Doug Mataconis alerts us to a way to opt out of the new Google user endorsement regime. While useful, I have an easier way: don’t “+1” or “like” anything, anywhere, ever.
If companies like Google are going to insist on playing these games, then the best option is not to play. It may not be as fun, but it beats the privacy headaches that inevitably result.
Via Instapundit, WOW. Because of Android’s backup capabilities, Google has millions of WiFi passwords and keys.
I tweeted it earlier, but this is serious enough that I felt compelled to write a post about it. It’s one thing for Google to collect information about spending habits and the like. I’m not particularly fond of it and I don’t take advantage of much of it. I do use Google search pretty exclusively and I have a gmail account as my main email account.
It’s quite another to have the capability to snoop my home WiFi because they have plaintext versions of my password. I don’t care what the law says, that’s an invasion of privacy. Full stop. If I wanted people to see what I was doing over my WiFi network, I’d never have setup the encryption. I don’t even let the router broadcast it’s ESS ID, just to make sure people have to go the extra mile to find the network in the first place. This is so serious that I’m considering ditching everything Google.
This isn’t about having anything to hide. I’d say it’s the equivalent of having a fence around your yard that keeps the neighbors from looking into the yard. I want that barrier, it’s just the way I’m wired. I’m not doing anything nefarious, I just value my privacy.
I’m not a reflexive Google hater either. I can almost see the logic behind this happening. It would go something like this:
Hey! Let’s unify everything behind a Google account to make changing devices as simple as possible for the user. But that means we’ll need all the user’s info, including passwords. Gee, that’s some sensitive info though. We’ll have to encrypt it somehow. Yeah, but how do we put it onto another device? We’d still need access to the unencrypted data so we could put it on another device. Oh well, it’s for the user’s benefit.
Think about it this way, if they’ve got passwords to WiFi networks, then what other passwords do they have? I’m beginning to wonder if Google isn’t a subsidiary of the NSA. This is the sort of thing that could seriously hurt Google in terms of customers and users. Sure, it’s a pain in the ass to switch over because of the tight integration. But I just don’t think it’s worth the price. At this point, they’re worse than Facebook.