Apparently Google’s standards for its advertisers isn’t as strict as one would think. I’ve spotted this ad for WifiRobin, a site that sells WiFi hacking equipment.  But then why am I surprised?

We’ve clearly become a society of thieves, since P2P, illegal tube sites and so forth are now talked about (even in mainstream media) with a wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of attitude.

Still…I think offering a service that hacks into protected WiFi networks isn’t really something that should be allowed to advertise through AdSense…or anywhere. Thoughts?

Then you keep typing it in but you keep getting the damn login pop up. Gmail keeps rejecting your password even though you know it’s correct. So you’d ordinarily curse at Google and then go to reset your password.

However here is a link where you can verify to Gmail that you are a real human being, so you won’t have to reset your password. Yes, it’s CAPTCHA based.

Here are some other thoughts and tips about using Gmail…

WHAT HAPPENED

Google went down for parts of the world and with it went their mail service and Google docs. If you couldn’t access your business documents or missed important emails because of this you need to wake the hell up right now.

BAD IDEA

Not only do you never, ever, rely on one single company in order for your business to run, you especially don’t want Google (or Yahoo or any other free provider) to be the company that “facilitates” your business. Because Google will use the information you provide, knowingly or not, to adapt its advertising and search algorhithm. That’s what Google does and I’m not bashing it. But you need to be aware of this.

GMAIL

Gmail spies on your email content. You should know this by now. No, it’s not that Google employees are looking at your emails every time, but sophisticated software does gather and process the content of your mail. Did you never notice how creepily fitting some of those ads are you’re seeing over your inbox?

This data has to go somewhere. What’s to say a rogue Google employee or contractor won’t access your stuff one day?

GOOGLE DOCS

Same for Google docs – that stuff’s online. If it’s online it’s hackable, and accessible to third parties, particularly whoever provides the service. In this case Google.

For years I’ve been telling clients: don’t use Gmail as your sole business email. It looks unprofessional and it’s not secure. Same for Google docs. Anything Google or any other free provider offers should be used with great caution. And always have a backup.

I don’t feel sorry for anyone who was negatively affected by Google’s SNAFU.

Google is not your friend. It’s a business.