Google, Privacy and the Bartering Proposition

 

You have to start from the premise that you are being surveilled, that your right to privacy is being horribly abused by all manner of organizations. There is nothing you can do about it. But understand that it is a bartering relationship, and ask yourself, "What am I getting out of this deal?"

    I compose the articles for this blog on Google Docs. I manage my backups on Google Drive. The blog itself is hosted on Blogger (another Google service). All of this is free to me. I pay nothing upfront. In exchange for this largesse, I consent.  My data will be collected, analysed, and ruthlessly weaponized against me. This is the bartering proposition.

    Certainly, it's feasible to host the New Peril blog on my own server, located in my basement. I could generate the posts in type-written HTML and store my backups on a hand-built NAS located at a friend’s house. But still, I must connect to the internet. And in doing so, I consent.  My ISP or Cloudflare, or one of a thousand other entities of which I am only vaguely (if at all) aware of will collect my data, analyse it and ruthlessly weaponize it against me. The difference? The bartering proposition changes. I get nothing in return.

    These internet overseers are savvy and technically sophisticated to the extent that the average netizen, your work-a-day Google searcher, cannot evade them. VPNs and HTTPS  were invented by them. They own the means of digital transport. Given that surveillance is ubiquitous, so pervasive that it is, in effect, benign, I choose to avail myself of whatever I can get in exchange. This is the bartering proposition.