[UFO Chicago] The insidious of Google

[Jay F. Shachter]

Centuries ago, Nostradamus predicted that Brian Sobolak would write on Fri May 7 12:45:05 2021:

> 
> But Google -- especially Gmail -- is harder to quit.
> 
> It's not that I can't find another email service provider. (I can.)
>

In fact, you don't need any e-mail provider.  If you have a computer
with a fixed IP address (or with a variable IP addresses that changes
infrequently), I can give you a name in the chicago.il.us domain,
which I administer, and you can run a mail server on your own
computer.  It's what I do.  You will have to do your own spam
filtering, but that is not a technical task beyond your abilities.


>
> It's the fact that probably 80% of personal, non-work email
> addresses are from gmail, Comcast, or yahoo.
>

Whatever happened to aol?  Is it no longer a significant player?  Or
are you including aol with yahoo now that they are both owned by the
same company?


>
> The likelihood that any email sent is likely going to have at least
> one person who uses Gmail and then it is sucked into their systems
> seems like a real problem.
> 
> At the beginning of the Linux revolution we were very worried about
> how Microsoft had a monopoly and could control how we used
> computers.  It seems that this is now much worse -- Google can
> control our phones (by limiting the API in Android) *and* has a copy
> of the contents of many of our most personal thoughts expressed in
> emails.  And locations.  And browser history.  And more.
> 

I see you have closed all your social media accounts, but you still
use a cellphone.  If you care about the things that you claim to care
about, then you must realize that using a cellphone is much worse than
using Facebook or Instagram.  You don't have to own a cellphone.  You
really don't.  I don't.  I get along fine without one.


>
> I don't want to put on a tin foil hat and gloves when using a
> computer, but it feels really weird that so much control by one
> company has slipped into our lives.
> 
> So what is one to do?
> 

Encrypt your outgoing e-mail.  Encourage your correspondents to
encrypt your incoming e-mail.  That is a perfect solution.  We have
good encryption algorithms.  I truly believe that not even the NSA
with all its supercomputers can decrypt well-encrypted e-mail.

The problem is that you can only encrypt outgoing e-mail to people who
know how to decrypt it, and whose public keys you know.  You can only
receive encrypted e-mail from someone who knows how to encrypt it, and
who knows your public key.  But at the very least, start by using
encryption whenever you can.  If someone has a public key, encrypt
your e-mail to him, on general principles, regardless of whether it
needs it.  Tell your friends to do the same with you.  It's a start.
We have to start somewhere.


> 
> Pps I will have completed my 2nd vaccine soon so if we wanted to get
> together some time this summer it might be nice. Weeknight BBQ?
>

I am fully vaccinated, as of April 8.  I'm ready to resume in-person
meetings whenever you are.


                        Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
                        6424 North Whipple Street
                        Chicago IL  60645-4111
                                (1-773)7613784   landline
                                (1-410)9964737   GoogleVoice
                                jay at m5.chicago.il.us
                                http://m5.chicago.il.us

                        "Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"