Why I’m Worried About Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#51

Post by lallysingh » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:55 PM UTC

ataturk wrote: post #8

phakding wrote: post #3

What is Google's end goal here? More accurate targetted advertising?

My guess? An unholy alliance between government and private industry which allows each to get away with things the other can't. For example, squelching free speech can be done by a private company with practically no impediments. Meanwhile, governments want to eavesdrop on everyone and develop dossiers on everyone because that's how you control people. Corporations are doing that for marketing purposes, but the intel…

What CIA connection?

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#52

Post by Hikikomori » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:55 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #28

Google always knew that trust was very important to their long term growth and viability. It's why "Don't be evil" was their motto for so long and it actually appeared to be more than lip service. That motto is gone, and now they're actively monetizing that accumulated goodwill.

It's still in their code of conduct.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#53

Post by GreeniFi » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:55 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #31

GreeniFi wrote: post #21

I think it’s probably possible to model credit-worthiness according to search history and site use patterns. Google’s partnership with Mastercard could be something to do with that. What would be particularly irritating is if Google start showing credit offers next to product ads. Eg you look at an advert for a new iPhone and google then lets you know Mastercard will give you an immediate credit line for an impulse p…

From: https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-anal... "even if your business doesn’t have a large loyalty program, you can still measure store sales by taking advantage of Google’s third-party partnerships, which capture approximately 70% of credit and debit card transactions in the United States" Who knows what other 3rd party data they correlate...

Wow.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#54

Post by mattnumbers » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:55 PM UTC

stochastic_monk wrote: post #32

demxzy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox is looking more like a very good insurance policy going forward privacy-wise. I would like to see more open source browsers though. It feels like we are getting nearer and nearer to browser mono cultures with all the chromium clones. Maybe Ms can release edge as an opensource app with it being far behind in adoption.

I’m seeing more webpages entirely break on Firefox recently. I tend to reach for Vivaldi when I need to try a different browser, as it’s Chromium without all the tracking.

Yes, on newer versions, this can happen when Tracking Protection is enabled. This feature causes things like CAPTCHA and other third-party scripts to break. When this occurs, look for a shield icon in the URL bar to the left of the green TLS padlock. Click it and disable Tracking Protection. This has fixed every site issue I've seen so far.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#55

Post by malvosenior » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:55 PM UTC

dpcx wrote: post #38

janpot wrote: post #11

This bothers me a little bit > By clicking “Agree,” you consent to Slate’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our site, in emails and across the Internet, to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw c…

You speak as though an author on Slate.com has any actual say in what Slate.com does to set policy. It would be the same as if you read this article on any other "news site" - so why would you dismiss the author's concerns about privacy? Simply because they chose to use Slate.com as the outlet for their statement?

From the article:

> If nothing else works, then at least I can vote with my feet—or my fingertips.

If they were serious about privacy they could not write for Slate or at least comment on how the very site we're reading this on also has major privacy issues.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#56

Post by GnwbZHiU » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:56 PM UTC

demxzy wrote: post #5

orf wrote: post #2

Firefox.

Firefox is looking more like a very good insurance policy going forward privacy-wise. I would like to see more open source browsers though. It feels like we are getting nearer and nearer to browser mono cultures with all the chromium clones. Maybe Ms can release edge as an opensource app with it being far behind in adoption.

There's also Brave browser by Brendan Eich. It's still very young and have issues, but it's getting better over time.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#57

Post by asdkhadsj » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:56 PM UTC

dpcx wrote: post #38

janpot wrote: post #11

This bothers me a little bit > By clicking “Agree,” you consent to Slate’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our site, in emails and across the Internet, to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw c…

You speak as though an author on Slate.com has any actual say in what Slate.com does to set policy. It would be the same as if you read this article on any other "news site" - so why would you dismiss the author's concerns about privacy? Simply because they chose to use Slate.com as the outlet for their statement?

> so why would you dismiss the author's concerns about privacy? Simply because they chose to use Slate.com as the outlet for their statement?

In fairness, that sounds fairly reasonable. I don't know much about Slate (and the advertising consent makes me hesitant to click it), but if I'm an author wanting to write about privacy concerns, and I have Google publish me (be it by Blogger or some other medium), wouldn't my article feel a bit.. odd?

I'd be asking you to set aside your privacy concerns so you can read my post about why you should be concerned about privacy.

I'm not saying that's what's happening here, I'm not even clicking the article based on the silly terms. Yet, these comments make me feel it's similar in concept. Why should we step aside our privacy so we can discuss privacy? The content is on a less than stellar medium for privacy discussions, at the very least.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#58

Post by janpot » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:58 PM UTC

dpcx wrote: post #38

janpot wrote: post #11

This bothers me a little bit > By clicking “Agree,” you consent to Slate’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our site, in emails and across the Internet, to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw c…

You speak as though an author on Slate.com has any actual say in what Slate.com does to set policy. It would be the same as if you read this article on any other "news site" - so why would you dismiss the author's concerns about privacy? Simply because they chose to use Slate.com as the outlet for their statement?

Just like he has alternatives available for Google products that respect his privacy more. He has alternatives available for slate that respect my privacy more. He simply chooses to dismiss my concerns about privacy by picking slate. Why can't I dismiss his concerns about privacy then?

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#59

Post by davb » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:58 PM UTC

Flow wrote: post #39

simion314 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, so I always close the tab.

Probably it's too late. Or do they really load the scripts from Google et al after you click "Accept"?

Surprisingly, before you click Agree they make no third party requests and only set one cookie (AB=1, presumably because I'm using an ad blocker) and one Session Storage value (slateFontsLoaded=true).

Unlike Samsonite, who I recently discovered set large number of cookies and make a bunch of third party requests before you click on Agree.

Re: Why I’m Worried About Google

#60

Post by Flenser » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 12:58 PM UTC

dpcx wrote: post #38

janpot wrote: post #11

This bothers me a little bit > By clicking “Agree,” you consent to Slate’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our site, in emails and across the Internet, to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw c…

You speak as though an author on Slate.com has any actual say in what Slate.com does to set policy. It would be the same as if you read this article on any other "news site" - so why would you dismiss the author's concerns about privacy? Simply because they chose to use Slate.com as the outlet for their statement?

In an article where the author is writing about how their privacy is being infringed and they have chosen to switch away from that infringing service I'd say it would be fair to ask the author why they're publishing on a platform that doesn't respect their readers privacy.