On 8/8/2011 9:34 PM, Jimmy Richardson wrote:
I think we're beating a dead horse & maybe talking about 2 diff things. I'm not bashing Google - just stating instances of their record. Yes, they provide lots of free services - including email. But before one sends unencrypted email to Gmail & quite a few other "free" providers (& also persons replying to email sent thru the "scanning" providers), it'd better be info they don't mind * possibly * the entire world knowing.On 8/9/2011 5:44 AM, Joe Btfsplk wrote:Jimmy, though you have some valid points, I think you missed my point entirely (possibly some other posters').Actually I do see your point, as I have said, we have different assumptions regarding how censor would react to anti-censorship activities, let's just agree to disagree here. But even under your assumption, I don't see the reason to bash Google here. True, Google could sell you out to governments, but so could any company (for example your ISP). The difference between Google and your average company is: a. Google actually made a stand against censorship, and suffered the retaliation; b. Google is providing computation resources for free. If you want privacy/anonymity, you just need to code encryption routines for the proxy you run on Google's AppEngine, it's no different from the suggestion to run Tor over Telex. And for the free service they provided against censorship, we should be thanking Google (and Telex if it gets built). As far as I can see, Tor is already losing against the censors, I think Tor should welcome some help in fighting against them.
I just don't think Google is a good choice to count on to protect your identity (& stake your freedom on, * if living in a highly repressed nation *), even if they do offer valuable services for "free." I hope other entities will step up to offer the kinds of services you mention, for users in repressed nations - if none exist. Google's & some other providers' privacy policies are quite dismal from a privacy standpoint.
In the US & some other nations, for now, loosing your freedom isn't an issue - unless breaking some laws. I was speaking about very repressed nations, where people can be jailed simply on suspicion. In THAT kind of society, I wouldn't trust Google (OR a lot of others), if offering services you refer to. In the US & other "free" democracies, invasion of privacy & failure to protect identity are probably the only drawbacks to using Google - & other provider w/ similar privacy policies - for services you mention - unless violating laws.
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