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Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

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Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#51

Post by Bjartr »

yipbub wrote: post #28
system2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, a simple take it or leave it situation. There are alternatives. I don't get people getting mad because a private corp is doing something with their own software.

Can you uninstall Google Maps from an android phone? It's because that private corp is so big that it is starting to control much of the internet and devices so this is an issue very much in the public purview. It's not as simple as take it or leave it. The corp in question spends billions to insinuate itself into your life, make you dependant, eat competition, and then you can take it, but you definitely can't leave…

It depends on how the system is configured. IIRC custom roms need extra steps to get any official Google apps, so it's certainly possible to configure most phones to not have Maps installed. That said, I think most OEM phones do ship with Google's suite of apps configured as "system" apps that really a few more hope to jump through and could potentially result in instability if any OEM designed system on that phone has a built in assumption about the presence of Maps.

tl;dr: Yes, but you might have to jump through some hoops

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#52

Post by system2 »

yipbub wrote: post #28
system2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, a simple take it or leave it situation. There are alternatives. I don't get people getting mad because a private corp is doing something with their own software.

Can you uninstall Google Maps from an android phone? It's because that private corp is so big that it is starting to control much of the internet and devices so this is an issue very much in the public purview. It's not as simple as take it or leave it. The corp in question spends billions to insinuate itself into your life, make you dependant, eat competition, and then you can take it, but you definitely can't leave…

Yes, that starts with "leaving it". Though some found my comment above irritating, the more people use these apps or try to make it "their way", these corps won't go anywhere.

Yes, either you take it, or leave it. Imagine everyone leaving google today. They can't make money. People made them rich, people can take them down. If genpop doesn't understand, you have to find your own ways to navigate thru the internet because google won't go away anytime soon.

I would love to hear your opinion about how to take google down, without making people "leave it".

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#53

Post by brewdad »

mc32 wrote: post #20
thisgoodlife wrote: post #11

Wait... What? You don't mind telling Google where your home is, but you mind it tracking your online activity? Shouldn't home address be more sensitive?

Can't you set your address to a made up address across the street from you (often they leave unused numbers) 1, 9, 15... 2, 8, 12.. and set it as your home address. You can even just use a street over, it's not going to affect the routing at all but the last block or so. Of course, I don't think this does much since they can get your address by other means. Anyhow, giving them your actual home address is like filling…

This is exactly what I do. I rarely input my actual address online unless it's strictly necessary (like an online purchase). I'm not eager to get to know my neighbors since they probably get a fair amount of junk mail thanks to me. :-)

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#54

Post by dpq »

JoshMnem wrote: post #40

Why are people surprised when a company that fundamentally doesn't believe in privacy does these kinds of things? Edit: quote removed -- see child comments.

Why don't you post the rest of the quote as well?

> I think judgment matters. If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines -- including Google -- do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.

Kinda changes the whole context from "secrets are for bad people" to "you shouldn't use Google with anything really secret, because government".

I'm really dismayed that a lot of good people and orgs keep misrepresenting this quote for many years by cutting it out of the context. This doesn't mean that Google is automatically your friend, btw.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#55

Post by adiusmus »

notyourwork wrote: post #39
esaym wrote: post #25

I won't give them my home address any way. If I want directions to "my house", I google an address on a block down the street.

odds are they still know where you live.

And everything else. Each google maps client likely has an ID that is used to link each one back to your gmail. Regardless of whether you've signed in at time of map query.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#57

Post by yuhong »

dang wrote: post #50
yuhong wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The early Google AdWords ads was at least fairly simple and required little tracking. I mentioned this in the essay/overview.

You've posted about your essays dozens of times now. That's crossing the line into spamming, and other users are complaining. Please stop now.

I try to stay on topic, but sometimes I do make mistakes.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#58

Post by balladeer »

Too wrote: post #41

On Android there's also the constant nagging to turn on GPS every time you open the app just to check the opening hours of some business. Super frustrating.

I had uninstalled Apple Maps [1] from my iPhone after iOS 11 upgrade because it was useless. Apple put it back with iOS 12 upgrade and I have kept it around so far. It is still useless here in India [1]. Often I sadly have no alternative to Google apps. I have tried at least a dozen apps (online/offline) and nothing even comes close to Google Maps.

Of course other features like News etc are not even shown on the app except in some countries while the price of the device remains the same (or more after taxes). I think I am being too harsh. They can do only so much with the resources they have :-)

[1] Apparently they use TomTom for map data in India (and elsewhere too?).

[2] https://www.apple.com/in/ios/feature-availability/#maps-dire...

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#59

Post by brewdad »

pavanred wrote: post #17
trophycase wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even joking, I rear ended someone while trying to dismiss the "USE OUR APP" popup that comes when you navigate via maps.google.com instead of the phone app.

I have been using OsmAnd~ [0] lately and have been pretty happy with it as an alternative. Uses open street maps, works offline, pretty good and configurable app. [0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.osmand.plus/

The big issue preventing me from using something like OsmAnd is my need for real-time traffic. Generally, I can figure out where a place is with only the address since the N-S streets in my city are numbered and the first digits of an address on a cross-street corresponds to the numbered Avenues. Traffic, OTOH, can easily vary by 30 minutes on a 15 mile trip day to day even without any crashes along the route.

Is there an open, or at least more private, app that can give me accurate traffic data?

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#60

Post by avh02 »

techntoke wrote: post #5

This! They used to allow you to, but now I don't save my home address and can't use a lot of Google features because they want you to enable activity tracking. WTF... why do I need all my activity to be tracked to use basic features?

My favorite part has been them pretending they no longer store your address, but when search results on the web places a pin they somehow manage to suggest it's an "x minute drive" from home... Which is it Google? Do you have the address saved or not? You forget where my address is only when it's inconvenient and coercive?
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