Re: On privacy and cloud services

On 13-06-10 09:20 PM, Evan Prodromou wrote:
> On 13-06-10 05:27 AM, Michał 'rysiek' Woźniak wrote:
>> <rant> I am just afraid that we do not have anything to offer instead of the centralised, surveilled services. All we have is a myriad of incompatible protocols. </rant>
>
> Setting up a social server for your family and friends on a server
> you control is a step in the right direction.
> 

I find this actually more challenging that it sounds. Not technically speaking, but from a privacy perspective -- at least with services designed to hold private information.

I'm a competent enough system administration that I can set up this software and host it for family and friends, but for social networking with any aspect of private data... beyond say my wife and maybe my parents, most family members and friends are probably more comfortable with the NSA having full access to their data then with someone in their own social circle.

It's not that they don't trust me, but very few family members or friends what to share *all* their information with me. There's going to be some things that they want to keep private, and I will not always be the intended audience.


If Google or Facebook or the government is snooping on their data, that feels more remote to them. It's unlikely that they'd feel the impact too directly. But if one person in their social circle has root access to their private data, that may make people feel more uncomfortable than if the government was collecting it into a giant database. The privacy impact is more tangible, in a way, easy to imagine, feels closer to home.

Of course, it depends on the type of data -- hosting calendar or contacts of family/friends is different than hosting private email, or a social server with private messages. And, I suppose there are some things for which encryption might help. But I'm not sure how to get around that closer-to-home privacy point.

Received on Friday, 14 June 2013 14:06:49 UTC