Goodbye Google

Here’s that most rarest of animals: an opinion piece at CNN that I agree pretty much 100% with

Here’s what Google knows about you, what it stores right there on its servers, waiting for a hacker:

Google has every e-mail you ever sent or received on Gmail. It has every search you ever made, the contents of every chat you ever had over Google Talk. It holds a record of every telephone conversation you had using Google Voice, it knows every Google Alert you’ve set up. It has your Google Calendar with all content going back as far as you’ve used it, including everything you’ve done every day since then. It knows your contact list with all the information you may have included about yourself and the people you know. It has your Picasa pictures, your news page configuration, indicating what topics you’re most interested in. And so on.

If you ever used Google while logged in to your account to search for a person, a symptom, a medical side effect, a political idea; if you ever gossiped using one of Google’s services, all of this is on Google’s servers. And thanks to the magic of Google’s algorithms, it is easy to sift through the information because Google search works like a charm. Google can even track searches on your computer when you’re not logged in for up to six months.

I’ve looked at reports on this new policy, though I haven’t read all of it as this author has, and I can tell you that as of March 1st I’m done with them. My google, gmail and youtube accounts will be closed. For my friends on various blogger, well, I will be only commenting there if I can do so anonymously from now on (this may in fact not be a loss for you). Any searches I do will be using bing or some other engine, not google.

I will be contacting my Congress Critters and requesting that they introduce the following legislation:

The Preservation Of Online Privacy Act of 2012

(POOP for short)

As of 30 (thirty) days from the date of POOP’s passage no company may keep data containing identifiable information concerning internet usage of an individual for more than 3 (three) years from the date of the online activity without either express written consent of the person(s) so involved or a court order specifically listing potential felonies and specifically limited thereto. The data must be deleted on a monthly basis.

Violations of POOP will be punishable by fines of at least but not limited to $1000 per mb (megabyte) of data in the aggregate per day.

categories Biz, Nanny State, Politics, Public Service Announcement | | datetime February 10, 2012 8:20 am

19 Responses to “Goodbye Google”

  1. Gary from Jersey says:
    February 10, 2012 at 8:50 am

    A couple stories in December said Google gave the feds (or the feds just took) unlimited access to those servers. Now we know why Google’s such a big Obama fan.

  2. JeffS says:
    February 10, 2012 at 9:16 am

    I’ve had Bing as the default search engine for a long time now. I’m rethinking my e-mail account with Gmail — I’ll likely splurge, and pay for a Yahoo account.

  3. Ebola says:
    February 10, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    What isn’t mentioned is that if you own and Android phone, all of your data passes through google servers.

  4. Ebola says:
    February 10, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Had to share this, lol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kl1ujzRidmU#!

  5. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 10, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    True dat, Ebola.

    And I don’t.

  6. Ebola says:
    February 10, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    Yeah, bitch of it is, I do. 😛

  7. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 10, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    You know me, I’m too damned cheap to pay $20+ per month per line for data charges when there’s so much good booze to be bought!

  8. Ebola says:
    February 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Eh, I don’t pay that and I only payed $18 for the phone. I am a cheap bastard. However, all my crap is shunted through google servers. Not a fan.

  9. JeffS says:
    February 10, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    No Android for me, either. Not an iPhone.

  10. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 10, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    We just have basic texting phones.

    I need to be smarter than my phone…

  11. gregor says:
    February 11, 2012 at 7:25 am

    i’ve already started severing myself from google. just working on transferring the blog and they can kiss my butt.

  12. leelu says:
    February 13, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    …so, where are you going to go? Ive pretty much migrated to Bing, only use Google voice for my students to contact me, but my blog is on Google’s blogspot.com

  13. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 13, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Hey leelu
    I’m on WordPress and only use bing for my searches. Gregor was on blogspot and moved to his blog to the free version of wordpress; I’d give it a peek if you’re so inclined.

    I’m also getting rid of my gmail email account.

  14. leelu says:
    February 13, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    Mr Bingley,

    Thanks!!

  15. leelu says:
    February 13, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    …and I’m looking into alternatives to Google voice. seems there are several that sound promising.

  16. leelu says:
    February 13, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    …and no, I can’t type.

  17. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 13, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    The De-Google-Lution has begun!

  18. leelu says:
    February 14, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Mr B,

    My cousin sent me a list of articles, including this one:
    http://www.whatsnextblog.com/2012/01/how-and-why-to-protect-yourself-from-googles-new-privacy-rules/

  19. Mr. Bingley says:
    February 14, 2012 at 11:10 am

    Thanks leelu

    I’m almost afraid to check out how deep their tendrils go…

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