Google Plus (G+) closing down for consumers.

[Zenity 728]

As some of you may already know, following a bug that possibly exposed user data, (Google deny that the bug resulted in any user data being revealed to anyone, but they did cover it up for months before finally revealing it). Goolge are closing down their G+ social media platform for consumers, which means that the free ride is over, only people paying a subscription for GSuite will be able to access it after August next year, about 10 months from now.

 

I realise that not many Wurmians use G+ much, or at least I haven't come across more than a handful, nevertheless I have decided to post about it here, just in case anyone has missed the news on G+ itself, and to bring to peopple's attention the various  alternatives that have so far been suggested by the various communities that use G+ as their primary social media platform.

 

MeWe is one platform that a large number of users have, or are considering migrating to, It is said to have a similar feature set to G+, but also has some shortcomings as well, I can't say much more, because I haven't tested it yet, however, it's here: https://mewe.com/

 

Diaspora is a decentralised social media platform that quite a lot of people I know have already moved to, again, although I have an account there, I haven't used it extensively, but more information is available from here: https://diasporasocial.net/

 

Friendica is another decentralised platform similar to Diaspora, I do have an account here, I also have used it for a few days, it's not Facebook, or G+, but it does give access to a number of 'federated' platforms, including Diaspora, Twitter, and Wordpress, as well as others, crossposting between Friendica and Diaspora nodes seems seamless to me, you can ever run your own nodes if you wish, or just treat it like any other social media platform and post random pictures of your dinner, if you wish... More info here: https://friendi.ca/

 

This has been a public service announcement, brought to you by Zenity@nerdica.net

 

 

 

 

[whereami 564]

Moral of the story is; don't give your data to any company unless you are okay with it being available to the public. If you do, that's on you.

 

Most don't understand enough about what kinds of data they generate to understand how it could be used against them by third-parties, but the even greater majority simply don't care.

 

From the standpoint of a data security analyst, I would personally recommend that absolutely no one ever uses social media platforms of ANY kind. "Decentralized Network" is not synonymous with "Secure Network", when you provide your data to any company or their platform, you are entrusting that data to the security measures that company has in place. Big companies get hacked all the time; Google, Yahoo, Bing, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat - Every single one of these names has had database breaches in the last 8 years. Just because a company is doing well or has a lot of money, doesn't mean they are investing it into your data's security, or that said security is infallible.

[Trake 360]

5 minutes ago, whereami said:

Moral of the story is; don't give your data to any company unless you are okay with it being available to the public. If you do, that's on you.

 

 

What next? You going to tell us we're supposed to be reading those 10,000-word 'Agreements' we're always clicking "YES, NOW! NOW! DO IT NOW!" to? 

I guess after that, you'll say we should boycott products and services that we don't like the terms for. 

How can we be expected to be responsible for our own privacy if companies can't even do it? 

/endsarcasm

 

It's kind of hilarious that we all need personal attorneys just so we can participate in society these days while also being aware and concerned for our rights and our privacy.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Trake

[MrGARY 12,421]

if some big company or hacker really wants to leak how much i enjoy orange soda just do it already and get it over with

 

all your personal information is probably already out there on the web before you even touched anything relevant to social media otherwise

[Zenity 728]

Just passing on the news for those who might be interested, that's all, it's not a debate about who's got my data or how it's used, this isn't the place for that.

 

Like I said, I realise that not everyone uses social networks, not everyone used G+ and not everyone can be bothered to research anything other than how many likes FB posts of their last meal got ...

 

If I choose to use social networks then I either choose to trust centralised platforms with my data, or use a platform that does not store my data, we all have that choice.

[Trake 360]

51 minutes ago, Zenity said:

this isn't the place for that.

 

 

Sure it is, we're in Wood Scraps. 

[Niki 2,278]

4 hours ago, Zenity said:

I realise that not many Wurmians use G+ much

No one really does, kinda was a failure on google's part going against facebook.

 

Thanks for the heads up though.

[whereami 564]

7 hours ago, MrGARY said:

if some big company or hacker really wants to leak how much i enjoy orange soda just do it already and get it over with

 

all your personal information is probably already out there on the web before you even touched anything relevant to social media otherwise

 

Come on now, you can't leak all the good stuff...

The problem is mostly with password leakage, as consumers tend to reuse passwords due to finite limitations of recollection. Someone nabs the password to a facebook account, and decides to check it plus different iterations of it against banks or government logins.

 

6 hours ago, Trake said:

 

Sure it is, we're in Wood Scraps. 

 

Political debate is usually frowned upon and though this can touch the realms of politics depending how deep you go, is somewhat pertinent to Wurm considering it is an internet-based game, and this is an internet forum. There have been plenty of "password security" mishaps here before.

Edited October 16, 2018 by whereami

[zentil 35]

8 minutes ago, whereami said:

The problem is mostly with password leakage, as consumers tend to reuse passwords due to finite limitations of recollection. Someone nabs the password to a facebook account, and decides to check it plus different iterations of it against banks or government logins

 

Felt alot safer when I moved onto a password handling program like lastpass.

I just need to remember my main password  and all other websites get max amount gibberish passwords.

Like  30PDJcvbjK0wA3uvb21WqjK2PEcaPkRoYOPcH3AL8HH7Rrgo2RrT419PGv7KOKHe8Isqb5cdBU3Y9xmz24v8s  vs kitty1234

[Trake 360]

LastPass and KeePass are awesome password management tools. 

I'll never remember another password again.