« Digg, free CS3 | Main | "Open source" and video »
April 20, 2007
Proprietary data
Proprietary data: Anil Dash compares the concern over cross-site advertising cookies ten years ago, and the much greater impact of cloud-computing today, in light of Google's purchase of the DoubleClick accounts and data stores. We in the surfing public generate this data, but we can't control it, can't even examine it. I've seen no evidence of evil intent on the part of current Google execs, but the creation of such a centralized silo of data will make it an increasingly attractive target, whether through hacking, extortion, or other attack vectors. Microsoft's hyperintegration of code and functionality led to their well-known security problems over the past ten years... Google seems similarly vulnerable these days, with their hyperintegration of user data. It looks like they're trying to handle it correctly, but it's a heavy weight to accept. I suspect that eventually we'll see a counter-pressure, towards decentralized data services rather than private, opaque, and centralized data silos.
Posted by JohnDowdell at April 20, 2007 06:18 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/mtadmin/mt-tb.cgi/8643
Comments
I was about to download and install the Yahoo mail alert tool bar for Firefox when for some odd reason I actually started reading the licensing agreement.
"The Licensor Software enables the Yahoo! Software to perform certain functions, including without limitation, access proprietary data on third party data servers."
I'm not hip on exactly what this means, and yet it something about it pisses me off! I blame GW. He's got me paranoid as to loss of right to privacy.
I know that every link I click is recorded these days. What's an average surfer to do? Anonymous proxy hoop jumping? What a pain in the ass.
- this has been a drive by rant by Adam
Like the blog JD. Just happened upon it today
[jd sez: I also avoid toolbars from search companies myself. Then again, it took me a long time to accept credit cards. My general strategy is to blend in the crowd, but to stay on the edges, and avoid centralization services -- just make it more expensive to track me. (I guess lawyers make it more expensive to read EULAs.... ;-) ]
Posted by: Adam at June 27, 2007 06:17 AM