[Discuss] Syncing Android phones directly

[Edward Ned Harvey (blu)]

> From: David Kramer [mailto:david at thekramers.net]
>  
> Am I really being that outrageous not wanting to give my contacts
> information to Google?
> Why is privacy such a nutty notion?
> Should I just give in, and move the line to "Now that you have all my
> data, stay away from my Facebook and Linedin and Twitter"?

It's a reasonable concern.  It goes like this:

When iphones first came out, I was outraged at Apple disallowing flash & java on the grounds that people could use these alternative programming languages to circumvent their policies.  I was outraged that they block permissions to install apps from outside the app store.  And then rejecting non-safari web browsers from the app store, and requiring developers to develop on macs, and disallowing in-app purchases unless they use the Apple API so they can take a percentage.  They were utterly cutthroat.

But it didn't matter how much I was outraged.  Consumers snorted it anyway.  Apple won legal battle after legal battle.  Consumers kept voting for them monetarily.  The climate changed, and before too long, if you want anything like that, you just have to acknowledge it for what it is.

I was outraged over net neutrality.  And then net neutrality died.  Now ISP's can charge you for internet, charge you for "premium" sites or content that you consume, and also charge the suppliers of said content for delivery to you.

Consumers are a school of fish attracted by shiny objects, or a big swarm of buzzing bees.  Right or wrong, it has a mind of its own, and something akin to critical mass consensus drives the direction we're all forced into, like it or not.

Granted, you can have no reasonable expectation of privacy if your contacts are in google.  But what's your alternative?  Just try to convince a sufficient mass of humans that they should care, and create a good alternative.  Everybody chooses to fight for different things.  There *may be* a good alternative out there, but it's fringe.  So probably not.

My brother, for years, denied his family cable TV or internet access because the cable company asked for his SSN in order to subscribe.  He says if somebody like the Nazis try to take over the world, they might find him because of that.  Sounds crazy, but how many people haven't been outraged over anything that seems equally crazy to other people?

Yes, you're crazy.  But you're welcome to it.  It's as valid as everyone else's craziness.