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The Ever-Evolving Question of Privacy

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40hz:
I find it particularly disingenuous that many of the governments (who routinely and secretly violate their citizen's privacy) are displaying the most outrage over this 'incident.'



I think Google is at risk of becoming the Straw Man for the bigger issue of personal privacy.

As long as people are kept screaming about Google, they'll be less inclined to notice what their governments are up to.

Eóin:
Other side of the coin of course, there was a criminal act here and the people required to prosecute Google over this are governments, and to do so they need to have the recorded data as evidence.

Last weekend, on the instructions of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, Google destroyed all WiFi data relating to collection in Ireland. This action has the effect of removing any chance of further legal action of investigation. The Irish Commissioner was wrong to have issued such an instruction. The action could be seen as collusion to destroy evidence.-http://www.p2pnet.net/story/39730
--- End quote ---

So don't be so quick to cry conspiracy theory when in fact these are very difficult legal waters to navigate. Ireland here seems to have already made a big mistake.

40hz:
^I'm not "crying conspiracy." I'm simply making an observation that this particular issue is a lot less serious and deliberate than some people are making it out to be. And the recent spate of actions on the part of many governments to violate their own laws (all in the name if security) constitutes a much larger and more serious threat.

And far be it from me to defend Google. I was never a big fan of theirs.

But it should be pointed out that Google could be shut down tomorrow by any government that felt Google was exceeding it's legal sphere of activity. The same could not be said of governments should they exceed their constitutional authority.

Just my tuppence. :)  

edit: corrected some spelling.
:-[
 

 

Eóin:
Sorry 40hz, I wasn't directing that at you personally, nor anyone here for that matter at all.

But I fully admit that the last bit of my post does read as if it was directed at you previous post, I meant it to refer to the tone of the linked to 'Power corrupts' thread.

40hz:
Sorry 40hz, I wasn't directing that at you personally, nor anyone here for that matter at all.

But I fully admit that the last bit of my post does read as if it was directed at you previous post, I meant it to refer to the tone of the linked to 'Power corrupts' thread.
-Eóin (June 06, 2010, 03:21 PM)
--- End quote ---

No apologies needed.  :) I think we know each other well enough from seeing other posts up on the forum that neither of us would doubt each others intentions when reading one.

Besides, we're all friends here - and this is an important topic that deserves as much challenging discussion and commentary as it can get.

Also forgive me if I sounded "snarky." One of the problems with the "low bandwidth" of forum posts is how easy it is to mistake someone's passion for anger. And vice-versa.

(Maybe there's a way to color code a sentence? Red text for anger, pink italic for passion? ;D )

 :Thmbsup:

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