Privacy?
Yes, I admit I use Google (GOOG) products. Much has recently been written about the new privacy policy from Google. The discussion in media did not bother me as I thought I would easily deal with privacy issues. Then I, too, received my Dear Google User email.
The email starts out by claiming it is about privacy. The email itself is benign, however buried in the links is a bomb. Now Google has made it mandatory for you to sell your soul to Google if you want to use its products.
I am not referring to soul in the religious sense but subscribing to the contemporary definition popular in the scientific community. Wikipedia sums it up well, ‘Soul can function as a synonym for spirit, mind or self; scientific works, in particular often consider soul as a synonym for mind.’
Since you are reading this article, it is no secret that I write. My work garners over a million page views a month. When asked about the reason behind popularity of my work, my response is that I write from my soul.
Now if I use Google Docs to compose, Google+ to communicate with my fact checker and Gmail to communicate with my editor, will I grant Google unlimited license to publish, modify, create derivative works and do everything under the sun as it arbitrarily pleases?
The answer should be a clear totally unambiguous ‘NO’. Dream on, when you use Google. In Google’s own words:
‘When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services.’
Some legal scholars will contend that Google’s policy does not include Google docs and Gmail as they do not involve submitting content.
Google’s motto is “Don't Be Evil.” Does the modern context of ‘evil’ include bribing consumers with good products they want to sign away their souls?
Investors and corporate strategists may want to ask the question, “Is there an opening here for competing products and services from the likes of Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell (DELL), and even Wal-Mart (WMT) and even much maligned Best Buy (BBY)?”
Think with me out of the box for a moment. Wal-Mart touches millions of consumers every day. Is the idea of Wal-Mart offering consumers free email without selling their soul too farfetched?
About Me: I am an engineer and nuclear physicist by background, have founded two Inc. 500 companies and have been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. I am the chief investment officer at The Arora Report which publishes four newsletters to help investors profit from change. Please feel free to write me at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.
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Full disclosure: I , my hedge fund and subscribers to The Arora Report are long Apple from an average of $131 and took profits on 50% of the position at an average price of $360. Subscribers to ZYX Buy Change Alert may have a similar position and may have taken similar actions. We also have a position in HPQ.
