metaphortunate son (
metaphortunate) wrote2012-01-29 09:31 pm
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more Google stuff
Either Google doesn't know a single thing about me, or it knows enough about me to know that if it told me everything it knew about me I would freak out and never touch a Google website again.
It's weird. I mean, of course Google taken as a whole knows basically every single thing about me: it has my email and my calendar, plus I'm sure my entire search history. (I've turned off Web History. Anyone who thinks that means they actually don't keep track? Yeah, don't all put up your hands at once.). What I'm looking for is confirmation that the left hand doesn't easily keep track of what the right hand is doing.
Mr. E and I have been talking recently about the difference between public and publicized, and levels of anonymity. I mean, in one sense, no account that's not free can be anonymous for me, because once you start paying for stuff it is tied to your credit card or your bank account or whatever. But I'm not a Chinese dissident, right, I don't need that level of anonymity. I just need enough anonymity that random assholes can't get my address and my parents don't find me bitching about them with a quick web search. Some companies seem to think that if they can't guarantee government dissident levels of anonymity protection there's no point in offering the lesser kind. But it's not true.
It's weird. I mean, of course Google taken as a whole knows basically every single thing about me: it has my email and my calendar, plus I'm sure my entire search history. (I've turned off Web History. Anyone who thinks that means they actually don't keep track? Yeah, don't all put up your hands at once.). What I'm looking for is confirmation that the left hand doesn't easily keep track of what the right hand is doing.
Mr. E and I have been talking recently about the difference between public and publicized, and levels of anonymity. I mean, in one sense, no account that's not free can be anonymous for me, because once you start paying for stuff it is tied to your credit card or your bank account or whatever. But I'm not a Chinese dissident, right, I don't need that level of anonymity. I just need enough anonymity that random assholes can't get my address and my parents don't find me bitching about them with a quick web search. Some companies seem to think that if they can't guarantee government dissident levels of anonymity protection there's no point in offering the lesser kind. But it's not true.