At The Risk Of Enduring Backlash, Here's My Two Cents

I finally got around to listening to U2's Songs of Innocence, and I have to say I like it. Even despite all the whining I've heard about the audacity of the band and Apple depositing this digital album into iTunes accounts for free. The phrases 'never look a gift horse in the mouth' and 'it's the thought that counts' come to mind.

While it may never cease to amaze me how quick people are to push negativity, particularly under the guise of defending one's rights, I've gotten a good laugh out of this instance. The arguments of privacy and security when the act in question deals with accounts containing sensitive personal and financial information aren't exactly invalid, but I've heard far more people outraged over what equates to A GIFT, than when their debit and credit cards are compromised shopping here, there, online, and everywhere. Look, the risk of putting personal and financial information online ANYWHERE is just that, a RISK. Is it so 'unbelievable' and 'wrong' to have an entire digital album deposited into your iCloud account free? I mean, you don't  have to download it, and from what I understand it is pretty easily returned/deleted.

Oh, go ahead negative energy people, point out all the ways U2 and Apple were ethically wrong to make this music available at no charge, or how your rights have been stomped upon. Lament at the injustice of it all. Here's the thing though; I would much rather have a gift deposited into my iCloud account (similar really to all those emails I somehow manage to get with attachments and what not in my email accounts - which I have no issue deleting), then have someone hack in and take all of pertinent information. We live in a digital world, and unfortunately, as is the case for everything in life, there is good and bad. I'm pretty certain had there been 'money' or 'credit' uploaded into these same accounts of the bitching, never happy, self-righteous, Apple owning public, barely a peep would have been heard about the 'wrongness' of it, or how 'unethical' the action was.

I'm an adult, and I consider myself fairly educated. Do I like the idea of how accessible my information really is today? No, but pointing all fingers at U2 and Apple hardly solves the vulnerability of a technical world. Conspiracy theorists, radical left-wingers, and the like, wake up and realize that the society we live in has been fighting for privacy long before some random music showed up in your iCloud account. As long as their is a yin for every yang, everything we experience in life will have good and bad. Isn't it time that we stop fighting the negative with negative, and start choosing to see and embrace things for the positive energy they foster?

I got free music, and it's actually good. Thank you U2 and Apple, I happily accept your unexpected gift.