Children trust automatically. For adults, it should be earned.
There’s an old adage about doing business only with people you trust. And frankly, whenever I have dealings with somebody who doesn’t earn my trust consistently, it turns out not-so-good. You know — when you are not quite sure you trust the other person, but give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s that queasy gut feeling that you ignore.
A recent study shows that most Americans don’t trust Facebook – yet its growth is astounding – even though it tops the list of untrusted. Similarly, Google is not well trusted according to the same study. Recently, I found out that Google keeps your credit card on file even after you cancel accounts that have your card (debit or credit) attached – such as AdWords. I can’t say I’m worried that Google will misuse my card; my worry is more about having it in a database that can be hacked – an especially dangerous situation when it’s a credit card involved. Oh, and by the way, in standard practice, if you have automatic payments set up with Google using one of your cards, you cannot remove the card from your account without replacing it with another card — even if you never intend to use that account again. Can you say “Hostage”? To get mine removed, I had to phone Google and have my case sent up for special consideration. Good news: the card was attached to one of the few services for which Google provides human support. If it was attached to Google Voice or most of the other services, there’d be no way to reach somebody to get it fixed.
I don’t want to be paranoid or make you feel paranoid – but you need to protect yourself. They won’t protect you. Read more about it in this Washington Post article.
Americans don’t trust Facebook or Google according to this Washington Post article.