Regular readers know that I regularly reproach those who depend on Google apps. It’s not that I insist that everybody use open source exclusively—I don’t—but I find it excruciating to read about people committing the only copy their valuable data to Google apps.
It’s not that I object to people using, say, Google Docs but that they commit their only copy of their data to it. If it’s a letter to your Aunt Millie the worst that can happen is that they’ll scan your document and arrange for you and Aunt Millie to receive some targeted advertising. But what if it’s the Great American Novel you’ve been working on, or a business plan, or a copy of your family’s history? Google’s algorithms may decide that they don’t like what you’ve written and lock your account—don’t laugh, it’s happened before—and your data could easily be gone forever.
Using a single app like Google Docs is one thing but suppose you were all in on the Google ecosystem. All your documents, pictures, music, contacts, home automation, and other important aspects of your life were held by Google. That’s where Kyle Piira was when he got an email from Google telling him his account was suspended. In Piira’s case, it worked out all right because it was an old throwaway account that was being suspended but the event served as a wakeup call and he moved away from Google towards open source solutions.
I was feeling pretty smug after reading his story but then I realized that I’m not innocent either and that I depend a great deal on the Apple ecosystem. There is, however, a difference. I’m okay with Apple curating my data to make it easy to access from digital devices when I need it but
- I keep local copies of all my data in an open source format. None of it is committed exclusively to Apple.
- I have reasonable trust in Apple not to harvest and monetize my data and—more importantly—not to scan it looking for something that offends their sensibilities.
I am, I know, like the old man shouting into the wind but if your data is worth something to you, why would you want to entrust it to someone who may not share your beliefs and convictions or who may decide that a particular app is just not worthwhile and terminate it? As Piira says, it’s hard to move away from Google completely but you can limit it to things like YouTube.