"A second thing you can do is simple and local. Rebrand them among your friends, just like you’d rebrand a faithless politician. Google and Apple spend millions each year to make you think they’re cool, friendly, just folks like you, happy twenty-something hipsters. You can undo that branding every time you talk about them. “Google? You mean the Pentagon’s data-collector, right? Ever wonder what some eager low-level contractor would make of your search history?” “Oh Apple — TV hipsters. Everything you give them they give to the government. You know that, right? The Cloud is connected to the NSA. I stopped using the Cloud weeks ago. Make ‘em work to spy on you.” And when your friends say, “But weren’t they forced to do it?” you can reply, “How do you know? They lied to you about handing stuff over, of course going to lie about wanting to. They don’t care about you; they just want money. You know, like Exxon.” At some point this will catch on, and you can help. Rebrand them aggressively, early and often. Then let Google and Apple take Schneier’s advice and fight back publicly, if they want to. Use the power you have. A lot of good can come of it."
Posted on: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 18:43:59 +0000