Why I’m done with Chrome • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#81

Post by sathackr » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:11 PM UTC

heartbreak wrote: post #51

0x0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How little you think of people.

I think most people have more important things to do than worry about whether Google knows where they’ve been online. Edit: To clarify, I care about whether Google knows where I've been online. That's why I don't use Chrome. I just don't think most people care.

If it were only that simple.

Now that Google knows, who else can find out? Someone Google trusts? Someone that pays Google enough money?

Lets sell your browsing data to whoever wants to buy it. What kind of risks would that create for you and your family?

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#82

Post by therein » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

whelchel wrote: post #19

brian-armstrong wrote: post #10

Firefox is a truly fantastic browser now. I've been using it again for about 2 years and haven't regretted it at all. There have been a couple of weird feature hiccups but generally Mozilla seems to get things right.

Also a fan. I'm also switching permanently to Firefox after this incident rather than use multiple browsers depending on the purpose.

Same, I always loved FF but had switched to Chrome maybe 2-3 years ago.

After this incident, I switched to FF Quantum permanently. It has come a long way and honestly I feel more at home in FF after a day than I did in Chrome after everything they've tacked on the browser.

Having read these threads, and personally knowing people in the Chrome team that read these threads, I am almost certain that Google will backtrack this. I know more than a dozen developers that switched from Chrome to FF Quantum this week.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#83

Post by remote_phone » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

I log into my personal gmail and Facebook on Firefox and everything else on Chrome. I’ve been doing this for years now and I’m perfectly comfortable. For the most part I’ve forgotten about any differences between the two browsers.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#84

Post by akie » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:13 PM UTC

heartbreak wrote: post #51

0x0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How little you think of people.

I think most people have more important things to do than worry about whether Google knows where they’ve been online. Edit: To clarify, I care about whether Google knows where I've been online. That's why I don't use Chrome. I just don't think most people care.

Yes, but that's because they are uninformed about the humongous amount of data they're voluntarily handing out and how much can be deducted about their day-to-day lives using that data. If they'd know, like - really properly understand, I suspect that they might not be so eager to hand it over.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#85

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:13 PM UTC

heartbreak wrote: post #51

0x0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How little you think of people.

I think most people have more important things to do than worry about whether Google knows where they’ve been online. Edit: To clarify, I care about whether Google knows where I've been online. That's why I don't use Chrome. I just don't think most people care.

[deleted]

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#86

Post by reaperducer » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

Twirrim wrote: post #58

heartbreak wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feature doesn’t enable sync. That’s something that members of the Chrome team have been patiently trying to explain to Matthew Green on Twitter for several days now. [0] https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/1043505744144826369?s=21

It doesn't for _now_. Which is no small part of his point. The next step is to automatically turn on sync etc, which is an easier step now people will start to be used to the idea they're automatically signed in to stuff in Chrome. The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on.

The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on.

Over the last year or so, it feels more and more like Google, as a company, is getting desperate. Like it feels the external tide of popular opinion turning against it. But rather than mend its ways, a decision has been made somewhere to slurp up as much information as possible as quickly and quietly as possible, before it all comes tumbling down around it.

I wonder if GDPR was the turning point. Even my boss, who on a computer literacy scale of Linda Lovelace to Ada Lovelace ranks near the bottom of the scale, asked me to explain GDPR to her.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#87

Post by hyperpape » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:15 PM UTC

I agree with Matthew that the supposed problem this is solving doesn't seem to be an issue for the case where no one is logged in to Chrome. In addition it seems to me as if it has a non-invasive solution:

If A is signed in to Chrome, and the user then signs into gmail as B, sign A out of Chrome, perhaps with a notification telling them what to do.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#88

Post by GW150914 » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:15 PM UTC

heartbreak wrote: post #51

0x0 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How little you think of people.

I think most people have more important things to do than worry about whether Google knows where they’ve been online. Edit: To clarify, I care about whether Google knows where I've been online. That's why I don't use Chrome. I just don't think most people care.

I’m sure people at FaceBook said the same smug things until they crossed a line they never saw coming, and now it’s all congressional hearings and “heartfelt” apologies. It’s true, you can dick a lot of people over for a long time, but you’re just breeding backlash. It will come, in waves, and if your history is defined by a kind of arrogant dismissal of their concerns you’ll be screwed.

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#89

Post by colemickens » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:16 PM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #32

For now at least, there's this escape hatch: chrome://flags/#account-consistency Edit: Some are saying this doesn't work on Chrome 69. :(

Maybe they've revised the flag, but the flag did not disable the feature as much as the text might lead you to believe. My comment from a couple weeks ago... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17943524

Re: Why I’m done with Chrome

#90

Post by 0xmohit » Sun, Sep 23, 2018, 9:17 PM UTC

    Yesterday, news broke that Google has been stealth
    downloading audio listeners onto every computer that runs
    Chrome, and transmits audio data back to Google. Effectively,
    this means that Google had taken itself the right to listen
    to every conversation in every room that runs Chrome
    somewhere, without any kind of consent from the people
    eavesdropped on. In official statements, Google shrugged off
    the practice with what amounts to “we can do that”.

Source: Google Chrome Listening In To Your Room Shows The Importance Of Privacy Defense In Depth

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/06/google-ch...