Thank you for your reply. So here are some of my concerns that do not appear to be directly or indirectly covered in the Terms of Service nor the “Privacy Policy”… Please read this message in its entirety. You have my explicit consent to forward this message to your legal department, CIO, CEO or whomever you feel would be better to answer or address these valid concerns.
As we all know by now due to the Edward Snowden disclosures, Google is a PRISM partner and actively co-conspires with the NSA to indiscriminately spy on and target innocent US persons. This is a fact that is NOT under any dispute or contention.
For these and many other reasons, as a personal and individual policy, I have long closed all my Google accounts and have made a diligent effort in avoiding anything Google, including but not limited to Gmail, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Search Engine, and any Google product, goods, software, hardware, services, sites, utilities, etc.
Indeed, personal perspectives aside, even from an objective legal standpoint it can be quite disconcerting as well. Google’s legal department back in 2013 filed and stated that Google users, and Google account holders and Gmail users have absolutely “no expectation of privacy”. (http://www.cnet.com/news/google-filing-says-gmail-users-have-no-expectation-of-privacy/ ) Later in 2014, Google goes one step further and decides to treat all Gmail and Google users as “guilty until proven innocent” by actively and indiscriminately scanning the contents (full take) of all Gmail and Google users and then reporting to the government and to law enforcement any and all potential illegal and/or criminal or questionable activities. (http://www.appealandhabeas.com/gmail-lawyers-skillern-case-end-naive-cloud/ ) Now with the “third party doctrine” coupled with Google’s high level policy of massive surveillance and indiscriminate spying on its users (while still claiming it is not an official “agent of the government” and thus a legal warrantless search) the unalienable Constitutional protections entitled to us under the fourth amendment has all but been pulled under the rugs of collective feet in one sweep.
Given the facts above, any reasonable minded person with even a reasonable sense of privacy or expectation of privacy would do well to avoid Google. This is exactly what I have done and intend to continue to do.
When I first purchased the Dropcam system it was my understanding that at the time Dropcam was an independent company and was not in any way associated with Nest or with Google. The sole purpose of my using Dropcam is for home surveillance. I do not use Dropcam for any other reason or purpose. Even after Dropcam was initially purchased by Google, Dropcam did not send any notice out to its customers advising them of this fact, nor did Dropcam update its website to reflect this change. In point of fact, Dropcam made absolutely no representations anywhere that it was actually owned by Google and operating under the Google umbrella.
Last year I had emailed Dropcam with concerns of the possibility of Dropcam merging accounts in the future (either with NEST or with Google). I stated to them at the time that since I am not a Google user nor Nest customer, I did not consent to the merging or creation of any Google accounts or Nest accounts on my behalf. I never received any valid reply, the only thing I heard back was a “see our privacy policy” response, much like the same blanket response that I am now getting from you. These circular responses point to nothing more than an inadequate privacy policy that does not address the concerns or questions that I seek.
The irony is Dropcam DID merge accounts with Nest. I had suspected that something like this might happened, and had Dropcam’s team been honest with me from the start, I would have had ample time to search for an alternative solution that was not tied to or associated with Nest or Google, and I would have avoided paying Dropcam/Nest/Google many more months of subscription fees. You can see how I perceive the way Dropcam handled this as a form of underhanded deception and theft/fraud?
The physical home is the last bastion of true privacy and freedom in the United States. A lawful US citizen such as myself should not have to worry about the prospect of Google/NSA/the government tapping into my home and invading the sanctity and privacy of my own home without due process or probable cause and against my effective consent.
