This:
> The (then) CEO of Google Inc. loudly declared the (constitutional) legalese that the users of his company's product have "no reasonable expectation of privacy".
never happened. You're conflating different events.
One is presumably Eric Schmidt warning users that Google is subject to the Patriot Act.
The other was a defense (I assume from one of their lawyers and well after Eric Schmidt stepped down from being CEO) that when people email a gmail account, they don't have reason to believe that gmail won't process their email.
From your conclusions: first, the lawsuit was in the context of non-gmail users, not the gmail account holders themselves, so doesn't apply to "users of his company's product". Second, the judge rejected that line of argument anyways. Finally, you're taking a limited defense (they were arguing within the confines of the Wiretap Act) and somehow spinning that off into a general loss of constitutional rights that doesn't follow.
His intent is opaque and irrelevant.
What is relevant is that it is, and has been for a few years at this point, a matter of public record and declaration that you do not have "a reasonable expectation of privacy" when using certain internet services.
That's fine; I was just responding to your assertion that it was the "(then) CEO of Google Inc" saying things.
> What is relevant is that it is, and has been for a few years at this point, a matter of public record and declaration that you do not have "a reasonable expectation of privacy" when using certain internet services.
You just skipped every single one of my points. You're taking a limited claim and turning it into histrionics. Your expectations of privacy do not work that way. Please re-read my comment above.
Google may still be the best search engine, but I use Facebook solely for the chat functionality. If some competitor comes along that offers the same features with the same quality but better privacy I would have no problem with switching.
(In case somebody smells a startup idea or already know a solution, I am looking for a service with good, easy to use Android, Apple and Windows Phone Apps, website for desktop use (desktop client for Windows and Linux is fine too), decent direct-message as well as group chats with consistent message ordering. I should be able to view all my messages, including history, in Apps on all my phones as well as on my desktop.)
I've always had a thesis that I'm not sure is true, perhaps i'm not social enough, although I have my facebook friends and many contacts in my phone I really only talk to 3-8 people. If such a thing existed I don't even know if it would be too much work to switch since I would only tell that small amount of people.
But perhaps i'm too antisocial, I wonder what other people think about that.
I think if a competitor showed up that is seriously better than Facebook, every person switching could have a huge Ripple Effect. People already use a multitude of Apps/Services for communication, using one more isn't a big enough cost to invoke the network effect in my opinion.
1 - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/14/google-gma...
2 - http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/google-tells-cou...
3 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Jones_(2012)#A...
Now let's have a conversation.
Speak up. Which of the above statements are not factual?
The Supreme Court is perfectly clear as to what rights we have when we don't have "reasonable expectation of privacy".
Finally, we are effectively coerced [in]to using these products -- unless you want to head to the woods and live the back to nature life.
Game is over.