[Air-L] Privacy Buzz

[Jean Burgess]

Hi Christopher


On 16/02/10 7:57 PM, "Christopher Lueg" <cplueg at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 7:44 PM, Jean Burgess <je.burgess at qut.edu.au> wrote:
> 
>> I understand that there is actually no business case for blanket privacy in
>> the free-to-use, advertising-supported business model that drives Google,
>> Facebook, and Twitter (indirectly), but I'm not sure there isn't a business
>> model (where "business model" might or might not include a profit motive)
>> that could work quite well and treat user communities with more respect -
>> including respect for the knowledge and expertise they have developed
>> through their work as users.
> 
> Just to comment on the "business case"
> (especially the business case for the way they 'decided' to test
> audience responses):
> 
> I reckon it will take a while until Google & their competitors realize
> HOW MUCH damage Google have done to their reputation. It's not just
> "normal" internet users that got concerned about the (ab)use of their
> data, it also includes a lot of hardcore geeks that are really pissed
> off.

Yes, indeed - unfortunate it took this huge mess to raise these issues among
the geekerati, but that's how it usually works (same with the Facebook TOS
controversy; whether or not that actually changed the way business is done
is another matter).

Jean