Unrelated to the privacy concerns about Google knowing too much (even if only machines look at the data -- there's nothing to stop a subpoena from getting the data for government-type humans), is it possible for someone else with a google account to subscribe you?
remember also that there's nothing to stop you from having multiple google accounts invited to different non-google addresses. It's a hassle, but possible.
Perhaps Google should build encryption and security into their software such that ONLY the machine can ever read the data, such that if the government ever decides they need your data, then google can honestly say, 'Sorry, we can't do that. We don't have it. You'd have to subpoena the machine, and it doesn't have an interface for you to do that!
Supposedly it's possible for someone else to subscribe me, but I still have to have a Google account in order to "manage the subscription". And in practice this doesn't seem to work - someone did try to subscribe me to the list at a non-Google address but when I clicked on the invite link it told me that the link was stale or invalid (I forget the exact words) even though I had just received it minutes before.
And I do have multiple Google accounts. But I access all of them from the same IP address. And the folks at Google are certainly smart enough to figure that out.
As for encrypting the content, Google doesn't want to encrypt the content in such a way that they can't read it - because they want to be able to analyze it to learn whatever they can learn about me that will help them target ads and services to me. And if Google can read the content, the government can compel them to turn it over.
I know better than to trust Google and their repository of personal information. I was getting suspicious of their "don't be evil" motto when they decided to buy doubleclick. They seem to have gone from "idealistic mavericks" to "drunk with power".
That said, i'm too lazy/ignorant to start taking active measures to safeguard data about me. Pretty much the most i do/am capable of is to delete all my cookies every time i finish a browsing session. Maybe i'll start educating myself someday when i'm really bored. Hopefully it won't be too late for my personal data.
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remember also that there's nothing to stop you from having multiple google accounts invited to different non-google addresses. It's a hassle, but possible.
Perhaps Google should build encryption and security into their software such that ONLY the machine can ever read the data, such that if the government ever decides they need your data, then google can honestly say, 'Sorry, we can't do that. We don't have it. You'd have to subpoena the machine, and it doesn't have an interface for you to do that!
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And I do have multiple Google accounts. But I access all of them from the same IP address. And the folks at Google are certainly smart enough to figure that out.
As for encrypting the content, Google doesn't want to encrypt the content in such a way that they can't read it - because they want to be able to analyze it to learn whatever they can learn about me that will help them target ads and services to me. And if Google can read the content, the government can compel them to turn it over.
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That said, i'm too lazy/ignorant to start taking active measures to safeguard data about me. Pretty much the most i do/am capable of is to delete all my cookies every time i finish a browsing session. Maybe i'll start educating myself someday when i'm really bored. Hopefully it won't be too late for my personal data.
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