Furthermore, when Nest made the unilateral decision to force all existing Dropcam users to merge their accounts with NEST, customers such as myself were not even given the option or ability to ‘decline’ or to “close all my accounts with Dropcam” if we did not give consent to the merging of Dropcam accounts with Nest/Google. I was so alarmed by this that I screenshot the process. For months and months I had always been able to log into my dropcam account without incident. Then suddenly one day out of the blue, when attempting to login to dropcam account, I am stopped, and dropcam refuses all forms of login until I click “ACCEPT”, which is accepting the fact that my Dropcam account would get merged with a Nest account. I did not and still do not accept this. There was no other option on that page for the customer to “decline”, to “continue but not accept” or to altogether “close my dropcam account completely”, and avoid having to merge with NEST. If I did not click the only button on the page (accept/next) my Dropcam account would still get billed each and every month and effectively I would be paying for a service that I would have completely lost access to (I wouldn’t be able to sign in anymore!) In point of fact, the supreme irony is that even in order to close my dropcam account, I would still be FORCED to “accept” the creation of a Nest account and be forced to sign in to NEST just in order to then be able to even close my dropcam account! From a legal, technical and logical perspective, what Dropcam/Nest/Google really did was deprived the user of an actual “choice” at all, and forced the user to “accept” through trickery, deception and fraud, no matter what the user did or did not do or did or did not agree/consent to!
I am not asking you to refund any money or anything like that. I am asking you to immediately, permanently and completely close and terminate all Dropcam, Nest, Google accounts that I may or may not have on file with your company, with Dropcam, Nest, Google.
If you or your companies are unwilling or unable to do this, I asked to be notified in writing (email is fine) immediately.
//////////////////////
Thanks for contacting us about our Terms of Service, especially in regards to using your Dropcam with a Nest account. I'd like to point you to our Privacy Statement on this matter. Specifically:
"Under no circumstance do we share personal information for any commercial or marketing purpose unrelated to the delivery of Nest Products and services without asking you first. Period. We do not rent or sell our customer lists."
I realize you've had to email us twice now at other addresses, but this should be the actual correct place to get any questions on this matter answered! Let me know if you need any additional assistance.
If you have any more questions, please give us a call at 1-888-279-9421 and mention your case number 01112502. We're open 24/7.
Thanks for contacting Dropcam, a Nest company. Let us know if we can help with anything else.
Nest Labs Reviews
Thank you for your reply. So here are some of my concerns that do not appear to be directly or indirectly covered in the Terms of Service nor the “Privacy Policy”… Please read this message in its entirety. You have my explicit consent to forward this message to your legal department, CIO, CEO or whomever you feel would be better to answer or address these valid concerns.
As we all know by now due to the Edward Snowden disclosures, Google is a PRISM partner and actively co-conspires with the NSA to indiscriminately spy on and target innocent US persons. This is a fact that is NOT under any dispute or contention.
For these and many other reasons, as a personal and individual policy, I have long closed all my Google accounts and have made a diligent effort in avoiding anything Google, including but not limited to Gmail, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Search Engine, and any Google product, goods, software, hardware, services, sites, utilities, etc.
Indeed, personal perspectives aside, even from an objective legal standpoint it can be quite disconcerting as well. Google’s legal department back in 2013 filed and stated that Google users, and Google account holders and Gmail users have absolutely “no expectation of privacy”. (http://www.cnet.com/news/google-filing-says-gmail-users-have-no-expectation-of-privacy/ ) Later in 2014, Google goes one step further and decides to treat all Gmail and Google users as “guilty until proven innocent” by actively and indiscriminately scanning the contents (full take) of all Gmail and Google users and then reporting to the government and to law enforcement any and all potential illegal and/or criminal or questionable activities. (http://www.appealandhabeas.com/gmail-lawyers-skillern-case-end-naive-cloud/ ) Now with the “third party doctrine” coupled with Google’s high level policy of massive surveillance and indiscriminate spying on its users (while still claiming it is not an official “agent of the government” and thus a legal warrantless search) the unalienable Constitutional protections entitled to us under the fourth amendment has all but been pulled under the rugs of collective feet in one sweep.
Given the facts above, any reasonable minded person with even a reasonable sense of privacy or expectation of privacy would do well to avoid Google. This is exactly what I have done and intend to continue to do.
