[Nottingham] Google unbeatable? Absolute power corrupts?

[Martin]

Folks,

So... I've finally been steered/coerced/(effectively forced) into
setting up a gmail account.

So I've now got 8 *GBytes* of email and document storage online, and a
truly impressive array of online tools that are all very helpful and useful.

And it's *ALL NO-COST FREE* all for the sake of sharing a few personal
details and being advertised at...


And my new mobile phone is all tied into it, whether I want it to be or not.

And Google's multiple terms and conditions were far too long and
detailed to read nor comprehend.


So far, Google is very successful, very good at what they do, and they
seem to be benevolent. (They certainly have some great technology.)


Are Google now so far ahead that all other competition are pretty much
doomed?

What is the cost to our personal freedoms? And dependence? All moving to
a non-independence?

Do they have the same traps as with Facebook and Twitter and so on where
your personal data gets to be used in ways you never imagined or
anticipated?

Or is that of no consequence and Marketing has "Borg"ed us all already?


Are we in a new age where everything is freely blogged into the public
domain without concern?

Cheers,
Martin

-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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