprisingly accurate profile.

Keep in mind that common practices by companies like FaceBook for instance are to take a snapshot of everything they can when you first provide access to your personal info, so even changing your password after the fact does not delete what they've already taken, and stored for their own use in the future.

So how do you folks manage the privacy issue in this highly connected/integrated world??

You have been assimilated. Resistance is futile. Acceptance is the only way you can handle these things.

[billyk]

Thanks Bill.

I feel better now.

[lumpysherman]

Privacy went out the window during the second Bush presidency and isn't coming back anytime soon. Companies know that you want all these cool apps but in return they want to know everything about you, your friends, your families, etc... Like hookBill said, "We have been assimilated".

[New2u]

It's probably part of that "i accept all the rules" thing that no one ever reads. It's truly amazing what some companies sneak in there, and you don't notice it until it's working against you. Remember companies put things in there knowing that most people will never read them and only want to use the product.

[billyk]

Agreed. We are often drawn in by the product and overlook the loss of personal information.

[floyd]

Welcome to the Cloud. As one of the google honchos said recently, "If you're not doing anything bad, what do you have to worry about?" What a douchebag.

[JayMonster]

With apps such as those that you have to give the app your information, I always wait to see the fallout (this was a huge issue with Twitter "apps" some time back..not on Droid, but web apps that connected to twitter).

Many people worry about what we are giving away "on the Internet" but we have been doing much the same thing with our PCs for years. Yes, we may know some of the players better in the desktop space (Microsoft, Adobe, etc), but we (virtually) all install Mozilla Plugins, and IE add-ons, etc that have the same potential.

The name of the game is knowing who you are dealing with. And if you can't do that... then wait... let other people who are willing... take the risks of being the "1st to have it" and see if there is any fallout before jumping.

[Backnblack]

Gave that up long time ago when I was in the Marines..... Have TS Clearance now...They know everything......

[floyd]

I feel a lot safer knowing now that 40 thousand jarheads in Naval "Intelligence" have the ability to read everybody's personal emails. God bless America. Home of the free?

Meh.