Comments on: Google domains https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/06/24/google-domains/ Thu, 23 Apr 2026 21:07:28 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Robert https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/06/24/google-domains/#comment-31152 Robert Thu, 26 Jun 2014 03:45:04 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45893#comment-31152 Technology, politics, the politics of technology...thanks for the hit, man. Technology, politics, the politics of technology…thanks for the hit, man.

]]> By: mcfly https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/06/24/google-domains/#comment-31149 mcfly Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:01:35 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45893#comment-31149 To benefit from a wealth of experience like yours, I usually have to buy a book. Thanks :-) To benefit from a wealth of experience like yours, I usually have to buy a book.

Thanks :-)

]]> By: Robert https://www.habitablezone.com/2014/06/24/google-domains/#comment-31146 Robert Tue, 24 Jun 2014 19:33:33 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=45893#comment-31146 Registrars often seem like Hobson's choice, don't they? I hold my nose and use GoDaddy because of the cheap prices, but keep my contact to a minimum: Just the domain registration, no other services, DNS pointed to the Amazon cloud's Route 53 DNS service. Where I also hold my nose, again because of an unbeatable price. Yet like most people, the more I know about how Amazon achieves those prices, the less comfortable I am giving them my money. I rationalize it a bit by telling myself that running a cloud service isn't like selling merchandise, and the cloud techies seem like members of my tribe and I think I can mostly trust them...but still, they get paid by Jeff Bezos. You're opting for a similar deal with Google's cloud. They're pretty much the same using different names for things. Google Drive and Amazon S3 both host bulk storage and provide a static Web interface, for example. But with Google as with Amazon, you also have to confront growing doubts about their corporate slogan "Don't be evil". Sure, Google screeched loudly about the NSA breaking into their networks, but christ, Google operates a bigger surveillance operation than the NSA! And it's dwarfed in turn by Facebook's panopticon. The Zone remains a safe haven because I refuse to allow trojan horses such a "Like" buttons and central sign-in, which otherwise would just turn this place into another node in a surveillance network. Ask yourself this: Why would the NSA take the trouble to break into data centers belonging to Google and Facebook, if they already had the same info? Clearly, the NSA believes that those two companies do an even better job of invading peoples' privacy than the NSA. Why build a new system to track which Web sites people visit when there are several already in existence? So I accuse Google and Facebook of rank hypocrisy when it comes to privacy issues. I frankly don't trust private companies any more than I trust the government, and it's irrational to think otherwise. At least on paper, the government answers to us, but we're reminded every day that corporations are "sovereign citizens" with rights that trump those of mere meatpeople. Thanks for giving me a pretext to get that off my chest, McFly. Good luck, and based on my experience doing something similar, I'm sure it'll work out fine. Registrars often seem like Hobson’s choice, don’t they? I hold my nose and use GoDaddy because of the cheap prices, but keep my contact to a minimum: Just the domain registration, no other services, DNS pointed to the Amazon cloud’s Route 53 DNS service. Where I also hold my nose, again because of an unbeatable price. Yet like most people, the more I know about how Amazon achieves those prices, the less comfortable I am giving them my money. I rationalize it a bit by telling myself that running a cloud service isn’t like selling merchandise, and the cloud techies seem like members of my tribe and I think I can mostly trust them…but still, they get paid by Jeff Bezos.

You’re opting for a similar deal with Google’s cloud. They’re pretty much the same using different names for things. Google Drive and Amazon S3 both host bulk storage and provide a static Web interface, for example.

But with Google as with Amazon, you also have to confront growing doubts about their corporate slogan “Don’t be evil”.

Sure, Google screeched loudly about the NSA breaking into their networks, but christ, Google operates a bigger surveillance operation than the NSA! And it’s dwarfed in turn by Facebook’s panopticon. The Zone remains a safe haven because I refuse to allow trojan horses such a “Like” buttons and central sign-in, which otherwise would just turn this place into another node in a surveillance network.

Ask yourself this: Why would the NSA take the trouble to break into data centers belonging to Google and Facebook, if they already had the same info? Clearly, the NSA believes that those two companies do an even better job of invading peoples’ privacy than the NSA. Why build a new system to track which Web sites people visit when there are several already in existence?

So I accuse Google and Facebook of rank hypocrisy when it comes to privacy issues. I frankly don’t trust private companies any more than I trust the government, and it’s irrational to think otherwise. At least on paper, the government answers to us, but we’re reminded every day that corporations are “sovereign citizens” with rights that trump those of mere meatpeople.

Thanks for giving me a pretext to get that off my chest, McFly. Good luck, and based on my experience doing something similar, I’m sure it’ll work out fine.

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