p2pnet and home-schooling
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- “We live on Vancouver Island in BC and we home school our daughter, Emma,” I posted on Friday, going on:
“We’ll shortly be heading to the mainland for an event with other home school families, which’ll mean I won’t be anywhere near a computer. Actually, it’ll be a nice break. 
”
But following that get-together, things are going to change a little here on p2pnet.
Also, I think I may try to become more personally involved with the actual process through which information and data are channelled to kids in my immediate home schooling environment, and in general.
This decision was sparked when to my horror, I learned a group I have tremendous respect for, and which advocates openness and freedom of speech online and off, is seriously considering using Google apps to update its online presence.
IMHO, this would be letting the fox into the henhouse Big Time.
For the umpteenth time, Google is being asked to make security and privacy the default, instead of an option. It was cited in a BBC News (among others) report which said it had the, “worst privacy policy of popular net firms,” going on:
“Rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as ‘hostile’ to privacy in a report ranking web firms by how they handle personal data.”
It was at the bottom of the list.
And on advertising, “Google knows more about you than any organisation in human history,” says The Times online, continuing »»»
It can give you a bird’s eye view of your house, allow friends and family to track your every move through their mobile phones, and through its search engine – knows your likes, dislikes and even your vices.
Google’s influence over our lives is set to grow further after it anounced today that it will track millions of people as they move through the internet in order work out what their interests are. Using that information, it will then provide targeted advertising to suit users’ individual tastes.
Using ‘free’ Google applications may seem to be time- and money saving. But Google is about Google, and nothing else, and as I say here »»»
Google, which has a truly evil reputation when it comes to user security and privacy, is a hard-core commercial advertising company and everything it does, everything, is in one way or another linked to that, no matter how it tries to spin it.
So I’d hate to see any organisation which is in any way central to the education of children tied directly into Google for any reason.
It would be the thin end of a potentially dangerous — to kids — wedge.
As I said in a response to a comment post, “once in a while I mention home-schooling here on p2pnet. But now I’m seriously thinking about using Kids & Kartels as a dedicated home school portal. So if you’re interested, stay tuned.”
If you’re home-school and/or unschool parent, or a kid, who’d like to see the people-to-people concept expanded into education, here on p2pnet, I’d love to hear from you by way of a Reader’s Write, or more directly via email – p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.
For now, here are a few p2pnet Kids & Kartels posts.
Cheers! And all the best …
Jon
June, 2009
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June 21st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Although I think that Google does have some issues when it comes to privacy, I think it is sometimes blown way out of proportion. For example, a lot of the info that they keep is not personally identifiable, sometimes not even linked to an ip…As well, it is the internet, and I have come to learn that there is no privacy on the internet.
June 21st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
“I have come to learn that there is no privacy on the internet”
Why?
June 21st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
“I have come to learn that there is no privacy on the internet”
Only those that ACCEPT this clueless idea expect no privacy.
All others who know better, know very well when and where their privacy is being violated.
Of those, the ones who care about it will defend their rights.
Why are there people that are so quick to believe they have no expectation of privacy?…
Because they’re being CONDITIONED by all the CORPORATE INTRUSION to believe it’s somehow “normal” for everyone on the planet to be watching your surfing habits and seeing your personal info.
People need to remember that the Internet is a direct product of cooperation between PRIVATE COMPUTERS that started peering. When “providers” entered the picture, they were no originally intended to “control” the data – only transfer it, unbeknownst of its contents. The rest is just a bastardization, brought in by COMMERCIAL INTERESTS that started with spam, and working its way to viruses and malware. Everytime we thought we had “rules”, corporate missions came in and openly broke them in their quest to begin “possessing” the Internet.
Once you pronounce “no expectation” of privacy (or anonymity!), you help bring the Internet one step closer to some form of collective corporate ownership.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I dont think that it is normal that this is the case, rather that this is way it is and that is what you always have to keep in mind.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I love that P2Pnet is here to open the eyes of many that Google could (and may already well be) be very evil.
I think I should contribute with some posts of other things that I find rather interesting about Google and their methods.
For instance read my post about how they use their Doodle competitions to brand kids at an early age while offering ridiculously small prizes that get them a lot of free press.
http://www.gubatron.com/blog/2009/03/18/how-to-get-free-press-for-your-billion-dollar-corp-using-and-branding-kids-all-over-the-country/
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:56 pm
“I dont think that it is normal that this is the case, rather that this is way it is and that is what you always have to keep in mind.”
Statements like that make no more sense than the first one.
If you ACCEPT the idea that “this is the way it is”, you’re not seeing what’s going on.
The reason we’re having to defend our right to privacy now is because too many people didn’t know any better than to think like that, as things like data mining were introduced. People let companies get away with far too much spying and information selling, giving the Great Marketing Machine more incentive to keep cranking up the volume on your personal stuff.
Just because something is starting to run amok, doesn’t mean it should, or that there’s nothing anyone can do about it!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
True, but we can only do so much to protect ourselves. What I am saying is essentially that the NATURE of the Internet because of the way it functions (how email addresses require personal info to work and how websites track users for stats related to improving the site) has a different level of privacy, than say, the outdoors, and that we should be aware of that.
I agree that just because something has turned bad doesnt mean it has to stay that way, its just that you cant expect the same level of privacy on the Internet as in the real world without taking extreme measures.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
G:
Excellent article.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:56 am
“Only those that ACCEPT this clueless idea expect no privacy.
All others who know better, know very well when and where their privacy is being violated.”
How do you keep your email private? Sure, it’s marked private and you’re supposed to be the only one who can read it, but how do you know that someone at your ISP isn’t reading it? Or that someone at the ISP you’re sending it to isn’t reading it on the other end? Unless you and the person you’re exchanging email with are both encrypting your messages, anyone at the ISP is free to read them. Of course any reputable ISP will have a policy forbidding employees from doing this, but is that a guarantee? Abuses happen all the time.
Who’s to say that your ISP doesn’t log everything you do?
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Exactly my point, that the very nature of the internet makes it so you have a very much reduced level of privacy