Google Knows Too Much

Google builds some great products, and they seem to have a free (or cheap) option for just about anything you could want to do with a computer.

But what if I don't want one company having so much control over my online world?

The amount of data we keep online is pretty amazing. And with that data comes a level of trust of where you are keeping that data. Weather it is Google, Facebook, Apple, or Microsoft, these companies are able to learn a lot about you based on your digital footprint.

What options do you have if one of these companies becomes too central to your online world? Or does something to lose some of your trust?

Option 1

Go with another company. There are plenty of other companies that offer alternative, but that seems to defeat the purpose. You’re changing your trust in Google, for trust in Apple (or Microsoft).

It would be easy to just migrate all my information off of Google on and onto Apple iCloud, but would it actually solve the issue?

Option 2

Go with local storage. I have a laptop with a 500GB hard drive. That is more than enough space to store every picture I’ve ever taken, every song I’ve ever purchased, and all my notes and files.

With the files sitting on my own hard drive they are mine alone to have access to. I can encrypt the files. I can move and organize them however I wish. I don’t even need internet access.

The downside is that I tie my digital footprint to a single device. My data is accessible as long as I have that one device.

I no longer have the convenience of the cloud and being able to access my data from anywhere.

I lose the backup system that Google has. I am now responsible for backing up my data and making sure if I lose/break my laptop, all my data isn’t gone.

I am also responsible for security. I don’t have a security team at Google monitoring my data. I only have myself to watch my locally stored data.

Option 3

Diversify the services you use online. You pick a different online cloud and company for each part of your digital life. Making sure no one company has access to all your information.

Photography on Flickr, contacts on Google, messaging with Apple, email on Microsoft, and file storage on Dropbox.

This option give me a headache just thinking about it.

Managing all these different services that don’t communicate with each other seems more of a chore than it’s worth. It makes storing all your data on a single drive more appealing.

It also explains why Google is able to collect so much information on us. Once you are in a cloud platform it’s hard to leave, and easier to just add to it.

What do you do? Do you care that Google is able to collect so much information or is the convenience and security with it?