This is why I am not a big fan of the “free” stuff; the cost is too high. From the beginning, it was obvious to me that Gmail and other free email services would be privacy invasion sites. I do not go for retail membership/loyalty cards or order much online, as I consider them to be privacy invasion schemes as well. I pay cash when possible, and I keep my (dumb*) phone off most of the time. No one has a need to know any of the information that all these schemes collect on us, they only have a desire to know.

Even the US census contains mostly questions that are merely desired by the government. The only thing that the government needs to know is the number of citizens living in each area for the purposes of assigning legislative representation (see Article 1 Section 2 Clause 3 of the Constitution, as affected by the Fourteenth Amendment); the rest is — at best — demographic curiosity. Bureaucratic voyeurism into our private lives. Apparently, the “Manner as they shall by Law direct” has come to be misinterpreted to mean that they can snoop into our private lives, rather than meaning taking the census by sending post cards in the mail vs. door to door polling.

Even for the US Census Bureau, we are the product.

* I got a dumb phone, because I didn’t want to be outsmarted by my own phone (as I frequently am by photocopy machines). I failed anyway.

I was watching a test of a Russian ballistic missile and found this article at the bottom of this blog site.

a test of the launch system of the Russian RS-28 Sarmat
http://up-ship.com/blog/

“The Utah Gun Exchange is a “Craigslist of the 2nd Amendment,” a place to sell guns & stuff, and YouTube cannot stand that, so the Utah Gun Exchange is getting kicked off YouTube. Consequently the UGE is creating their own video platform, UGEtube.com (it’s not up and running yet).”

Just a few blocks from my house, a few miles from the newest NSA world data collection site. (sponsored by Google). 8-}
There is literally a rush to make the next youtube. “Dtube” is not quite ready but they plan on using chain block technology so videos can’t be erased. Vimeo has a large increase in traffic, porn hub is also branching off a non porn video site.
I am new to the Internet and my computer is a smart phone. I’m sure somebody with experience can provide a lot more information.

By the way, after the video plays at the above link, there is a variety of Russian made videos. I was amused by the CGI video game style Russian attack craft taking out American military using surprise attacks by drones near bases.

I do have much more respect for Microsoft and Apple in this regard; they sell their products, rather than subsidizing them by “monetizing” their customers. They respect and defend their customers’ privacy in ways that Facebook and Google can’t seem to understand their product. Excuse me, their “users.” Amazon seems to want it both ways.