Alternatives to Google Products

The primary difference is that closed source cannot feasibly be determined to be good. This is an inherent property of being closed -- we, as the users, have no proper access to investigate the actions performed by the program.

Open source software can, potentially, be classified as privacy respecting. As others have mentioned, this is not a trivial task. It requires significant contributions from the community to audit the code perpetually. We cannot exercise complacency here and presume someone else has already performed this action on our behalf.

(Tangent: Perhaps we need to develop a system to keep track of which sections of which open source projects have been audited, and by whom. A list of volunteer auditors for each source file on a GitLab repository, for example? With each audit being associated with a hash/commit for that file. In the current model, reading the code without finding any privacy concerns means no commit. Whether there is value in keeping track of this occurrence and leveraging it to conclude an increase in trustworthiness of the project is both a philosophical and practical question.)

So being open source does not magically make software more privacy respecting. But it does open the door, and invite us to investigate its claims and behavior; something that closed source does not. It's our responsibility to capitalize on that advantage.

Considering the current state of privacy violators and malicious actors in this industry, a "guilty until proven innocent" approach might be the most pragmatic. This is not a form of scaremongering; this skepticism applies to both closed and open source software equally, contributing to a solid foundation of good OpSec and assisting to shape the industry into more ethical business models.

2. You can't expect every user to know they are logged, or how it's affecting the user, or know how to disable/delete it, can you?

3. How can I verify that you did delete the data about me instead of just hiding from me for viewing it? Alphabet is not belong to public sector. So the simple answer is I can't. If you want me to trust you, don't use opt-out as default.

4. I'm sure you can tell the differences between those alternatives and Google products.

5. It's not that hard to respect some one's data. First, do not collect it! Second, if you have to collect it, tell the owner why! Third, delete it completely while requested.

6. Aggregated data collection and use without permissions adds potential risks to the society. (Cambridge Analytica)

Edit: And you guys are doing deep learning, that's gonna consume lot's of data. Duplex for example, you use anonymous phone call data to train it. The question is, where does that data even come from? I'd blacklist whoever collected the data, even it's collected anonymously.

Roboto is a typeface developed by Google...

Everything adds "potential risks". When you talk about risk, you have to give estimates of both the frequency and the criticity, and then compare to the potential benefits. Only then you have all the pieces to take an informed decision, according to your preferences.

I'm not sure I understand this point, so let me make my point clearer. It's clear that Google(TM) can access your data. You probably mean "most google employees can't", which I agree with. But someone can access your data for sure, and in fact you can access your data: if you are a European citizen, you can request all of your data right now, thanks to the GDPR and Google has to comply. There are also other general tools to access the data[1].

So I'm not saying "a Google employee will go behind your back". I'm saying that either "Google(TM) could be compelled by a court order to give your data if laws change", or "someone could use your unlocked PC, click on 'Download my data', and give it to the other part" (again, more likely if the other part is tech savvy and planning on divorcing you).

> I'd like to hear if this has actually happened to anyone anywhere.

Someone getting in trouble because someone took their private information? It happens quite often in the Legal Advice subreddit. Here's one example[2]:

> "My wife uploaded screenshots from my Ashley Madison account, hotel receipts and non-nude but sexual photos of me online before she moved out and filed for divorce. Do I have any legal recourse under Delaware law? (...) They were not public. The photos were from my phone and were not anywhere online and the credit card was in my name only. She had no right to access either one (nor my Ashley Madison account)."

My specific case? No idea. But supposedly private information biting someone back is a regular event. Here's a page some lawyers in Orange County wrote on that [3] with some examples.

* Edit: rethinking my point, I think you meant "how is this a Google problem, rather than an infosec problem". To that, my point would be: the fact that the information exists forever in one central place.

[1] https://medium.com/productivity-in-the-cloud/6-links-that-wi...

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/5b895c/my_wife...

[3] http://orangecountydivorce.com/divorce-technology/