is not so much that we should bemoan the loss of privacy, but that we need to create new relationships between citizens and government/business and probably redefine the rights and restrictions placed on such entities. No idea how to do it...

When that comment came out I remember how immature and simplistic that sounded...

As far as using Gmail and being resentful of one's reliance on it, well, having a "sent" folder, complete with attachment saved, is not unique to Gmail. Yahoo (which I use) has it as well, and it is likely a popular feature... I think the writer "flattens distinctions" too much by saying he cannot let out a curse on Google map because of his use of Gmail --- which is somewhat liberal / academic. I know I do that sometimes as well, but it's actually quite counter-productive, and makes this entire exercise somewhat pointless actually.

However I guess that ties into the problem with how nowadays we have giant companies doing everything, aggressive and intent on being powerful (so as to have the resource for doing these new things, even if supposedly for "good" ends in Googles case, and very *big* resource, in Google's case.)

As a result, on the one hand, one may support one initiative put forth, but detest another put out by the same company, and be able to do nothing about it. I read another article (about conservation) in which Google's Cloud Application was favorably reviewed.

As another example of how messed up Google Map is --- see this mashup of Google Map with "list of people who donated to the Prop 8 Bill" --- now you can bash anyone much easily than before, along with scrawling the appropriate hate graffiti accurately (their name, amount donated, etc.):

http://www.eightmaps.com/

And no I don't support Prop 8. It doesn't take a genius to see though, that this could have been a potentially very dangerous situation.

He is the kind of child that loves to drive. 8 hours car trip no problem. He just loves to look out the window and comments on the things he sees ever so often. He was delighted to discover that he can now driver around the world on Papa's computer.

We even discovered our car parked in front of grandma's house. But the fun ends at the Canadian border.

I think there is something fundamentally flawed in comparing Google's street view and storing personal communication. The latter is private and the expectation is that it is kept private just like a letter in the mail. On the other hand Google's Streetview crew takes photos in public spaces. A whole lot of photos but essentially Google is doing the same as you are SP when taking a photo of a public space in Istanbul and uploading it to Flicker.

support the technology of the Anti-Christ.
That includes just about everything electronic.

I have noticed how eager many services are to combine mobile phone numbers, IP numbers, email addresses and credit card information.

When a crime suspect is a policeman, CCTV cams magically have a malfunction.

Mobile phones can repeat what they hear few dozens meters away even if switched off. Remove the battery for complete safety.

_{--Sell Texas to China!}