-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 On 1/29/2012 02:47 PM, Mick wrote: > On Sunday 29 Jan 2012 19:12:17 Dale wrote: > As far as I can tell all that is changing with Google is they are going to > join up in terms of user authentication, hitherto separate portals or apps > they had. I do not see a material difference to what is there now. > > Fastmail, Google, Yahoo!, Yandex, et al, are all public ISPs and are making > their money one way or another. It is in their benefit to respect users > privacy, but don't for a minute think that your info while in their systems > can be deemed as private. Unless you use encryption they can probe it, > analyse it, read it, categorise it, etc. Whether it is Google ads bureau, or > CIA, or FSB, there is not much of a difference between them as far as the > privacy of your data is concerned. > > I think that you are worrying yourself unnecessarily, although there is no > harm in being cautious all the same.
In the age of the corporate Internet, it is wise to understand that information is a commodity that is bought and sold and that anything that goes through you ISP and public providers (like Yahoo, Google, etc.) is available for sale, with the exceptions of bank account numbers and the like. In short, it is wise to assume that there is no reasonable assumption of privacy for any of your activity on the Internet. Using encryption is a good policy, especially if you use the Internet to buy and sell things - otherwise your credit card numbers, bank accounts, and so on, can be compromised. However, one should also read the terms of use and terms of service for all services they use. For example, it violates the Yahoo terms of use to use proxy servers or networks (e.g. Tor) to obscure one's location and IP address. Governments, as you bring up, also monitor Internet traffic, though they are mainly looking for what they deem as threats to their security. I agree that there is no harm in being cautious. Chris -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJPJdz/AAoJEFHj8CHvnA9YulkP/3CPtJncbOkCueYhXM9W8ieq Pn2pwrrCo8l4ctqstlnRxpG96Q3ju/oInW3RijB3GBDJjhZMZPXfmxZMLYNF76J+ nN3eyNEmos/GYTE2dY/8Ywzu+hoJoQBk/mzsH+aumPTc3JTSkxGLOZtA1Y0pdLd7 cZff2I8PgMrAI6ejQ7/Ot/Bt/YUDlQtPwzlYxhCxjfS4VV9E3a4gz5kt1/MVMO0Y 7EcaIppoUoXBgUbr+rtZX1db4KaVgiiOs9FROL8LJNMdW5vhWx4UA1MKORRzjBpl 6ByPbFjs8c08uO761WcmeFo5Ija7mdR+DzGyDDj0CC2zQ94drWPhREszahTULmED 4UJpGmFk/ZHk6rgZZOAIxsEGaJ0Fi6MeVa5HzZvhD2X6dGdatQTuGYJn4z6vn9iT NKjoz9LmI97XoUo4FJ8/rASeVk0n7WyrzlbJV6MMM+QVd7qUaU62T3/XZwO3xEWp LKHFh3T8BYzqmMRgWsurXp1v1/crWaKnB5TC8jeCeRhuo8e7ox+tmjgDp0hoifGc FdlfwXNWep+DYdX1g3X9xV92Z8g2moWwDLGEeiDFkA/kMr28cJCbR5lFLXGPmChH T1r4nPl6PbV6g3UxdBnkzJ5OSeudiSpkLLmNGkrra+Olz4qWi6yNKjmkHWMdn3HT qT+BglTRdVTKKsIxnt1J =qB49 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 120129-1, 01/29/2012 Tested on: 1/29/2012 6:57:54 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2012 AVAST Software. http://www.avast.com
