Pope has ''religious tendencies"...
bears... etc....
I am in a massive battle at the moment with a couple of companies.
All to do with another 'evil' company. Yeah google are evil - get over it.
Become angry - don't sublimate it - you are being rogered over. Do something about it.
That company is called Gravatar.
Did you know that if you 'knock up' a Wordpress page for shits and giggles, then any information you give is held on their servers and not deletable? That is right - held for ever and ever.
Also they can 'share' (sell) your personal information. I refer to this page:
http://automattic.com/privacy/
I quote:
====================
We don’t share your personal information with anyone except to comply with the law, develop our products, or protect our rights.
=======================
Well, that is alright then innit?
I did a 'test' page for a mutual friend for another mutual friend of ours who had recently died a terrible, slow and painful death through cancer.
How shocked was I, when several months later, the photos of said mutual dead friend popped up on a forum where I had registered to get support for some very expensive audio software I had just bought. I mailed them and they assured me that no no no they don't do dat...
But they lied. I can prove they lied. They could just not deal with me going ballistic.
(if you are getting bored or find this post irrelevant - then you know what to do - those that find it pertinent, read on)
But what has really shocked me is that Gravatar/Wordpress have sold my private/personal information to one of the top Malware (little clue there for you - I will publish their name soon enough, but want to get the battle over with first) fighters in the industry. I registered on their forum to get some help with their software which, again, I had just bought. Cue photo of dead friend and the pain of his slow death coming back to haunt me, just when I was starting to get over it. (I know I have been a fool and it is my own fault and I take full responsibility for my actions)
I can think of why this is such a personal security breach on so many levels that I just do not have the time to write them all down.
So, the moral of this story is:
If you have any dealings with this company, they will hold your information 'for ever' and sell it to who ever the f they like, for their 'development of their products'. You will NOT be able to delete it EVER. In law, they could sell it to who they want and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.
So go ahead, use Wordpress, use any of these services:
Polldaddy
VaultPress
Gravatar
et al.
All 26 of them.
http://automattic.com/
I will finish on a quote from their page:
==================
“We are much better at writing code than haiku.”
— Matt Mullenweg, founder of Automattic
=====================
Yes Matt, you are right.
But what you neglected to say was this:
"We are much better at 'internet-rape' than writing code".
And believe me, I know all about rape, so don't go there.
I use these words unreservedly. And I don't use them lightly.
Yes, I am a little bit upset at having my naivety thrown back in my face like this.
And google et al are cut from the same cloth. They deleted my account when I would not photocopy my passport or driving licence to send to them in the post. When I messed about with my account (I should have had it backed up and take full responsiblity again, so don't bother with the comments please - I've already thought of it). The only thing important in that account was a couple of emails from aforementioned dead friend (I did back those up though - thank you very much). But they didn't know that.
Oh, I got the photos deleted eventually, but f me, what a palaver - took me hours to go through their bullshit. But my details are with them for ever even though they might not be publicly accessible. And I had to delete the whole account - no provision for just deleting photos that I could find.
Evil bastards.
It is only an 'electronic' war for now. But I for one, am hoping it becomes a proper trenches and bayonets affair. Can you see which side of the lines I am on boys?
Not many things I would die for. Not Afghanistan, not Iraq, not Libya, not Iran.
But I would gladly give of my mortal coil....
Enough. I've made my point.
I'll be surprised if you post this Reg, ol' chap, but if you do, you will go even higher up in my estimation. Then again, if you don't...
Which side are you on boys?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC5o5mVpYPM
This stuff is going on, it won't go away and real people - good people - are being hurt by it.
Corporations ignore human rights. Do they? No, they smack them round for a bit first, then stick the boot in, just before they cut the corpse to pieces and then piss on it. They finish their fun off with a good shit. Then send the photo home to mummy.
Stay classy google/gravatar.
Just don't tell anyone you meet randomly in a bar that you work for those companies.
Lest you 'bump' into me.
Oh lord how I prey for the day (sic).