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Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

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Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#281

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That's bs. Apple is making billions from China each year without any bs partnership.

Apple has less than 10% of the market share in China.

And it shrinks.

> With only seven million iPhones sold in China during the second quarter of 2018, Apple's market share in the country dropped by 12.5 percent year on year to 6.7 percent, according to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC)

And you can imagine why is that so.

> Xiaomi pokes fun at Apple with phone, laptop, fitness tracker, and Bluetooth earphones bundles that cost the same as the new iPhones.

Actually mocking the Apple might became the cultural thing in China.

> Huawei has taken the act of mocking the newly launched iPhones to the next level in seemingly funny way. In Singapore, those who were waiting overnight for the release of the iPhone XS and XS Max, were handed power banks by the China-based tech giant. Some people wearing Huawei t-shirts started giving away power banks to the hundreds of people waiting in line to get their hands on the newly announced iPhones. Not just that, there’s a message on the power bank’s box which reads – “Here’s a power bank. You’ll need it. Courtesy of Huawei.”

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#282
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that Microsoft is much worse, what with their utter ubiquity in corporate environments, linkedin, github and win home users. Google ruined cell phones and Microsoft ruined personal computing.

The problem is it is often difficult to decide where incompetence ends and where malicious begins. Microsoft Edge or at least EdgeHTML has a stated goal of being 100% compatible with Google Chrome. As you might guess, it isn't even close. Why? There are far too many competent people at Microsoft to say "never attribute to malice what can be described by incompetence". This isn't the kind of incompetence at Equifax.

Its sad that one has to be 100% compatible with Chrome. Is this something that someone at Microsoft really said? one should have to be compatible with the standards. If that statement is true, then it supports the claim of Google's dominance- which is unhealthy for the browser market, and users.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#283
post #271

> "The Dragonfly memo reveals that a prototype of the censored search engine was being developed as an app for both Android and iOS devices, and would force users to sign in so they could use the service. The memo confirms, as The Intercept first reported last week, that users’ searches would be associated with their personal phone number. The memo adds that Chinese users’ movements would also be stored, along with t…

The only remaining google usage I have is the Android play store, though I should flash a custom rom so I can use yalp store more effectively. I'm done with Google and refuse to support their products and services.

TBH Yalp store it's very clunky and unreliable, you will find out when you get rid off gapps like i did, it would be probably easier to use apkmirror

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#286

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> These days I distrust almost every move Google makes by default, and I imagine there is a growing number of people like me. Google has lost its way, not just with this, but with AMP/Chrome/URLs, and their impending destruction of one of the great achievements of modern technology -- the decentralized, open WWW. The Web was always under attack but to see the fatal blows delivered by Google is very depressing. I've a…

The Web would have been dead no matter what Google did. Its death was as inevitable as any human's - just a matter of which organs fail, in what order, and when. If there's one thing we can learn from all this, it's that decentralization of a network is best understood as a temporary process for electing the monopoly node(s).

The Web is not dead yet, and its death is not inevitable. It has been under attack since at least the days of America Online, and it survived that. Google's market share with the browser (all Chromium-based browsers) puts them in a position where they might succeed in destroying it this time. I wouldn't give up completely just yet. People need to speak up, including Google employees. Other companies like Automattic and Cloudflare need to stop enabling schemes like AMP. Large content publishers should say "no" to AMP, because it is not in their long-term best interests. A visit to a restricted shell of your content on someone else's AMP server/cache is not a real visit to your website.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#287
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>so you think the Chinese government would really allow the sale of unbreakable end to end encryption domestically just because it's Apple? Yes. Apple has even said this in court filings during the FBI legal fight [1]: >Finally, the government attempts to disclaim the obvious international implications of its demand, asserting that any pressure to hand over the same software to foreign agents “flows from [Apple’s] de…

>Apple has leverage.... Yes, so much leverage that China regularly forces them to censor the App Store, and forced them to give up control of iCloud in China. Quite different than say, how Apple handled the FBI demands or AT&T? What concessions did Apple extract from China with respect to freedom or privacy for the Chinese people that you can point to? Have they ever gotten VPN reinstated? Can you point to a single i…

Apple definitely has leverage because we now know they have not made any "special accommodations" for China in their products and services. And as far as I know, iMessage remains unblocked unlike other encrypted services like WhatsApp.

That doesn't mean that Apple can do whatever they want. They've had to shut down iBooks and iTunes Movies within months of turning it on. They've had to remove VPN apps and the NYT's app from the App Store.

But they haven't had to fundamentally cripple the security of their products and services. And that's a meaningful concession they've obtained, because they're Apple.

>I’ll go one better: can you find an instance on record of Apple executives like Tim Cook criticizing Chinese government policies like they do the US government? Any instance of push back at all?

We know they pushed back on the data localization regulation because they said so in a statement to Reuters.

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These days I distrust almost every move Google makes by default, and I imagine there is a growing number of people like me. Google has lost its way, not just with this, but with AMP/Chrome/URLs, and their impending destruction of one of the great achievements of modern technology -- the decentralized, open WWW. The Web was always under attack but to see the fatal blows delivered by Google is very depressing. I've a…

Google has not lost their way. They walked away from billions in China when the government tried to hack Gmail accounts. Google made it so ALL people can afford a smartphone not just the rich like Apple. Apple on the other hand https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy... Campaign targets Apple over privacy betrayal for Chinese iCloud ...

Smartphones are not necessarily good things. I think they are damaging attention[1] and causing a lot of negative effects on society (social media, fake information, etc.). Humans shouldn't be online at all times.

[1] https://hbr.org/2018/03/having-your-smartphone-nearby-takes-...

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#289
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>No, the Chinese government now owns the servers with the key storage. They now have access to all the keys and user data. >If the Chinese government is accessing all the user data because they requested Apple to put the user keys on their now-state-owned servers, then why does it matter if Apple controls the keys? You're still splitting hairs. Apple said literally the opposite of this to Reuters and in this statemen…

You are wrong. Apple merely said "no backdoors will be created into any of our systems". And no backdoors into any of Apple's systems are necessary because a government-owned company will be operating iCloud, including the keystore. Apple's terms of service make this very clear: "You understand and agree that Apple and GCBD will have access to all data that you store on this service" https://www.apple.com/legal/inter…

Apple told Reuters that is not what's happening:

>Apple says the joint venture does not mean that China has any kind of “backdoor” into user data and that Apple alone – not its Chinese partner – will control the encryption keys.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-apple-icloud-insigh...

Re: Google Suppresses Memo Revealing Plans to Closely Track Search Users in China

#290
post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's because Microsoft's incentives are more aligned with ours. Better, more user-centric software == better outcomes for users, more Microsoft usage/profits. Microsoft is in the same business as Google. Search, Bing. Gmail, Outlook.com. GCP, Azure. They even operate an ad network. Google has some bad incentives but Microsoft has all the same ones. If not, why isn't there a single button for "never send any of my…

> Microsoft is in the same business as Google. Microsoft and Google may have competing products, but they are in completely different businesses. Microsoft is in the business of software, Google is in the business of data. That's why there's a public Bing Search API[1], but there's no public Google Search API. [1] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-service...

> Microsoft and Google may have competing products, but they are in completely different businesses. Microsoft is in the business of software, Google is in the business of data.

In what way are Windows and Edge "software" but Android and Chrome are not?

> That's why there's a public Bing Search API[1], but there's no public Google Search API.

The company that is operating a data service is the one not in the data business?

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