Google.......scary

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That's why I cut 99% of my online usage in particularly the search engines and email, youtube is the next to go for me, I have been using another service. Google like facebook is dangerous not only socially but politically, amazon are close on the heels of both google and facebook.
 
Technology is one of thoes things . You know they are all going to spy on You . Either use it or don't .
I thought the other day , what if the modern Socialist is using technology to make a list of enemies to go after "when" they get back in power .
 
My son showed me a video today from google. It showed how human like google assistant could be and will make all our lives so much easier, (of course all the while recording everything). He thought it was great. I’m just amazed that it dosent creep him out about how AI is getting so smart and becoming so entwined a part of everyone’s lives. My alarm bells are going off....
 
Brent S said:
My son showed me a video today from google. It showed how human like google assistant could be and will make all our lives so much easier, (of course all the while recording everything). He thought it was great. I’m just amazed that it dosent creep him out about how AI is getting so smart and becoming so entwined a part of everyone’s lives. My alarm bells are going off....
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I agree and disagree.

I'm a very private person, and can't stand the idea of every part of my online activity archived and disected for commercial and/or government abuse.

Yet just to play the devil's advocate, I wonder if my attitude is entirely fair. I've worked in sales, and one of the first principles is to know the customer. I knew, for example, that Ms. Jones was a corporate customer who bought a lot of office supplies, and Ms. Smith was a kindergarden teacher who bought a lot of supplies (like crayons and construction paper) for her class.

I was expected to know these kinds of details so that I could anticipate my customers' needs and tailor my sales techniques accordingly.

There is nothing evil or craven about this...I'm sure that everyone who sells does the same thing.

Can we argue that Google and Amazon are doing the same thing?
 
Kevin L said:
I agree and disagree.

I'm a very private person, and can't stand the idea of every part of my online activity archived and disected for commercial and/or government abuse.

Yet just to play the devil's advocate, I wonder if my attitude is entirely fair. I've worked in sales, and one of the first principles is to know the customer. I knew, for example, that Ms. Jones was a corporate customer who bought a lot of office supplies, and Ms. Smith was a kindergarden teacher who bought a lot of supplies (like crayons and construction paper) for her class.

I was expected to know these kinds of details so that I could anticipate my customers' needs and tailor my sales techniques accordingly.

There is nothing evil or craven about this...I'm sure that everyone who sells does the same thing.

Can we argue that Google and Amazon, are doing the same thing?
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Kevin, I think that is fair, but Google has been proven to have a political agenda and tries to sway us. It also turns information over to the government. I think if it were just about knowing your customers, it wouldn’t be so bad. However, we are seeing far too frequently that they are overstepping their bounds. Keep in mind, I am sure there is a lot more that we don’t even know yet.
 
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DrPrepper said:
Kevin, I think that is fair, but Google has been proven to have a political agenda and tries to sway us. It also turns information over to the government. I think if it were just about knowing your customers, it wouldn’t be so bad. However, we are seeing far to frequently that they are overstepping their bounds. Keep in mind, I am sure there is a lot more that we don’t even know yet.
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I don't disagree.

I think it's frightening that most Americans seem to have a 5th grade reading level, and wouldn't recognize the Constitution if it was placed in front of them.

Such people (the vast majority) seem--at least to me--to be especially vulnerable to social engineering.

So...a form of "big brotherish" control over the vast majority of people who are more like human sheep.

That means that intelligent, skeptical, independent people will draw the interest and attention of Big Brother because we're a blip on a smooth graph.

The idea that I may have to disguise myself as a human sheep is distasteful.

I like being myself.
 
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@Kevin L , Yes I can argue the point. Kevin, did you raise the price for Mrs. Smith when she came to buy school supplies because you knew of her buying habits. When your information is sold and used to extort extra money from you, there is harm and it is willful harm.

I am in the process of eliminating as much of my connection to google as possible. I have started closing all my gmail accounts and now use DuckDuckgo for internet searches. I Use Opera and Firefox as my browser. I am closing my Facebook account and have informed all family members the account is being closed. Will that stop all the tracking, I seriously doubt it but is is a start.
 
Urbanprep said:
@Kevin L , Yes I can argue the point. Kevin, did you raise the price for Mrs. Smith when she came to buy school supplies because you knew of her buying habits. When your information is sold and used to extort extra money from you, there is harm and it is willful harm.

I am in the process of eliminating as much of my connection to google as possible. I have started closing all my gmail accounts and now use DuckDuckgo for internet searches. I Use Opera and Firefox as my browser. I am closing my Facebook account and have informed all family members the account is being closed. Will that stop all the tracking, I seriously doubt it but is is a start.
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I've considered similar measures.

Part of my problem is that I am a public figure (I'm a published writer in several different fields, and I have a small amount of critical acclaim).

I often write pieces that are antagonistic (through satire) to people in power, and I've had psycho stalkers.

I want to be careful, but not paranoid. The line between prudence and paranoia is fuzzy and indistinct...yet I still have no desire to cross it.

As I get older and older, I lose more and more of my faith in humanity.

The 'Idiocracy' movie (and the 1950s science fiction story 'The Marching Morons' that it was ripped off from) hit way too close to home.

This cult comedy movie should be requied veiwing in any college course on philosophy, politics, and ethics.

I better shut up before I rant some more.

You guys shouldn't have got me started.

And for the record, I got the best sales when I was an advocate for the customer, as I always got them the best deal. I got repeat business that way, and customers were loyal to me.

My managers were often irritated that I would refer a customer to a cheaper item, but word-of-mouth is a powerful thing, and I got new customers who asked for me personally because I got good deals for their friends.

So, I built a customer base by saving them money. I did more volume than the short-sided, greedy associates that I worked with, and my managers saw this and left me alone even though I steered people toward things that saved them money.

I could only do this because I knew my customer.

I would like to think that I protected their privacy, as I knew who the competitors were and never discussed peoples' transactions where it would cause problems for my customers.

If google is trying to use internet traffic to manipulate society, then I have a major problem.

One benefit of this kind of manipulation would be to make a fortune in the stock market.
 
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Kevin L said:
If google is trying to use internet traffic to manipulate society, then I have a major problem.
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Not if, google has been caught doing just that, they have blacked out conservative links and placed left leaning links in the top 50, they have done the same in news feeds, now, then add the crackdown alt right, anti gun and conservative voice on YouTube then add googles little bots reading your email to learn your likes.

Let’s also keep in mind Microsoft does the same thing, with Microsoft office you get free cloud service, a person had not so nice stuff typed up and saved to the office cloud Microsoft bots flagged it because it violated the terms of agreement using the cloud service so Microsoft not only reads your email but also your documents stored on it cloud. Both google and microsoft are absolute dictators in ideology and continuing to use there service is only putting one privacy in further jeopardy

This isn’t paranoia stuff this is crap that has been admitted too by both google and microsoft granted, they aren’t the only ones that does this but both google and microsoft hold a tremendous amount of the market in services.
 
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