Are Google's Free Tools Costing Us Dangerously?

[terryrayburn]

Fascinating article by Reena Shohet (courtesy of Allan Gardyne):

How Google's free tools make you pay

Pretty spooky.

She asks how we would like it if the Government had the same profile of us as Google has.

Excellent question, especially for those of us whose Government is large enough and voracious enough to take what we earn through June to support itself (and is rapidly closing on July and August).

Good thing Google is committed to "do no evil" (other than partner with totalitarian countries in strengthening their totalitarianism, of course).

Why do I feel like Google just flagged my last paragraph, just in case they need it in the future?

[TLTheLiberator]

Very interesting and tons of food for thought.

A couple of years a ago, a top marketer declared that he would not use any of Google's tracking tools because it revealed too much info about his business.

Food for thought, and as soon as you can purchase tools or services to replace Google's stuff.

TL

[jamespitt]

Yes - very interesting article indeed. Thanks for sharing it. Google are so good at locking you in. The problem is that you have to pay for most of the alternatives & how many people when they start out want to start paying for something that they got for free before. It's hard to think about the extra costs when you are running a business.

[mpruben]

I've often wondered just how deep they are tracking my activities. I've recently uninstalled the Google toolbar since I'm not sure I want them having a record of every site (eg link sales, cloaking forums) that I visit.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by terryrayburn

Why do I feel like Google just flagged my last paragraph, just in case they need it in the future?

You can always opt out....

YouTube - Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users...

[DrewG]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

You can always opt out....

YouTube - Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

hahahaha I love The Onion.

I do know people that build all of their own tools because they don't trust Google.

[mithu]

Quiet thought invoking post. But Google really delivers the goods. Thanks for sharing.

[A. Green]

I think there are a lot of free, quality alternatives out there. You just have to look for them. I still prefer statcounter to google's stats program.

My father wanted to start a Website years ago, but was put off by the costs (things were a little more expensive at that time). I told him about all these free tools like Geocities and such. He wanted no part that because the thought they would collect info about him and his Internet use habits.

It's not like he does anything illegal (that I know of!), but the site would have been news and opinion related and he thought that might upset some authority somewhere. Mind, he is a little overly cautious, IMHO, but it made me wonder how many other non-IM people are really concerned about things like that. I suppose that's why having a privacy policy on your site is so important.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

You can always opt out....
]

not always. The days are coming where the powers that be want everything to be put online. They want entire operating systems that have nothing but a browser. All your other software would be online or need to connect online at some point.

[Ken Durham]

Interesting article.
One thing he mentioned was adsense taking away from him for a sale.
Why in the hell would you put Adsense on a product page if you are trying to sell a product? That just seems counter productive.

I guess one must wonder, is Firefox collecting data? How about Microsoft?
It would be so simple for MS or any other operating/server system to gather any data they wanted from your usage of their system without anyone ever knowing it.

A little off subject but related is people that use all of these "free scripts" on their websites. Do you realize how easy it would be to insert code during development that would send vital information, including client credit card numbers, to the developer of the script?

When I develop some projects where I am concerned about getting paid I insert code throughout the program that will allow me to disable or even delete the project remotely if desired. Since the code is spread out in little bits of one line code it is nearly impossible to find in the 1000s of lines of code.

Big Brother is here and there is no getting around it.