[ale] Meetup renewal time

[Lightner, Jeffrey]

Damnit  FriendFace is down!
http://friendface.co.uk/

:-)

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of DJ-Pfulio
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 9:18 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] Meetup renewal time

<rant>

I find googles ToS and general tracking of everything and everyone online to be evil. If they didn't have the data, I'd feel better, but data wants to be free, used, and abused.  Google will have a serious breach at some point and all the data they have WILL be released.

The only way NOT to be worried is if they didn't keep the data at all.
Even so-called "sanitized data" can be used.

My negative stance on this begins with CATV tracking, goes through automatic license plate tracking, road tracking for paid roads/lanes, GSM/wifi/bluetooth signal tracking on roads, in malls and stores, goes to all the web and email tracking out there.  Not just google, but all the others, including all the lazy webmasters who have decided NOT to do their own analytics and outsource that to google-analytics without asking.

BTW, I'm offended by people using gmail/hotmail/outlook/ymail or any of the huge, centralized, email providers too.  Centralized email breaks the ideas of federated services. There are smaller, free, email services who DO respect your privacy AND mine.

Don't get me started about bookme/bookface chapsnap, and other unpaid "cloud" services.  If it is free, then you and any data (including mine) that you provide ARE the product.  Why do people give this freely?
"Cloud computing is careless computing." -RMS

Just because everyone is doing it, doesn't mean it is a good idea.  We all use to ride motocycles without helmets, drive without seatbelts and skateboard without any protection. I just hope this clear stupidity
(IMHO) of blindly trusting internet companies with our data ends sooner than later.  Some governments are finally just starting to enact protections for end-users. Until congress has an embarrassing leak or tracking results, I fear we won't get that same level of protection here.

And hopefully we don't need to go over the "I don't have anything to hide, so I don't mind" arguments.  If that's the case, send me all your cloud logins. You don't have anything to hide, right?

</rant>
Whenever someone says "cloud", switch that to mean "on someone else's computer" - if that doesn't bother you, fine.  Make a copy of everything you do and let me have it. After all, you don't mind. <rbeg>

Sorry for that. Couldn't hold it in any longer.