On 25/03/12 15:03, mick wrote:
Frankly, I find the idea of voluntarily synching any of my contacts/mail/calendar/whatever with a google "service" horrifying.
Why?
Don't get me wrong, plenty of people find this anything from "uncomfortable" to "horrifying", and no doubt with good reasons. However I've just not managed to find a good reason beyond "gut instinct" why I should care what Googles computers know about me, and my gut is wrong far too frequently to be trustworthy (I'd rather trust Google :-)
Over the weekend I logged into my GMail account and saw an advert for a couple of ERP software packages, and got the "that's spooky, I was looking at ERP stuff last week" feeling in my gut. A moment's thought and I remembered that as I'd been looking for ERP stuff for work, I'd been emailing people about it, and Google was "reading" my email, which I already knew, so it was still a bit uncomfortable but at least I knew why. (It's not the first time, of-course; it's just for some reason this time caught me off guard.)
So it left me thinking about why this should concern me. I get what is on all technical accounts a pretty good service from Google, yet I pay them nothing. On the other hand I am paying probably £100/mo for Internet access in general (phone contract, home, work, etc) to other companies which by and large aren't as technically impressive as Google. Indeed, my Virgin internet account at home even comes with a GMail-powered email service, not that I use it.
Also, when I watch TV, it's split between BBC (licence fee funded) and other channels which are advertising funded. This doesn't bother me. I have dozens of rarely used apps on my phone which are advertising funded - in many cases I could pay for the versions that come without adverts, but often (not always) don't. Advertising means other companies pay for services I want to have but don't want to pay for. I accept this. I accept that the price of Linux magazine is heavily subsidised by advertising, and find it frustrating that the audience isn't big enough to attract more valuable advertising and therefore more cost price subsidy. (Not to mention that this advertising is clearly targeted.)
So the only thing different about Google (and others) is that they are using my data to target adverts at me, which I may or may not decide to read or act on. An advert for an ERP package is more useful than an advert for (for example) new shoes[*], which makes the advert more valuable, and Google should need to shove fewer of them in my face to cover its costs (and make a profit) than otherwise would be the case. Do I believe that any humans are reading my private email? No I don't - what would be the point? Does it bother me that Google's computer read it (much as my own computer could do)? Well yes, in my gut, it does. But I can't convince my head that this matters.
[*] No doubt I'll get adverts for new shoes now I mentioned this :-)