Where was I?

Who knows where you are?

I'm mean sometimes your location is public and that is a good thing. When you are on holiday and you share that snap on instagram (see mine below!) or check in using FourSquare or whatever its name now is, your location is public. If you turn location on in your Facebook Messenger, then your contacts can see where you were when you sent that message. "I'm on my way" but they could see that you are still at work.
Go to My Account section on Google



This week Google reminded its users through emails and its main search page to have a look at their account. You might say - but I don't have a Google account? Do you have an android smartphone? Or tablet? Or a log in for YouTube, Gmail or blogger? Then you do have a Google account. Generally, I am a fan of their 1 account for many uses/devices/services system and I praise them for it but from time to time we all notice that perhaps our privacy or rights are slowly being infinged on.

In 2012 Instagram, a photo and video sharing site that I've recently become addicted to, changed their terms so they could use posted content without consent. On one hand, what's the problem? You shared an awesome photo and they want to share it with the world on the side of a bus and get more users. But what if that awesome photo is of your son's 10 year old birthday? And as you took the image do you not deserve some payment for it? Instagram, like other sites that have tried similar strategies, quickly changed tack stating that the user always owned the content. But what if the content is not a photo or some satire but your location?

You can view a whole month at once. I get around...
Like many of you, I do not read those long terms and conditions as much as I should. In those terms, Google tracks my location. On one hand, I want this - when meeting with friends we know which end of the shopping centre to go or sharing a photo of your event people can see which cool bar or attraction it is. But do I want people knowing that on Saturday 7th March I visited several car hire locations via a range of food locations and people's houses?

Don't panic. Yet.
I can't see that this information is public but Google does remember. So will it alter the adverts I see for restaurants I drive near?

At the moment the information is only used by Google to improve your web searches and you will have noticed this when you type in CURRY TAKEAWAY and your local Indian restaurant comes up. Think about it, Bob's Curry House of Bolton can't be the most visited Indian takeaway website...

This week's post is not meant to scare you but I want you to think twice about how your data, your infomation, your pictures and video and your assests are used and how easily those Terms could be tweaked and suddenly... that important picture or precious video is being used and you belong to the cloud.


In other news, back to my mental health adventure, I have been referred to my Community Mental Health Team but I have been told there is a 18 week waiting list.

I haven't received the letter from the psychologist I met two weeks ago but I was promised it is in hand. What baffles me is that two weeks ago I was told I was bright and caring person which made a moderate risk from suicide. Is it any wonder suicide is such high percentage of deaths in the UK when I won't get help until October? As we've discussed previously (search using the MENTAL HEALTH tag) wouldn't it be cheaper to treat people now than wait for the crisis which strains our Police and NHS?

Perhaps you could fund the NHS for better preventative care so conditions like cancer and depression are treated equally. Perhaps then it won’t take 6 months for the right diagnoses to be passed or for a crisis to happen. Perhaps then the Police and NHS wouldn’t be so overstretched with emergencies in the mental health sector. Perhaps if we target these things in our communities we can prevent some of those 6,233 deaths?


I guess if we get really deep, we could ask if we are already owned by the cloud. Forget dependant, the internet rules us. #toodeep

 
Thanks for reading and retweeting. Your feedback, even the negative ones, is welcome and I've made some good friends through our social media world. Comment and tweet, retweet and share.

Thanks again xxx



A photo posted by Matthew E Streuli (@matthewstreuli) on






A photo posted by Matthew E Streuli (@matthewstreuli) on




A video posted by Matthew E Streuli (@matthewstreuli) on



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