🚀 go-pugleaf

DG is a mighty pirate...

>> What's the advantage of Facebook? Would it add anything of value to my
>> life? Why would I venture out into the world of http to go to a
>> website owned by a company that is notorious for tracking and
>> profiling its users? And I am sure they have policies about what you
>> can and cannot say. That wouldn't work for me.
>>
>> I hate social networks. I am not social.
>>
> I must admit to the latter myself. Unusually for Aglami, Reinder's 
> little rant that probably got his head as red as his haw strip filled 
> nose is unpleasantly accurate. I too have great misgivings about how 
> Facecook uses it's users. Weirdly I have far less apprehension about 
> Google. Even though they know much more about me, I suppose.

I used to tolerate Google. It wasn't until they started asking me to 
sign up for Google+ that I started shouting at the screen like an 
angry maniac on a regular basis.

On a totally serious note, I am more afraid of governments tracking 
and profiling internet users than companies doing this. Of course, 
this does not mean I am eager to hand over my personal information to 
companies. After all, governments do have the power to confiscate 
whatever information they want from companies.

In some countries this is easier done than in others. I live in a 
country where it is very easy for the government to obtain information 
about its internet users. And if you're caught saying negative things 
about the government, you can be sent to a concentration camp for up 
to three years without trial. This is not a description of some
bizarre future dystopia, but rather the the grim reality for hundreds 
of millions of people.

Living in a totalitarian communist dictatorship might make me more 
aware of the dangers of being tracked and profiled, but it just 
surprises me how little most people seem to care about these 
practices. They are too naive to realize that laws, countries and 
governments can change for the worse.

-- 
ervaqre, climbing up the edge of despair