We plan to bait and switch you. Click here to agree.

Why is it that so many privacy policies and EULA's state that they can change whenever the site or publisher has a whim to do so? I might quote some examples later, but I don't have time right now.

Well, I got to thinking: why do people even put up with that kind of nonsense? What happened to loyalty? I think it's a reciprocal relationship. If you find businesses that are dedicated to serving their customers (read: they won't change their promised contractual relationship on you) you can give them your loyalty. But why do so many customers give their loyalty to companies who have long drawn out agreements only half of us really could understand--if we tried really hard.

Well, I guess I just remembered my earlier post about mozy. I found a worse agreement recently, where basically the site said they could change the agreement--and they would only post a notice on their site for a day. They just keep pushing the limits. Well, there are online services out there that can watch for changes on a webpage. So if you presuppose that the privacy agreement won't move to a new webpage, you can set up a service to notify you whenever one of your many favorite sites changes their agreement.

One of the great things about del.icio.us and google is that they make sure you can take your personal information away from them, and still have it. Del.icio.us lets you download a backup of your bookmarks that can be imported to firefox or internet explorer; google will allow you to delete your browsing and search histories, download your email, download your rss feed lists, and so on. In other words, they won't bind you to using their services. That means if they change their privacy policies in a bad way, you have a mechanism to leave them in the dust--to choose somebody else. There are other search engines out there, other free email providers, other social bookmarking sites.

Part of the problem is some of the social capital certain sites have. For mozy online backups, it's not very strong. You can buy another backup solution anytime. But facebook? Your friends are all there. You can't move your profile elsewhere--not very easily anyway. However, even on facebook the problem of social assets (your friends all being there) can be mitigated. Facebook petitioners have stopped several stupidities (some involving privacy violations) -- and the company has shaped up. After all, if people leave en masse, they lose a lot of revenue (advertising, I think, mostly). How can the problem be mitigated--or how can you leave facebook and take your personal information with you, even your friends list? Well, you can't, but most of the applications are from other sites anyway. I have a family tree application, a goodreads account, a pandora account, and a few other applications going. There are a couple that are exclusive to facebook I am sure. But if I leave facebook, I still have my pandora.com account, I still have my reading list and history on goodreads... It wouldn't be a total loss. And it's not like facebook doesn't have competitors. Facebook might not die a sudden and horrible death if you and your friends leave, and maybe they won't even feel a pinch (especially if you lot never click on their ad links). But you can give your business to someone else who does treat you better. You can help decent businesses grow. And you can establish quality relationships with a higher degree of trust. When you invite new friends to join a social network, or when they are considering joining one, guess who has already done some homework for them? You. So help good businesses thrive.

Don't give business to businesses who basically declare they have no respect for your original terms and agreements--that they reserve the right to switch the rules on you, even without notifying you.

But if you do feel a need to use such sites, make sure to google the phrase monitor web page for changes; 15 million searches on that phrase have already been made, after all. Then, point whichever service you choose at your EULAs and privacy agreements. Then stay loyal to the online businesses you choose until they prove they don't deserve it.

On another note, do some googling on a site before establishing a business relationship with them.

google for "somesite.com security OR privacy violations OR vulnerabilities"