A recent post by Mary Hodder on the VRM list discussed the news of the Swedish Data Inspection Board banning Google cloud services such as Docs, calendar and email over privacy concerns.  Mary writes:

It’s going to be a PR struggle to convince regular people that “personal” or personally directed services (VRM) style are different than general cloud services.. because I bet that Google would argue that Google apps are personally directed.. nothing happens unless the individual uses the services, from Google’s perspective. But the individual’s data  isn’t controlled by the individual, VRM style.

So I think this will be the pivot point.. convincing the public, as well as the companies and governments, that it’s not “personal” unless the individual controls their own data, not just the use of the product.

What is interesting to me about the privacy issues unfolding of late, especially in the wake of the PRISM revelations, is that VRM-y cloud apps already exist that address the issues raised by the Swedes and for privacy in general.  If Cole Sear were here he’d tell you the same thing:  “I see VRM apps. Floating around the cloud like regular apps.  They’re VRM except, they don’t see each other.  And they don’t say they are VRM.  They don’t even know they’re VRM.”

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