There's been a couple of posts here talking about using various "cloud apps", particularly those from Google to get the everyday stuff done - word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, even photo editing. Recently Google introduced a new "feature" to make their on-line photo site more "social" - and in the course of things, threw the notion of privacy out the window and in some cases, just broke the whole thing.
This problem occurs at the confluence of two Google services. One is PicasaWeb, which is Google's answer to Flickr. It lets you upload photos and then lets you share them with everyone, or selected people or just keep them to yourself. Like most Google services, its free and gives you a reasonable amount of storage space, which can be expanded at a pretty cheap price. It also integrates well with other Google services, such as Google Docs. All in all, I have been pretty happy with it. Until today.
I logged into my Picasaweb site with the intent of shooting some previously uploaded pics to a friend. I clicked on the "Share" button and was greeted with a screen that said I HAD to link my PicasaWeb account with my Google Profile. Huh???
Google Profile is another Google service that is trying to be a universal online personal information directory. Its got a ways to go to get there, but it does have some potential. In your profile you can include information about yourself that would let others find you and get in touch with you - kind of like Facebook. You can put in as much or as little as you want and can even control who can see it - everyone, just those in your Google Contacts, just those in certain groups in your Google Contacts, and so on. The key to it though is your Google user name, otherwise known as your GMail address.
So what is the problem with linking your Picasaweb account with your Google Profile? Previously, your Picasaweb page could be fairly anonymous - your name or e-mail address wasn't displayed unless you wanted it so, your locations wasn't shown, etc. Now, all of a sudden with your PicasaWeb account linked to your profile, anyone viewing your photos has your GMail address. If you've included other information, such as address or personal history, on your profile, they may be able to view that as well.
And you have to do this in order to access your Picasaweb site at all. Yes, if you set up your privacy settings correctly in Google Profile you are probably safe. But my question is why do you have to do this at all? Why can't this be an option for those who are into sharing photos with the world instead of a mandatory setting? All of a sudden, Google is starting to look a lot like Facebook, forcing you to divulge some level of personal information that might end up being shared with anyone and everyone. Sorry, Google, I didn't sign up for Facebook for this reason and I am not happy with your position either.
But that is not the end of it. I do most of my Google'ing through a Google Apps account. The easiest way to describe a Google Apps account is that its a Google Account that is "branded" with your domain. So your Google Mail looks like it comes from yourdomain.com. There's a lot of reasons why its advantageous for groups, companies, organizations and even government entities to use Google Apps - basically they are turning over the network and IT responsibilities to Google. In the interest of assuring these folks - most of whom are paying customers - certain uptime standards, Google has not included alot of Google services and apps beyond the basics of mail and docs under Google Apps. This included, for some reason, Google Profiles. If you were using a Google Apps you don't have a Google Profile.
But recently, Google opened up a bunch of their applications and services to Google Apps users. Including Picasaweb.
But not Google Profiles. - See where this is headed?
So now when you log in to Picasaweb with your Google Apps credentials, you are taken to Picasaweb, but told to link your Picasaweb to your Google Profile. But you don't have a Google Profile, nor can you set one up from Google Apps. You can view your pictures in Picasaweb, but you can't share them.... without linking to your Google Profile. Kind of reminds you of a dog chasing its tail.
Sorry Google, disrespecting my privacy by forcing me to use Google Profile whether I wanted to or not was bad enough. But now locking up my pics so I can't share them even when I want to is a MAJOR FAIL.
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