In order for a vote to matter, the population needs to be educated and informed. This is clearly NOT the case in the USA (overall literacy scores in the USA are one of the lowest among developed nations, for example).

Add to that the easily hacked/tampered electronic voting systems which Big Brother (primarily republicans) have been so eager to push into common usage. If I vote, what’s the guarantee that my vote is recorded as I entered it? What’s my guarantee that it’s even *counted* and not “spoiled” along with 3 million or so other ballots? There’s no paper trail… how do we perform a manual recount (as opposed to a *machine* recount)?

Go ahead and yell about the wonders of voting, but when the vote can’t be trusted, and the voting people don’t know what they’re voting for/against, don’t be surprised when things don’t change….

The real question, the real fear here is not a fear of Google…it’s the fact that our government might be asking Google for this info. What right does the government have to peer into our private lives? A lot these days. The Patriot Act anyone? The government *IS* spying on us (http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att). We need to take action where we can. We need to VOTE! (and support eff!)

Google folds up like a cheap suit when faced with a REAL oppressive government. See:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/24/D8FBCF686.html

Their motto should actually be “Don’t be evil unless it’s profitable.” It’s all about the benjamins, baby.

Thinking of the next best…
Can we change the way we trust? In trust there should not be
second thoughts. We have trusted Google as long as it is just a
search engine but later when it forayed into omni-digital areas –
second thoughts crop up…true??

Google coercing? — This is true looking at the acquisitions and
soaring userbase. Coercing?? — I dont think so..as I need not be
forced to beleive in Google – since its revolutionary search engine.

Google is definitely good and bad, but everyone should understand that what you do on the `net is trackable, traceable and recordable.

You know what? I only started being paranoid because I see articles like “Google = NSA 2.0?” these days. When I didn’t know anything about Privacy Policies and companies keeping backup copies, I wasn’t worried at all. I think majority of the people who use email think that once you delete your emails, it’s gone forever. That’s what I thought 5 years ago, but now, I’m getting paranoid about all this. The more you know, the more things you have to worry about. LOL

I have another question now. Since Dan wrote this article and he “seems” to be very concerned about his privacy online, does he use instant messengers/email/photo sharing services, etc.? What email service(s) does he use for his private/personal (i.e. non-work related) emails? Yahoo?

I see people writing about how they have their own servers and backup all their data there. Do they actually OWN a physical server or do they rent/pay for them from providers like GoDaddy.com?

Even if we all had our own servers, emails are like postcards so anyone can read them. And encrypting/decrypting is a hassle for most people.

The ONLY thing that comes to mind is the British issue of the issuing of ID cards to British citizens – the English don’t want it. Sometimes this topic resurfaces every now and then. Other then that our identities are quite safe from the authorities – as far as we know

The problem is that if you’re in Canada or the US and you try to use email accounts in Europe, the data you’re writting is still passing through your ISPs. There is no limit to far you can be srutinised. The ULTIMTE thing to do is set up a satelite link from your house to some minor ISP in an Asian country that won’t even understand the English you use in your emails. Then you’ll have to use and alias, otherwise when you send an email to your American friends, those email providers can still trace you.

-Damn, the internet is surely not for the paranoid.

Anyway, I’m also in Canada, but I don’t use the email service provided by my ISP. I don’t trust them more than I trust Google. I prefer to merge all my data with the millions of people who use Google & Gmail than a couple of thousand people who use Rogers Cable or Bell, for example. Just a personal preference.

Can somebody help me answer these questions (I really want to know them, but don’t know who can answer me.):

Is our data safer in Europe? For example, if I use a free email service provided by a French company in France, would my data be safer? (For example, orange.co.uk or orange.fr) For example, when you sign-up for Hotmail and select your country (Canada, France, UK – There are different TrustE/Safe Harbor seals.)

All these “privacy” issues are really BIG in USA, but it doesn’t seem so in European countries (like Germany, France, etc.).