Beware of FREE (part 2): There's no such thing as a FREE account.
I previously wrote about dangers of relying on "free" services because you relinquish control (and effectively ownership) of your property to the administrators of the services.An economics teacher of mine repeatedly lectured that "There's no such thing as a free lunch." We don't exist in a vacuum and everything has a cost, even if you don't see it. When you sign up for a "free" account (like the Google one I'm using now) you're paying for that account, but not with money. Usually, you're paying with personal information. There is plenty of in-depth coverage of what websites do with your information and that's not my focus.
I just want you to know, it's not free.
Every "free" service you use is using you in return. Every time you connect two discrete facts together by "friending" someone on a website or listing your favorite books or reveal anything about yourself, you're paying that company for their service. There are billions of globally known facts about you; what isn't known is that you are always you. How does a company distinguish the John Smith who likes Ford Mustangs from the John Smith who likes sushi and also know that the first one is a vegetarian? They know it because you tell them. That information now belongs to them. You're paying them for their service.
In perpetuity.
Labels: facebook, free software, internet, linkedin, livejournal, myspace, privacy, web 2.0
posted by Lachlan @ 11:43 PM
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