The Privacy Shift

A few years ago I was given a Chromebook as a gift and for a long time it's was the best thing that ever happened to me. It changed so many things for me because I was always into keeping my files easily accessible and didn't want to store my data anywhere I couldn't trust. The Chromebook forced me to start using Gmail, Google Drive, and many other Google services and the more I invested the better it became. I then swapped my HTC Android for a Google Nexus because if I was going all in with Google I may as well cut out as much OEM access to my data as possible. I trusted Google as their privacy policy was clear and honest. Also, it's not like I have anything worth hiding right?

Just over a year ago I was listening to a podcast and the discussion was about privacy. I was using a VPN and had an end-to-end encrypted cloud service called Tresorit which I used for off site backups so this conversation caught my attention because I genuinely felt that privacy was important to me. Then it was pointed out that with Google products and services you are the product and with Apple you are the customer. I thought about that for the rest of the evening as it was like a lightbulb went off in my head. All this time I had been anti Apple and I always thought they were an evil company. In my time as a Google fan I had converted so many people away from their products because of all the amazing things Android devices and Chromebook's did vs the limitations of Apple products. Looking back I realise my error with all of it.

The next day I decided to buy an iPhone to see how I would get on with it. I took all my photos out of Google Photos, my files from Google Drive, and transferred it all over to iCloud. After a few days I decided to move from gmail to iCloud mail. That was the hardest change because I lost a lot of the benefits that gmail offers but, with my mind set on trying to benefit from going all in it had to be done.

Within weeks I had swapped all my devices for Apple and was really enjoying the perks of operating within the Apple ecosystem. I've realised that Google's products and services were always half baked, often neglected and were never worth the privacy tradeoff. The whole experience has changed how I do things, for example; I now read privacy policies before downloading apps or using services and will usually choose paid apps/ services that don't want or have a need to sell off my data rather than free ones that fleece me. I also don't allow permissions to apps or services unless I really need to. It might seem overly paranoid and very limiting but, for me it's liberating.

Some of the biggest company's these days benefit from the ads they show you. You have Google, Facebook, and now Amazon trying to invade our homes so they can get to know you better and suggest things for you to buy. Some of them have other ways to make money but, they all are ad companies in part or all. Facebook is the largest media company in the world and all of it has been because of us, just so we could keep in touch with people we lost contact with long ago. Google has so many free services that many have benefited from. They also sell you devices so you can make the most of some of those services. Amazon who failed so badly with hand held devices has been a success with a device that is solely there to get you buying more from them.

Apple aren't saints and nobody can be sure what they really do with our data. My main concerns are corporate eavesdropping and letting 3rd party apps and services benefit from some of that information. Not for free, anyway.

These are just the main players who have access to our data and mainly it's because they have sold us devices to get that info. There are so many more companies out there that offer "free" or paid services in exchange for our data and I will look to share my thoughts on all of them for those that care.

Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash