Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 296 posts

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#231

Post by feelix »

I use google and have chosen to give up a lot of my privacy to use their services.

One thing I was never willing to do though, and I had an instant emotional reaction to not doing, was allowing them access to all my email.

They can have my GPS coordinates at all times, my web search history, etc, but they can't get into the inner workings of my life and my thoughts.

So back before I had any real use for it I just registered myname@myfirstandlastname.com and used that for my email address. It felt like a natural move. It does bother me still that a lot of the people I email do use gmail, so google still ends up siphoning of a lot of the contents of my email.

I see a lot of people talking about FastMail instead of GMail, but I don't know why more geeks don't register their own domain name which has several advantages (including looking better and more professional). The one downside is that mail search sucks. I'd love to get some decent search without giving up privacy somehow.

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#232

Post by oridecon »

urda wrote: post #215

This is yet another reminder that it's important, especially for HN readers, to continue to give support to groups such as Mozilla and their Firefox platform. The more widespread Google and Chrome usage is, the more Google can push these changes with little to no resistance.

I wish I could pay Mozilla to host my custom domain e-mail, encrypted files and any other services they could offer

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#233

Post by jjawssd »

feelix wrote: post #231

I use google and have chosen to give up a lot of my privacy to use their services. One thing I was never willing to do though, and I had an instant emotional reaction to not doing, was allowing them access to all my email. They can have my GPS coordinates at all times, my web search history, etc, but they can't get into the inner workings of my life and my thoughts. So back before I had any real use for it I just reg…

+1 for fastmail. lots of domains to choose from and i also use my own personal domain for email

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#234

Post by ocdtrekkie »

feelix wrote: post #231

I use google and have chosen to give up a lot of my privacy to use their services. One thing I was never willing to do though, and I had an instant emotional reaction to not doing, was allowing them access to all my email. They can have my GPS coordinates at all times, my web search history, etc, but they can't get into the inner workings of my life and my thoughts. So back before I had any real use for it I just reg…

FastMail has incredibly good domain name configuration for custom domains. I just set it up this week. The problem is most users don't have the skill or time to manage a well-maintained email service. I'd like to, but the risk of losing important email is too critical to risk. (Even making the cutover to FastMail, I was super nervous!) And unlike Google, FastMail has a strong privacy strategy.

But what I did do, about a year ago, was move my email usage over to an address at my own domain, which was then forwarded to Gmail. By lessening the references to my Gmail account, it made it easy to switch elsewhere. ...I just repointed my domain to FastMail's email service.

And because I control the domain name people send email to me on, it's easy for me to move it again in the future if I have a problem with FastMail or find something better.

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#235

Post by drieddust »

mediaserf wrote: post #205
dredmorbius wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am using (and hating hating hating hating hating) Android. I've been watching for alternatives. 1. Cyanogen Mod: This inherits too many of Android's fatal flaws. 2. FirefoxOS: Oh well. (It's dead, Jim.) 3. Ubuntu Mobile: It's still alive, though small. 4. Windows Mobile: Not my thing. I may head to a small-form-factor notepad. I really like the concept of a folio-format tablet + bluetooth keyboard, though nobody se…

I have high hopes currently for Plasma Mobile - https://plasma-mobile.org/

Thanks Look really interesting.

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#236

Post by oridecon »

feelix wrote: post #231

I use google and have chosen to give up a lot of my privacy to use their services. One thing I was never willing to do though, and I had an instant emotional reaction to not doing, was allowing them access to all my email. They can have my GPS coordinates at all times, my web search history, etc, but they can't get into the inner workings of my life and my thoughts. So back before I had any real use for it I just reg…

If you're being targeted, can you really protect your domain/DNS from all points of attack? And does domain privacy protection really covers all of your personal data, forever?

The more I learn the worse I feel about my digital privacy and security. The one thing I do right now is to compartmentalize my accounts and services, but I can't help to think it's only stopping smaller fish from getting/triangulating my data.

Tin foil hat apart, I also don't like to give away my data for free.

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#237

Post by skinnymuch »

dredmorbius wrote: post #203
drieddust wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do that for other services but I do not see an easy alternate to Android. People are moaning about Microsoft tracking with Windows 10 which is mostly on home devices. In reality Google is worse, they are tracking us 24x7 via our smart phones.

I am using (and hating hating hating hating hating) Android. I've been watching for alternatives. 1. Cyanogen Mod: This inherits too many of Android's fatal flaws. 2. FirefoxOS: Oh well. (It's dead, Jim.) 3. Ubuntu Mobile: It's still alive, though small. 4. Windows Mobile: Not my thing. I may head to a small-form-factor notepad. I really like the concept of a folio-format tablet + bluetooth keyboard, though nobody se…

Windows Mobile has some of the issues you mentioned, but why isn't it your thing? It's a beautiful OS.

Plus your post made me a bit sad again remembering webOS. How I miss it!

Re: Google Has Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

#238

Post by compiler-guy »

eridius wrote: post #222
compiler-guy wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other examples in this thread are useful, but here is another: Google wants to serve you "effective ads". What does that mean? It wants to serve you ads that you see and take some new action or think something you didn't before . In other words, Google wants to manipulate you to do things you otherwise wouldn't do. It is very much in Google's interest that you spend money with its advertisers, think things its ad…

The entirety of social discourse and information sharing is to influence behavior. Personally, I don't agree with your unstated assumption that having someone else influence your behavior is automatically bad. Hell, you're doing that right now with your comment. That said, there are plenty of other reasons to value privacy other than not wanting to be served effective ads.

The question here is, "Are Google's advertisers really the ones you want to influence your behavior?"

What interest of yours do they have in mind? What interest of society's?

Post reply on HN