I wrote an essay on this exact topic: http://yuhongbao.blogspot.ca/2018/04/google-doubleclick-mozi...
After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
101–110 of 255 posts
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#102Congress should take action, and install a watchdog that continuously monitors these companies; e.g. by verifying that data placed online cannot be bought through different channels.
Why would google ever sell data? Surely it is their greatest asset?
Google would be the last to sell your data as they know better then anyone the value.
This and security is why I try to centralize my data at Google.
In the US an ISP can sell your data without you even knowing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/04/04/isps-can... ISPs can now collect and sell your data: What to know ... - USA Today
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#103Google knows far more about me than Facebook. But their product is not premised on my genuine identity, or the sharing of my social graph with apps. Google has been pretty good at preserving the illusion of "anonymous browsing".
> their product is not premised on my genuine identity Their product to you may not be, but their primary revenue stream sure is based on the premise of knowing your genuine identity (including habits.)
Not really. Google does search ads based on what you are searching at that time. Plus Google does ads with a call back so no data leaves Google.
The byproduct is ad blockers work by blocking the call back.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah - you want to make use of Google services (search, maps, youtube, Photos etc.) for free and don't want to give anything in return. #entitlement Also, most likely you turning off tracking will impact your Google experience. Google is different than Facebook in that they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web. Just count how many times you rely on a Google service in a day. The…
Okay actually, I would pay to use most of Google's good services. I expect them to do advertising and they do not (!) need that kind of data on me for their search result advertising to be relevant. They have my search term; that should be enough in isolation. I would pay handsomely for Google Maps, but I have no such option. Again though, that is a service that works just fine without my individual data; they have m…
You would now, but what if they had cost money in the first place? Like, you wouldn't have got used to their services for free for years? This is something people often forget when they are saying "of course I would pay money".
The world would be a whole lot different place (not necessarily any better) if Google services cost money instead of gathering data and selling it forwards.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is wrong way to approach the issue. These companies should not be gathering personal information worse than NSA. Personal information is personal, and free people in a free society should not be followed by multinational corporations.
At least the targeting is advertising and not drone strikes.
I’m sorry, but trying to draw this distinction is dangerously naive.
In order to get decent ad targeting for most industries, they need more than enough information than is needed to target a drone strike.
They are legally obligated to share this information with multiple governments (including the US) that openly and routinely engage in extra-judicial killings of civilians.
The only solutions to this moral quandary are to either (a) change multiple governments, some democratically elected, some not, or to (b) simply not gather the information in the first place.
Google has already tried and failed at option (a), and option (b) would eliminate the vast majority of their revenue.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#106Next Google. Then we forget about it forever.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#107We're learning that good is relative so do no evil can't mean anything good for us, long-term, unless we're Google.
Use a lot of Google services and never had an issue with my data. Plus Google will secure far better than anyone else.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#108Concerned that google has so much info ( https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity ) I visited https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols to turn off Web & App Activity, but left Voice & Audio Activity on. This breaks my google home. I do not want Google to save 20 years of search history so I can use a stupid google home. For the first time I'm considering Apple's device. This is a dark pattern Google
> For the first time I'm considering Apple's device. Apple does collect analytics, but those can be turned off in OSX at the very least. As a company, they are not currently geared towards data collection. They have publicly positioned themselves in favor of privacy.
It's a luxury they can afford by being a vision and design centric company. They don't cater to demand, they create it.
By being quite generic and broad in their targeting themselves, they can get away with just collecting non personal "OS data", and they do it since the 80s.
Their biggest enemy are companies that create an easier market for developers and businesses by passing down data that those businesses can use to reach users. FB getting into hardware (they will be a future competitor with AR) is possibly causing them sleepless nights.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah - you want to make use of Google services (search, maps, youtube, Photos etc.) for free and don't want to give anything in return. #entitlement Also, most likely you turning off tracking will impact your Google experience. Google is different than Facebook in that they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web. Just count how many times you rely on a Google service in a day. The…
"they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web" This is just not true. There are viable competitors in about every space that Google is in. Use local documents and sync via a different storage provider. Alternate email providers exist. The only place where they have a distinct advantage is search, and even then, DuckDuckGo is usually enough (and if it's not, just pass a !g flag). You…
Well - there are competitors but they aren't nearly as good. Usage and popularity of these alternate products tell a story.
Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem isn't just my reccomendations, it's those of my fellow citizens, voters, and potential lynch mobs. (Also, I don't get the information on why a video is reccomended to me - is it country-specific? I was googling for how to find it and ironically came across a huge thread of complaints: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/youtube/7Sf7E... )
The problem isn't just my reccomendations, it's those of my fellow citizens, voters, and potential lynch mobs. No argument there. Also, I don't get the information on why a video is reccomended to me - is it country-specific? I don't know; it worked in all European countries I've used it in. You mouse over the video, it shows the three-dots menu (⋮), then you choose "Not Interested", then the thumbnail is replaced by…
Ah, I've figured it out: the next dialog, "Tell Us Why", doesn't always name a particular video that prompted the reccomendation. Some of them do, some of them don't. Which begs the next question: where are they coming from if not previously watched videos?