The interwebs are BUZZING about Google Buzz and how benevolent Google co-opted everyone’s contact lists from their Gmail accounts. I wonder how many million valid email addresses Google captured in the first 30 minutes of Buzz going live? I try to remember that Google is the same benevolent company that assisted the Chinese communists in censoring the internet for the billlions imprisoned in the PRC. More recently Google has gotten a Federal bailout in the form of assistance from the NSA to secure Google’s servers from the same ChiCom hackers they used to happily work with ‘doing no evil’, except for entrenching the folks who invented the involuntary liver donation.
The point is this: be aware of the cost of “free stuff”, no matter how cool. The price may be more than you are willing to pay in terms of your professional reputation. I would suggest that a cost benefit analysis is in order. What is the cost in professional reputation for all your social media efforts? Are your friend lists, contact lists and customer rosters available for any non-#RTB data scraper to start spamming with listing flyers? It is surely something to think about.
I don’t care if Google renders a contextual ad in my gmail account. I do care if my clients start getting real estate spam from competitors. Below is a relevant video.
caleb says:
Well said Tom. Thanks.
February 13, 2010 — 2:17 am
Jeff Brown says:
Tom — I had this exact conversation with, among many others, Brian Brady. I avoid Google like the plague. I have a gmail account, but never use it. Same with docs. They’re the private sector version of 1984, IMO.
Google accessing most of what you do, without so much as a by-your-leave, is scary. Their track record speaks for itself.
February 13, 2010 — 9:47 am
Robert Kerr says:
RE: “More recently Google has gotten a Federal bailout in the form of assistance from the NSA to secure Google’s servers from the same ChiCom hackers”
Rightly so, since US-mandated backdoors were the entry point of the hackers. When your anti-terrorism laws make the hole, you should pay to secure it.
[sorry for the tangent]
February 13, 2010 — 9:13 pm