Why “Do No Evil” Just isn’t Good Enough For Me
I love Google. The company continuously provides ways to use technology to make life easier. Each Google innovation seems to bring new ways to integrate the various data points of our lives.
It’s quite nifty.
(cue Dateline’s Keith Morrison impression)
But is it?
My concern is as we sign up and connect for each new service, we’re spinning our own individual webs of our personal lives into a convenient package that Big Brother would drool over. If the government were providing these services instead of Google, I wonder how readily we’d all be to adopt them?
Would you want Big Brother accessing yours?
Who’s in Control?
It’s not that I don’t trust Google’s business leaders’ intentions live up to their “Do No Evil” mantra.
It’s that I don’t trust that the company’s future business leaders will value ethics enough to let it outweigh profitability, should they ever need to choose.
I also question Google’s ability to maintain control of our data. Ultimately, as omnipresent as Google may be, the U.S. government has the final say over who can have access to what. And, even in the new age of Obama-influenced hope, “Do No Evil” is not exactly this country’s guiding principle.
For Example?
Case in point, is this recent ruling covered in Mashable:
In a highly troubling ruling from U.S. District Court Judge James Ware, Google was ordered to deactivate the Gmail account of an innocent user whose only crime was receiving the results of a bank screw-up.
Earlier this week an employee at a Wilson, Wyoming-based Rocky Mountain Bank inadvertently sent confidential information including names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information for more than 1,300 customers to the wrong Gmail address. Realizing its mistake, the bank sent a follow-up email asking the recipient to destroy the information. When it received no reply, the bank asked the courts to force Google to disclose the recipient’s identity and deactivate the account. Judge Ware, remarkably, agreed.
(You can read the full post on Mashable’s site: Judge Rules Against Gmail User After Bank Screws Up.)
In case you think you’ve misunderstood – you haven’t.
Some dipshit at a bank not only felt comfortable sending confidential customer information via e-mail, they were comfortable enough to click “send” without double (let alone triple) checking the recipient’s email address (if the bank had hired someone with OCD to do the job, this wouldn’t have happened!). read more
I Know Which Launch Party I’d Rather Go To!
Apparently they party differently too.
HostingYourParty is Microsoft’s latest video to be making its internet rounds. The clip features a “diverse” group of “cutting edge” Windows 7 users (including one who reminds me of Cindy McCain) comparing notes on their Windows 7 launch parties (Yep. Windows. 7. Launch. Parties.) so entertainment-impaired Windows fans will be adequately prepared when their time comes.
It’s one of those clips that is funny in an “it’s so bad it’s funny” way – which quickly turns into an “ok, now I’m getting bored, there’s no way I’m watching this whole clip” way. For the uninitiated, you can check it out here.
Side note to Microsoft: No hard feelings, but COME ON. Even your PARTIES aren’t intuitive! Why is this so challenging for you??!
Cabel Sasser posted the solution below on his blog. Imagine if Microsoft were promoting this kind of party!
Check out Cabel’s post for his thoughts on the original video (and his version’s inspiration)! (I also encourage you to check out Panic, Inc. – the company Cabel co-founded – for yummy Mac software!)
FINALLY! Starbucks says: There’s an app for that.
Better Latte Than Never!
In case I haven’t mentioned it, I’ve been known to be a bit of a caffeine junky.
And having fond memories of my near decade in the Emerald City, Starbucks holds a very special place in my heart – a place reserved for those who concoct elixirs comprised of my three favorite food groups: caffeine, sugar and dairy (and occasionally the fourth: chocolate).
That said, Starbucks had left me feeling a bit let down at their lack of collaboration with one of my other true loves – Apple. In particular my iPhone.
Until today.
From the Starbucks blog:
Today we launched two iPhone / iPod touch applications, myStarbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile. These are great (and free!) and will let you have a fun and useful Starbucks Experience wherever you are. You can design your own beverage, view your balance and load your Starbucks Card, look up nutritional information on our beverages and food, and learn about our different whole bean coffees. No, you can’t place an order using the app (not yet anyway), but we’re just starting out.
It’s not exactly the ability to tweet a latte to a buddy, but give the relationship time to mature – I have hope it will blossom.
For more details, check out the video below or visit the Starbucks Ideas in Action Blog. You can find the app here.
Free Chocolate Friday (Again)!
Times are tough and the folks at Mars want to help. How, you ask? Every Friday through October, Mars will give away free real chocolate to 250,000 people. That means you can enjoy your favorite Mars’ candy brands—M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, MILKY WAY® and DOVE®— for free!
I wrote about this when the program first started – and have enjoyed my free M&M’s thoroughly! Figured it warrants another mention for those who may have forgotten, or those who haven’t had a chance to check it out. Free chocolate is not something I take lightly!
(For some reason you’ll need to provide your birthdate before getting to the page requesting the contact information. The first 250,000 responses will get an email confirmation acknowledging that your free chocolate is on its way – expect to find a coupon in your mail a few weeks later.)
Get Yours!
Visit Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act .
