Anyone else think Googles new EULA is kinda jacked?

[lxskllr]

This gets back to my original point that uploading things to the internet is pretty much your way of saying you don't want/need it to be private.

Even with physical access to the storage servers, SpiderOak staff cannot see even the names of your files and folders. All we see are sequentially numbered containers of encrypted data. We are never capable of betraying the trust of our users.

https://spideroak.com/zero-knowledge/

 

[natto fire]

https://spideroak.com/zero-knowledge/

That's definitely getting up there and I would imagine they are not going to sway on their foundation, it doesn't mean they couldn't change the policy overnight and send out updates to the agreement and hope most will "click sign" it blindly. Judging by the types of people that would seek this service it seems unlikely, but not impossible.

Of course it does nothing for when the information is actually being transmitted, but that is definitely a more complex and much more shady operation. *looking at you, NSA*

I respect you lxskllr, and was hoping you'd get around to this thread, because honestly I am kind of ignorant about what kind of "private" storage/service solutions are out there.

I'm not particularly happy about most of my internet activities being part of a list able to be copied, bought and sold, but I have accepted it, and since there doesn't really seem to be a long term solution I have more or less rolled over on joining my brethren in the consumer feed lot. That said, I have low income, make very few impulse purchases, and am probably not a good target for these advertisement lists. I know that doesn't make it right what data brokers are doing, but feel it doesn't affect me enough to make big changes to my routine.

 

[lxskllr]

I respect you lxskllr, and was hoping you'd get around to this thread, because honestly I am kind of ignorant about what kind of "private" storage/service solutions are out there.

It's tough. The only way to be certain is to do it yourself, and sometimes even that doesn't work. Email for instance is irreparably broken. Aside from the metadata issue(which is incorrectly trivialized by many); to communicate with others, the body data gets compromised. No matter how awesome your self hosted email is, it goes to hell as soon as you write to someone with gmail. Mail could be gpg encrypted, but then it doesn't matter what provider you use. I guess ideally, you'd use a Tor hidden service for email(to obfuscate the origin), and encrypt with gpg, but then who would you talk to? I might be able to get two people tops on board with that system, and even that's a stretch. There needs to be something better...

 

[Imp]

I thought it was already in there...

On the "bright" side, because they're such a huge and well known corporation, you may be a bit more protected compared to some joe working in his basement. Don't like something? Bitch online and the entire world might get behind you to maybe (key word) effect some change. Guy in basement runs off and... "Que?"

 

[natto fire]

It's tough. The only way to be certain is to do it yourself, and sometimes even that doesn't work. Email for instance is irreparably broken. Aside from the metadata issue(which is incorrectly trivialized by many); to communicate with others, the body data gets compromised. No matter how awesome your self hosted email is, it goes to hell as soon as you write to someone with gmail. Mail could be gpg encrypted, but then it doesn't matter what provider you use. I guess ideally, you'd use a Tor hidden service for email(to obfuscate the origin), and encrypt with gpg, but then who would you talk to? I might be able to get two people tops on board with that system, and even that's a stretch. There needs to be something better...

I'm envisioning mobsters using payphones to avoid tapping. I guess the machine has wealth concentration under control and has regrouped to make sure each one of us is a commodity to be bought and sold. I know there are some grade A distractions these days, but as more evidence points to the US economy being floated by faith that we will buy more stuff, hopefully others will become aware of the situation.

Regarding data transmission security, it seems highly unlikely that even the most well encrypted data is not still archived somewhere for eventual decryption and searched for flags.

 

[Strk]

People who post their entire life online make me not give a shit about their privacy concerns.

 

[lxskllr]

somewhere[/i] for eventual decryption and searched for flags.

The NSA is definitely saving encrypted data. They said they do. I'm sure some of it's psy-ops. Get people to give up before they even start. The way to fix that is to encrypt everything. Make it expensive for them to play that game. Otherwise, I just wouldn't put my plans for revolution in email :^D There's p2p communication that would be better suited for something like that.

