Never connect to ProtonMail using Chrome

Recently I had to install Hangouts app on the Android phone (it was easier than using it on desktop because I don't have the latest Chrome). One has to register a Google Account in order to use it, and I had to answer a lot of questions as if I was applying for a visa, including a phone number (of course I used a fake number) and date of birth. Then the app displayed a terms of service page with boring legal text. But I noticed that there was a small button to show more details, and when I clicked it, the page expanded and I saw checkboxes (lot of them), most checked by default, like "share my location with Google" or "record web & app activity". Of course, I turned all of them off and thought that I am smarter than a typical user that would not even see these checkboxes.

It turned out, I have been tricked too.

First, the Hangouts app somehow added this newly created account into all other Google Apps, so Google Play (which I have never used before) has started itself up and said that I need to update several apps (no, I don't) and then Mail App said that I got an email (this boring kind of email they put into your inbox upon registration). Also, Hangouts app added this new Google Account into the phone settings. And enabled sync for everything - including contacts.

Luckily, I mostly use phone as a dictionary and it didn't have any personal information - but if it had, it would be irreversibly copied into the Google Cloud.

These settings are not easy to find. For example, to learn about sync, you have to go to Settings -> Accounts -> click word "Google". Only then you will see that your data are being uploaded to Google. Google doesn't even give a warning, let alone asks you whether you really need it. To disable location tracking you need to notice a tiny button at terms of service page or find it at the settings. I am sure that most of users don't even realise that they've agreed to be under constant surveillance by Google.

I must admit, Google is good at sucking data out from people and deceiving them. After all, it employs smartest people on the planet.

Also, in Russia (and many other countries as well) you cannot legally buy a SIM card without an ID. And Digital Ocean doesn't accept some virtual debit cards and suggests that I use a real credit card (so that they can charge me even if I don't have money).

* Phone number is clearly marked as optional and it says they use it for security. (Of course, Facebook said the same thing, and look how that turned out...) * The only information requests that I think are unnecessary are date of birth (they say because some services are age restricted), and gender (which "rather not say" is an option for). * The page you are referring to is not really boring legal text, it's pretty plain English that is easy to understand, and there's not a lot of it. I think average people can read it easily in 1-2 minutes. * The "location history" option is off by default. * It is true that the options are in a "more options" folded thing at the bottom of ~2 pages of text. This sucks, but looking at the whole page in context, it's not nearly as bad as you made it sound.

> And enabled sync for everything - including contacts.

I think this only applies to new contacts created within your google account, and not local phone contacts. I learned this the hard way when my contacts did not sync from my old phone when I wanted them to.

> To disable location tracking you need to notice a tiny button at terms of service page or find it at the settings. I am sure that most of users don't even realise that they've agreed to be under constant surveillance by Google.

This was off by default for me.

If you have Google as a default search engine in Chrome, then every time you open a new tab, it is loaded from Google's servers with cookies. So Google knows how many times a day and when exactly you open a new tab.

This works even in Debian which usually cares about privacy. Google doesn't warn about this (maybe they have a clause in the Terms of Usage, I don't know).

You can see this yourself using Developer Tools on a new tab page.

By the way, adding a new search engine named, for example, "Gogol" instead of "Google" and using it by default fixes this problem. Or at least fixed two years ago.