Google's Plan To Take Over The World

Google's Plan To Take Over The World:

http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-plan-to-take-over-the-world-2013-5

 

I get taken to a page that is blank and says "Continue on to Business Insider", but the link never goes anywhere. This is on Firefox.

Without looking at the article though, they basically already have taken over the world as far as data goes. I didn't think they could worry me much more until Larry Page hopped up on that stage and started talking about health records needing to be opened and laws getting in their way. Man has that company come a long way from being just an innocent search engine and veered way off the path of "Do no evil". There are termites in this world with less hunger for wood than these guys are for data.

 

The article made me wonder what are the actual increases in Google's profit that are strictly related to increased ads revenue from collecting/using more personal data... Or if "better ads" is just a justification for collecting personal data...

 

This article (whether true or not) just reinforces what I strive to constantly achieve – excluding Google from every aspect of my digital life.

My only link with Google is via Startpage.com which I use as Home page on all my browsers – otherwise I don't log in to anything associated with Google and always make sure that there is nothing in my browsers which is Google related.

I'm not a 'Google is evil' freak – I just think Google is far too nosy and intrusive!

 

Thanks, JR

 

Evil isn't precisely a term I'd use, intrusive, obsessive, those fit better. I have an account with Google Music and use them at times for search/Google Earth, but I can't say I'm exactly a thrilled customer and sleep soundly at night. The more they talk, the less I feel comfortable using them for anything at all. The magic lies in offering up pretty good services for, mostly, free, in exchange for everything they can get about you. They're expert at that.

 

What I find interesting is that in order to easily get their hands on your data, you will need to have an account with them (GMail, Google+, etc.), or have an Android device, or other kind of device, like Glasses. If you read the list of things that Google can do, you will see that if you are not logged in to Google, most of the "features" described in the article won't work. Of course, that doesn't mean that they don't collect data about your searches, for instance, even if you are not logged in, but it makes it harder for them to build a profile on you if you don't do everything while logged in to Google.

I try that as well, but it is not exactly easy to manage without Google search

 

Maybe the big G wants to follow M$ footsteps

 

First, thanks for the note about the article!

Second, interesting the writer works for BI and that Ghostery tells me that the BI website uses Google + and Google Analytics web bugs. Talk about biting the hand that's feeding you.

Finally, I am big on protecting my privacy when I can. But IMO, that is limited in today's society. I don't do Facebook, Twitter or any other social medium. But I know that I'm in many, many databases. I don't lose any sleep over it but I know I don't have nearly as much privacy as I wish I had.

That said, where does Google fit in my concerns? At least they are fairly up front about what they're doing. I don't consider them as "evil" (or whatever word of choice you choose) just because they are being innovative. If they don't do it, believe me someone else will.

It's the companies in the shadows that bother me. The ones few (or nearly no one) knows about. A couple examples:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147158n

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/...book-teams-data-brokers-show-you-targeted-ads Note that the first sentence of this article talks about "offline" activities.