April 13, 2004
Don’t Ruin It For The Rest of Us
I am getting sick of all this privacy crap that is coming out lately. All those that don’t like these new services are going to ruin it for the rest of us that like the services. A few examples.
1. Plaxo: This is the service by which you can keep your contacts up to date within tools like Microsoft Outlook. I, for one, always seem to have contacts going out of date. People move, change cell phones, etc. and you never get the update until you needed it yesterday. Imagine if everyone you knew used Plaxo, it would be like having an always up to date directory of your contacts. How great would that be? I think is great and a big time saver. The privacy folks are all bent on the fact that Plaxo has this information and could do all kinds of bad things with it…but they won’t. Hell, if they do, people will change to the next Plaxo like company and we will all move to that.
2. Gmail: This is the new Google mail service that is going to scan your email and give you ads based on keywords. All the privacy folks don’t want people scanning your email. I suppose that seems good but aren’t we already scanning email? I mean right now when I go to Yahoo! mail it has a bunch of email in a junk folder that it thinks is junk. It didn’t know that magically…it looked at the damn email. Oh, but for SPAM its ok — but not for advertising. What’s going to pay the bills? What gets me is that Gmail is a free mail service from Google. Free. I love how people bitch about free things. New Rule: You can’t bitch about anything that is free. If you don’t want it, don’t take it. Its simple. If nobody uses Gmail, then Google will get the hint and change their practices. But maybe for some folks, this ad idea is good. Say my buddy and I are exchanging email about some product we want to buy and magically an ad shows up for that next to the email with a good price. That just saved me a bunch of time looking for the thing.
For me and I hope most, time is one of those things that really matters. You can’t buy more of it. I remember Jeff Bezos of Amazon saying that Amazon would succeed because it saved people time. How true. I just worry that the potential of these services will be limited by over-zealous privacy concerns. Hopefully, a system of checks and balances prevails here.
google sucks. down with google. now forget you ever knew me or it's an invasion of my privacy.
Brandon - thanks for this post. I've been thinking along the same lines. Don't like it? Don't use it! Just don't spoil it for the rest of us.
In all fairness though, I'm sure there are some who abuse Plaxo just like they abuse plain ol' e-mail, LinkedIn, orkut, etc.
The difference with services like GMail and Plaxo is that the information that people are keeping isn't necessarily your information, it is mine. If you have my contact information, then Plaxo has it without my consent or control. If I send you an email, then GMail scans it again without my consent or control.
In terms of privacy, there is a big difference over when you are sharing your personal information or mine with another company.
Also, in terms of Gmail - tracking advertisements shown next to the emails I have sent to you is very different than simply scanning emails to determine if they are spam.
If you send me your contact info through casual contact, then that is "my" information about you. I can do what I want with it...for example, I often like to sign everyone in my address book up for free gym memberships. Its just a nice thing I do for people. ;)
Plaxo is indeed a great concept but WHY:
- do they have to "pump" all the personal data of my address book contacts without informing them about the purposes of such a "data collection & treatment" (see the OCDE Privacy Principles) and giving them an access to check, change or delete the data Plaxo is like this "acquiring/owning" surreptitiously?
- do they ask me to validate all the e-mail addresses I gave them and not only just one they need to contact me?
I totally support such a concept but I'll never accept a centralized approach. You never know what's happening "behind the curtains". Just note what's happening with the Microsoft Passport initiative...
The only way is a P2P model based on mutual consent about the exchange, use and update of the personal data.
Regards
I disagree that there's a difference between scanning email for spam and scanning for advertisements. Sure the algorith COULD be different but it COULD ALSO be the same.
The market will end up determing if the product is successful.
This is just another case of the government getting into a business which it has no business legislating. It's not like Google has even done anything and there's talk by some CA senator about shutting it down.
If people don't want to use it, they won't sign up and they should be smart enough to avoid emailing anyone with a @gmail address. If people are smart enough to decide that the Yugo wasn't a good car to buy, they can decide whether or not they want Google to scan their email in return for free service.
By the way, it isn't free. You're paying for it somehow.
Amen! Your blog entry is definitely right on target.
I'm especially still scratching my head trying to figure out why people are so upset about Gmail displaying ads next to their e-mail. Here's the deal: You send me an e-mail, you then lose control over what happens to that mail. Period. End of story. I can forward it to a friend. I can forward it to a mailing list. I can print it up and show it to my roommate. I can print it up and put it on a bulletin board. And from a more realistic standpoint, by sending an e-mail, you are agreeing, absolutely-no-question-about-it that it will be:
- TRANSMITTED across the net, traversing many servers
- SCANNED at least once in that path... yes, the CONTENT scanned!
- STORED, either on a server somewhere or someone's home or work computer
- AVAILABLE to be retransmitted, paraphrased, printed, replied to, read out loud, etc. etc. etc.
Gmail offers a lot of great new stuff, and I know this firsthand as a tester [read my review here -- http://www.bladam.com/archives/0404141832.htm
But it's not invading privacy any differently than a spam filter or any Webmail service or any e-mail client. And I sure hope people see through the hysteria!
Ok, for yall privacy ppl out there, seems as tho u got a paranoia thing going on. Like Adam says above, once you click SEND, that mail is no longer yours and its very very public information anyway. And email gets scanned so many times from both directions that it doesnt matter where you are sending or recieving to or from.
On the standpoint of Plaxo, you are wayyyyyy overanalyzing this. This is meant as a convenience service not a conspiracy. Take something at face value and go with it. If it doesn't work out then don't use it again. Seems simple enuf. PeAcE.
I indeed stopped using Plaxo and it was for me a closed story!
But when I see the "pro domo" pleas about the Plaxo privacy and knowing that they do not respect the basic privacy guidelines and laws about information, access and consent, it's difficult to give them PeAcE!
For sure if you remember that the Plaxo's business model is everything except clear... where is the value of this convenience service?!?
Regards,
Check out this new anti-google website http://www.whygooglesucks.com for a laugh
I wonder how many of the folks who complain about being in someone's personal online address book are listed in a phonebook. Maybe you should request an unpublished number so that you won't show up in the online directories that use data from your phonebook.
This is so lame. I don't care who has my information, nobody can make me buy their product. I have my personal contact information all over the web and it hasn't done anything bad for me but help me find more friends, good people, and potential business leads.
So here it is, stop by for lunch if you'd like...
Robert Erickson
roberte at gmail dot com
5241 Corvette Dr.
Tampa, FL 33624
I'll be getting my Realtor's license soon too, so feel free to ask me if you need any help finding a home.
The problem with Plaxo is that others have my email address and are placing it on the Plaxo web servers. An Address that I pay to make exist.
They have been proven to be vulnerable in the past (phishing, spiders, etc.) and will most likely be in the future.
I use my email address for work and need it to stay spam free. Only my colleagues and clients have my address. They do not use GMail or Hotmail for work. I get 0 spam a day and I have been using the same address for three years with nothing except the most basic filter. How many do you "pro Plaxo" types get?
My methods work. I know this. I know nothing about Plaxo except that they were founded by the same guy who founded Napster. A company devoted to enabling people to steal other people's intelectual property.
If you want to keep up a contact, pick up the damn phone, or at the very least, write them. To use such a third party service is very bush league.
Besides, which piece of information changes the most? Is it email, phone, or address? Yep, email. So how are you going to get someone's new email address through a service that only uses email address to update contacts?