Now one can send text messages from Google

I am an Google fan and love most of their offerings but I never knew
about this.
A Google page that allows you to send free text messages. Pretty simple
looking form too

more details at
http://askwiki.blogspot.com/2006/09/...oogle-for.html

Enjoy !!

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› See More: Now one can send text messages from Google

"rishil" <[email protected]> writes:
> I am an Google fan and love most of their offerings but I never knew
> about this.
> A Google page that allows you to send free text messages. Pretty simple
> looking form too
>
> more details at
> http://askwiki.blogspot.com/2006/09/...oogle-for.html
>
> Enjoy !!

Which is cool, I'll grant. You can also have google calendar text you
your appointments and such, and you can text back requests for the
next appointment, the whole day, etc.

But... "exactly how much personal information are you willing to give
google about your life?" becomes the question. Do you really want a
commercially owned publicly traded entity knowing your cell number,
and everything you've been interested in searching about on the
internet?

They have a business model. And the amount of info they can know
about you should send shivers down most folks spines. And just
because they're known for "do no harm" ethics today doesn't mean they
won't eventually succumb to the pressures of being a publicly traded
corporation one day.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
>
>> But... "exactly how much personal information are you willing to give
>> google about your life?" becomes the question.
>
> yeah. Many of the same people who refuse to do business with Microsoft
> for moral reasons don't hesitate to do business with Google....and yet,
> Google is as evil as Microsoft ever was.
>
> Oh, I see--it's FREE.
>
> Well, now we know the price of dignity for those people.

Not including the Open Source community...any for free has no value to
you. Simply an Ad Hoc observation a buddy made to me.

decaturtxcowboy <[email protected]> writes:

> Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote:
> >
> >> But... "exactly how much personal information are you willing to give
> >> google about your life?" becomes the question.
> > yeah. Many of the same people who refuse to do business with
> > Microsoft for moral reasons don't hesitate to do business with
> > Google....and yet, Google is as evil as Microsoft ever was.
> > Oh, I see--it's FREE.
> > Well, now we know the price of dignity for those people.
>
> Not including the Open Source community...any for free has no value to
> you. Simply an Ad Hoc observation a buddy made to me.

My point it's not really totally free. Gotta ask yourself what's
Google (a publicly traded corporation accountable to shareholders with
profit forecasts) gettin out of the deal other than getting your
eyeballs to a page of theirs?

Open source software is an entirely different animal. Private
individuals can actually be altruistic, spend hours and hours on
projects for the sheer passion of providing useful quality software,
and give things away consistently and no one will ever yell at them
except maybe their spouses. Publicly traded corporations on the
other hand, are about making money. Not a bad thing, but it is a
fact.

So, I wouldn't believe for a moment that google won't be leveraging
consumer information in your text messages (or your gmail account) in
order to add to the compelling profile of information they're building
on folks. And even if their Privacy Policy says they aren't today,
note also that that's subject to change without notice, and it's hard
for anyone to verify that they aren't collecting such info.

Of course, feel free to enjoy the service, mind you, but just make
wise decisions on the info you provide when signing up, consider using
separate accounts for various google services, or whatever you'd like
if you aren't interested in a 3rd party knowing a surprising amount
about you gleaned from information exchanged across those services.
And, as with their search engine, the use of anonymizing proxies and
onion routing might be worthwhile too depending on your level of
vigilance.

For instance, it'd be a sad day when and if your life or health
insurance rates happened to get quoted really realy high to a healthy
person just because they'd been texting something about grandma's
cancer through a google service tied back to them. Now, according to
privacy policies today, that's not supposed to happen or be shared
with third parties in identifiable ways, but nothing technical
prevents google from building up such a database today, or being able
to sell such profiling information to third parties tomorrow. The
weasels at Choicepoint somehow get the captial to buy out google, all
bets would be off, for instance.

Trading privacy for convenience is a sacrifice way too many consumers
are way too willing to make.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On 14 Oct 2006 20:34:37 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>My point it's not really totally free. Gotta ask yourself what's
>Google (a publicly traded corporation accountable to shareholders with
>profit forecasts) gettin out of the deal other than getting your
>eyeballs to a page of theirs?

That's all Google needs -- just look at its financials.

>So, I wouldn't believe for a moment that google won't be leveraging
>consumer information in your text messages (or your gmail account) in
>order to add to the compelling profile of information they're building
>on folks. And even if their Privacy Policy says they aren't today,
>note also that that's subject to change without notice, and it's hard
>for anyone to verify that they aren't collecting such info.

A wee bit paranoid, are we?

>Of course, feel free to enjoy the service, ...

I do. And I'm not at all worried. I protect sensitive information with
strong encryption, and I'm not at all concerned about what Google might
make out of the rest, especially given the firestorm that would
inevitably follow if Google engaged in widespread privacy abuse. I'm
quite confident that it's not about to commit suicide that way. YMMV.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

John Navas <[email protected]> writes:

> A wee bit paranoid, are we?

Assuming that technical possibilities are likely to be exploited is
part of my job. You can call it paranoid it if makes you feel
better in your use of the service. :-)

> >Of course, feel free to enjoy the service, ...
>
> I do. And I'm not at all worried. I protect sensitive information
> with strong encryption, and I'm not at all concerned about what
> Google might make out of the rest, especially given the firestorm
> that would inevitably follow if Google engaged in widespread privacy
> abuse. I'm quite confident that it's not about to commit suicide
> that way. YMMV.

I think you're half right.

The best way to wrap your head around why consumers want to be careful
on these services is not to think in terms of the current company
remaining the way it is, but instead to think of the current company
as a buyout target for someone else who wants their intellectual
capital for marketing leverage.

Now if you wanna see somethin scary, have a peek into one possible
2015 future where GoogleZon controls the world:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic

Now that's paranoid...but plausible.

Don't forget that bit about sacrificing liberty for security. Similar
thoughts are applicable to privacy and convenience.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 01:35:56 GMT, John Navas
<[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>On 14 Oct 2006 20:34:37 -0500, [email protected] (Todd H.) wrote in
><[email protected]>:
>
>>My point it's not really totally free. Gotta ask yourself what's
>>Google (a publicly traded corporation accountable to shareholders with
>>profit forecasts) gettin out of the deal other than getting your
>>eyeballs to a page of theirs?
>
>That's all Google needs -- just look at its financials.

"Google sees profits almost double"
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6067084.stm>

Internet search giant Google has confirmed its ongoing market
domination by announcing that its third quarter profits have almost
doubled.

During the three months until the end of September, its net income
was $733m ($390m), a 92% increase on the $381m it made in the same
time last year.

With advertising sales soaring, Google's revenues rose 70% from a
year ago to $2.7bn.

[MORE]

And to think DEC was there first with Alta Vista, but couldn't figure
out what to do with it, so dumped it. [sigh]

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>