The problem with Google, FB, and to a degree Apple is not the advertising or lack of utility of the gadgets. Nobody is forced to buy anything.
The problem is, that on the one hand we have a push to "the cloud" which only exists because ISPs and "content providers" have essentially successfully stalled a timely transition to IPv6, which made the disaster called NAT so prevalent, that nobody can run their own services, the way the internet was designed to work. You shouldn't need "Google drive" you should be able to access your own drive no matter where on the globe you are. The second problem is, that the increasing commercialization of search results makes these results increasingly meaningless. If I e.g. try to find properties of insulating glass, and all I get are links to replacement window makers, then that defeats the purpose of my search, because I want to learn about glass, so I can make an educated decision about what windows to buy, if I want to read window manufacturer's propaganda, I can just call them. The third, and biggest problem is, that while people were up in arms over intrusive government programs that went under the names of Echelon, Top Sail, TIA and other known and unknown acromyms, we now give private corporation that sort of total access to our private information that we wouldn't trust the government with. And not only can thanks to the deceptively named "Patriot Act" the government access all that information with little to no judicial oversight, the private companies can mine the data for whatever reason they see fit. The situation is so bad, that one has to wonder if some of that massive infrastructure these private companies built up wasn't ultimately funded by the black budget to bypass the government data gathering restrictions by allowing private companies to succeed where the government wasn't allowed to go. Whether you know it or not, you're naked already, and that's the scandal nobody wants to face. The idea, that "I have nothing to hide" is a stupid one. Everyone has everything to hide, the moment government goes bad. And government always goes bad, given enough time and opportunity. So you don't make laws for the government you do have, you make laws for the bad government you might have at some point in the future, because no matter how ethical and well-intentioned government may be today, that doesn't mean that tomorrow it's very different. German laws didn't exactly have Hitler in mind when they were written, but flaws in election laws, etc. did allow for something like Hitler to happen. It's the long-term perspective and what happens with our ability to maintain privacy that's deeply troubling about all these services that syphon every last bit of information out of you, directly or indirectly, e.g. with such "harmless" buttons as these ubiquitous "like" buttons, that keep track of what web sites you visit, not just which ones you like, because each of these buttons calls FB API, and allows FB cookies to track you wherever you go. A nice little video on the subject: http://wimp.com/mindreader/ Ronald On 8 Oct 2012, at 20:24, Robert Greene <gre...@math.ucla.edu> wrote: > > This is funny but it is of course wrong, > I like facebook a lot, but I dislike text messages, > and so on. Which general types of things one likes > may develop early, but the details are not > set in stone. This kind of thing is > an excuse for all kinds of bad stuff > that is supposed to be progress but is > really just bad--but not all of it is bad! > Robert _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
