RE: [projectvrm] Google and VRM

["Crosbie Fitch" < >]

> From: frankxr 
> [mailto:
 ]
>  
> A recent poll on facebook  asked the very appropriate question
> 
> "Do you trust facebook with the privacy of your search queries?"
> The answer from Facebook own audience was
> 66% NO
> 34% YES
> 
> When 2/3's of your audience basically says they do not trust 
> you  (even
> before this TOS flap) well - it is pretty much impossible to 
> build a lasting
> brand without trust.

This just means that those 34% will join the 66%.

And all Facebook's users will TRUST Facebook to do whatever they feel is in
Facebook's commercial interest - even if this is not aligned with the
interest of Facesbook's current, future, or past users.

People learn. Facebook's behaviour also teaches people what to expect from
other, similar corporations, i.e. they are not human. And that therefore,
the consequences of their betrayal of trust can have a net positive benefit
(short term at least). The shareholders exploit the betrayal (asset strip)
and start again elsewhere with a squeaky clean slate.

You can still build a brand (if that's your bag) without trust in
confidentiality, you simply can't identify the brand as representing a
confidence respecting organisation, more an unscrupulously mercenary one.

I don't trust Google, but I let it receive my e-mail, I use Chrome, and I
use its RSS reader and search site. It's like nuclear energy. It's excellent
until it goes wrong. Use it while it lasts, but make sure you can live on
the other side of the planet at a moment's notice.