Information safety on the internet

One recent comment spawned a though in my head about internet privacy, and how bloated a topic it is in my opinion. There are some people obsessed with privacy, and hypes about spam, phishing and so on (while absolutely true) only further this feeling in most people.

I am one of those who couldn’t care less about their privacy let me tell you why. First of all, a EULA does not guarantee anything. It adds safety, but what true guarantee do you get? What if the company does sell your data. They could get a fine, prison, or a close down, who knows, but your data is sold, it can not be unsold.

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Second of all, I get a bit alarmed at what people might be trying to hide when they get so paranoid about their safety. Sure, if you work for a big company I understand, corporate secrets could leak and so on, but if you’re doing it for yourself? You could also have big plans for your blogs or great ideas, but if you really want to protect something, write it on paper. It always sounds to me like people have things like “kill neighbor tomorrow” or “remember to harvest weed in December” on their lists.

I have things like “look at blog ad placement” and “set up email address” and I doubt that many people have significantly different items. If someone can make money by selling my to do list, I invite them to do so. You could also make an affiliate program, I’ll create the lists and I get 20%.

I think that email privacy is the only problem here. Even that, for me, is not a problem because people might read my email, the problem is spam. The reason I use an email system it took me a day to set up is that it gives me the ability to ditch a spammed address. Otherwise I don’t care much. I do email my girlfriend and friends with “sensitive” stuff, but I mean, I don’t really care if people read about my sex life for example, if that’s what they need (I doubt it), then I’m happy I could help.

Also, this issue came up with regards to Todoist being run by a person, and not having a EULA. What’s more probable? This guy made an outstanding application, not just some quick junk and wants to sell all your data, get about $1000 and then close down, or that he wants to make a better app that many people use?

Overall, I think internet privacy is not a huge issue. If you want to keep something private, don’t write it down, don’t put it on the net (any app can be hacke, an EULA doesn’t give hack protection) and especially don’t put it anywhere where you use cookies, like almost any application. To me, writing anything down on the net is like writing a paper to-do list, hanging it in a mall, with a cover on it. It’s just a matter of time before someone looks underneath.

Hackers, spammers, I invite you all, to read, sell, print, fax, instant message, chew on and share my private data and anything I write on the web. What I really have a problem with is spam, don’t do that please. Oh, by the way, those of you who might not think like I do, I don’t hate you guys, it just seems weird that you want to protect data like this so much, but despite this, readily write down anything on the net, putting your trust in another piece of document called an EULA.