What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 15:17 UTC (Wed) by NAR (subscriber, #1313)
Parent article: Android without the mothership

I understand that some people don't want to trust Google - but what is the real difference between keeping contacts on a Google server and e.g. a MyKolab server? I mean they say that they don't share that information (unless a Swiss judge asks for), but even the Swiss bank secrets are not that secret anymore since many accounts are used for tax evasion and a MyKolab administrator might still be bribed or blackmailed into providing that information...

What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 15:29 UTC (Wed) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

Google is in the business of "indexing the world's information" which you may not want to partake in with your personal data?

What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 15:30 UTC (Wed) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link] (1 responses)

The difference is that you're MyKolab's customer but Google's product.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 19, 2014 8:27 UTC (Thu) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

Unless you pay for Google's product to become their customer... E-mails of Google apps users are not scanned for ads anymore:

> In addition to these increased security measures, as we recently announced, we’ve now turned off ads in Google Apps services. This means administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn on ads in these services. We’ve also permanently removed all ads scanning in Gmail for Google Apps, which means Google does not collect or use data in Google Apps services for advertising purposes.

Source: http://googleenterprise.blogspot.de/2014/05/protecting-go...

I am not sure anyone was assuming to get a completely free ride with 15GB of 'free' e-mail storage. It's a trade-off. If you don't want the ad scanning, Google Apps is not that expensive and certainly cheaper than MyKollab, while offering more features.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 16:26 UTC (Wed) by Fats (guest, #14882) [Link]

> I understand that some people don't want to trust Google - but what is the real difference between keeping contacts on a Google server and e.g. a MyKolab server?

Big difference is that for MyKolab you are the customer, for Google you are the product that is sold to the advertisers.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 18:12 UTC (Wed) by Funcan (guest, #44209) [Link] (1 responses)

There is more bang-per-buck for the NSA to get access to google's datastore than myKolab, so you're getting some security by obscurity.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 19, 2014 8:29 UTC (Thu) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

On the other hand, Google is likely to have more security experts on staff. I am as much worried about security agencies obtaining e-mails via hacks and backdooring network equipment as them obtaining access 'legally'.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 18, 2014 18:15 UTC (Wed) by ssam (guest, #46587) [Link]

Its pretty easy to run an Owncloud server from your home. For a single user a raspberrypi can just about manage.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 19, 2014 9:43 UTC (Thu) by Seegras (guest, #20463) [Link]

> I understand that some people don't want to trust Google - but what is
> the real difference between keeping contacts on a Google server and e.g.
> a MyKolab server?

The point? You're missing it by assuming you, or your company, can't run a caldav/carddav server yourself.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 22, 2014 10:17 UTC (Sun) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link] (4 responses)

The Google CEO goes to jail under US law if he fails to deliver his customers' data to the government or exploit their data properly to the shareholders' benefit.

The Kolab CEO goes to jail under Swiss law if he shares any of his customers' data with anybody, within, or outside of Switzerland, governments or private parties.

What do you prefer as location of your data?

What's the point?

Posted Jun 22, 2014 10:32 UTC (Sun) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link] (3 responses)

The Kolab CEO goes to jail under Swiss law if he shares any of his customers' data with anybody, within, or outside of Switzerland, governments or private parties.

Won't the Kolab CEO go to jail under Swiss law if a Swiss judge orders them to turn over customer data as evidence in a trial, and they don't comply?

What's the point?

Posted Jun 22, 2014 13:26 UTC (Sun) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link] (2 responses)

Well, in that case, there is judicial oversight which makes the access justifiable. In the US case, access is requested "just in case" with little to no judicial oversight.

What's the point?

Posted Jun 22, 2014 13:44 UTC (Sun) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

In the US case, we have the FISC, whose job it is to provide judicial oversight of the government's data collection programmes. That makes the access justifiable (from the government's POV, anyway).

Of course, whether a secret court that rubberstamps virtually every request it receives, no matter how sweeping, is actually worth being considered »judicial oversight« by people not affiliated with the government is another matter entirely …

What's the point?

Posted Jun 27, 2014 12:31 UTC (Fri) by whyagaintang (guest, #97642) [Link]

Not an expert but what does this article in arstechnica mean? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/switzerland-wo...

quote:
Switzerland, like nearly all of its European neighbors, has a de facto gag order on user notification. Meaning that if I have my e-mail at Swiss Company X and I’m being investigated, there’s essentially no chance that I will find out about such surveillance until after the investigation is complete