When I first purchased the Dropcam system it was my understanding that at the time Dropcam was an independent company and was not in any way associated with Nest or with Google. The sole purpose of my using Dropcam is for home surveillance. I do not use Dropcam for any other reason or purpose. Even after Dropcam was initially purchased by Google, Dropcam did not send any notice out to its customers advising them of this fact, nor did Dropcam update its website to reflect this change. In point of fact, Dropcam made absolutely no representations anywhere that it was actually owned by Google and operating under the Google umbrella.
Last year I had emailed Dropcam with concerns of the possibility of Dropcam merging accounts in the future (either with NEST or with Google). I stated to them at the time that since I am not a Google user nor Nest customer, I did not consent to the merging or creation of any Google accounts or Nest accounts on my behalf. I never received any valid reply, the only thing I heard back was a “see our privacy policy” response, much like the same blanket response that I am now getting from you. These circular responses point to nothing more than an inadequate privacy policy that does not address the concerns or questions that I seek.
The irony is Dropcam DID merge accounts with Nest. I had suspected that something like this might happened, and had Dropcam’s team been honest with me from the start, I would have had ample time to search for an alternative solution that was not tied to or associated with Nest or Google, and I would have avoided paying Dropcam/Nest/Google many more months of subscription fees. You can see how I perceive the way Dropcam handled this as a form of underhanded deception and theft/fraud?
The physical home is the last bastion of true privacy and freedom in the United States. A lawful US citizen such as myself should not have to worry about the prospect of Google/NSA/the government tapping into my home and invading the sanctity and privacy of my own home without due process or probable cause and against my effective consent.
Furthermore, when Nest made the unilateral decision to force all existing Dropcam users to merge their accounts with NEST, customers such as myself were not even given the option or ability to ‘decline’ or to “close all my accounts with Dropcam” if we did not give consent to the merging of Dropcam accounts with Nest/Google. I was so alarmed by this that I screenshot the process. For months and months I had always been able to log into my dropcam account without incident. Then suddenly one day out of the blue, when attempting to login to dropcam account, I am stopped, and dropcam refuses all forms of login until I click “ACCEPT”, which is accepting the fact that my Dropcam account would get merged with a Nest account. I did not and still do not accept this. There was no other option on that page for the customer to “decline”, to “continue but not accept” or to altogether “close my dropcam account completely”, and avoid having to merge with NEST. If I did not click the only button on the page (accept/next) my Dropcam account would still get billed each and every month and effectively I would be paying for a service that I would have completely lost access to (I wouldn’t be able to sign in anymore!) In point of fact, the supreme irony is that even in order to close my dropcam account, I would still be FORCED to “accept” the creation of a Nest account and be forced to sign in to NEST just in order to then be able to even close my dropcam account! From a legal, technical and logical perspective, what Dropcam/Nest/Google really did was deprived the user of an actual “choice” at all, and forced the user to “accept” through trickery, deception and fraud, no matter what the user did or did not do or did or did not agree/consent to!
I am not asking you to refund any money or anything like that. I am asking you to immediately, permanently and completely close and terminate all Dropcam, Nest, Google accounts that I may or may not have on file with your company, with Dropcam, Nest, Google.
If you or your companies are unwilling or unable to do this, I asked to be notified in writing (email is fine) immediately.
//////////////////////
Thanks for contacting us about our Terms of Service, especially in regards to using your Dropcam with a Nest account. I'd like to point you to our Privacy Statement on this matter. Specifically:
"Under no circumstance do we share personal information for any commercial or marketing purpose unrelated to the delivery of Nest Products and services without asking you first. Period. We do not rent or sell our customer lists."
If you do have any further questions about this please send us an email at [[email protected]][email protected].
I realize you've had to email us twice now at other addresses, but this should be the actual correct place to get any questions on this matter answered! Let me know if you need any additional assistance.
If you have any more questions, please give us a call at 1-888-279-9421 and mention your case number 01112502. We're open 24/7.
Thanks for contacting Dropcam, a Nest company. Let us know if we can help with anything else.
- Brian K. | Nest Support