 

[SunnyD]

Feel better? The CEO of Google gonna give you guys a kickback cause "you got their back" in this thread?

Me 'n Eric are good buddies. We go way back... like so far back I'm still waiting for any sort of kickback for any reverence I have for anything google related. 🙄

 

[TheSlamma]

I'm sorry if my post came across like I worship at the altar of google. I personally use AdBlock and noscript, so I haven't had to deal with ads in a long time.

Advertising and data collection are a huge business, and Google is not alone in exploiting this trend.

Even if you do use one of the numerous search engines or web services that claim to protect your privacy, there is nothing from stopping them from selling info down the road.

The point I was trying to make is that using the internet in and of itself means you will be tracked and exploited for profit by some company. Surveillance cameras are everywhere and will only continue to come into service, so the notion of living a private life and being a normal member of society are coming to odds more and more.

I can tell you one difference between Google and Facebook as far as how they spend their ill-gotten gains: Google is at least using it's investment capital to acquire companies that are geared more towards advancing technology, such as Boston Dynamics, and their autonomous automobile projects.

I personally have no problem with your thread and agree that "big data" is a topic that needs to be discussed. I think Google and Facebook both are very overvalued companies. Acxiom is probably a bit more realistic when their main source of income is a consumer feedlot.

I was replying to Red Squirrel because he, again, misses the bigger picture when saying people should just host their own email when it is way beyond the technical expertise of most email users. Since most people don't thoroughly read EULAs, even the so called "privacy pioneer" alternatives can easily wiggle out of selling data and hope it doesn't get a lot of attention.

I appreciate the reply Howdy, didn't mean to take it the wrong way.

I think you have some very good points in your post and agree with many of them. I don't consider myself a privacy nut and I've always been into technology as a tool, but like everything I hate when it gets used for crappy reasons. The last thing I want is to have a friend use my wifi to look up bankruptcy or research a criminal offense for example (a bit extreme but just making a point) and that search one day be turned into incorrect data that is bound to my online "profile" that Google or another company sells for their profit and potentially my loss depending on the incorrect data they have or someone email me something I don't even care about the subject matter and that be used. And given some of Googles coding blunders here and there (every software company has them) I don't think it's far fetched for them to be loaded with poor data.

I don't care if people know what my interests and hobbies are. My problem is when these systems turn me into a product (and I'm not against capitalism) but even worse sell me as something I'm not.

 

[TheSlamma]

Me 'n Eric are good buddies. We go way back... like so far back I'm still waiting for any sort of kickback for any reverence I have for anything google related. 🙄

Until then it's just live at home? 😉

 

[Jeff7]

https://spideroak.com/zero-knowledge/

"Greetings. We want a backdoor past your encryption scheme. It'd be in your best interests to comply with this request. Promptly. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

xoxoxo
- NSA"


If the system itself is strong, those running it are the next weak link to pursue.



Everyone has their price. It's just a matter of finding it - and it's not necessarily monetary.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Which part is "kinda jacked"? I don't see anything new there, just different wording.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The NSA is definitely saving encrypted data. They said they do. I'm sure some of it's psy-ops. Get people to give up before they even start. The way to fix that is to encrypt everything. Make it expensive for them to play that game. Otherwise, I just wouldn't put my plans for revolution in email :^D There's p2p communication that would be better suited for something like that.

Yeah we may not make anything that is 100% NSA proof, but the harder we can do it for them the better.

There also needs to be more encryption schemes invented, a lot of the existing ones have too many hands in the pot. Do we really want to trust encryption schemes that were made or contributed to by big companies like RSA?

 

[BladeVenom]

EULAs always suck, and are always against your interests. I'm sure there are many that are far worse than Google's.

 

[PlanetJosh]

It's good that someone's reading a Eula. I don't bother to read them much. It's more convenient for me to get the general idea of what they say by reading threads and articles about them.