Duh.
New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
321–330 of 463 posts
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#322This dark pattern seems to be spreading. Amazon recently pushed out an update to their (beta last I knew) web app that allows you to use their smile.amazon.com charity donation through the app. But in order to turn that on, you have to turn on all the notifications the app has, including their rather constant pushes of "deals I may be interested in". They're holding you hostage to their notifications because "it's fo…
Computer Science does not have the same heightened degree of Ethical Concern that exists in other sciences. E.g. genetic manipulation of human embryos is highly scrutinized, and action is taken when behavior that would corrupt future generations of humans is identified. Not so with CS. CS Ethics is muted, often conflated with Corporate Ethics whose "Greed is good" line seems to have won out above other ethical mantra…
I believe the biological sciences have a higher degree of ethnics training than the other science fields, if only because most academic biological research requires oversight by an ethics board.
Other fields of science do not have the same heightened degree of Ethical Concern as biology, and many have less ethics training than CS programs.
For example, when I was at university, the CS program required that the students take a course in ethical topics related to computers. I believe that was due to ACS or IEEE accreditation requirements.
The physics program had no similar requirement for their students.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#323Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#324My list of degooglifying actions: * switch default search engine to DuckDuckGo (can still use !s bang when one wants to see what Google has) * use tracking blocker (uBlock origin, BlockBear on iOS) * use anonymous/private/porn mode browsing most of the time (except for sites I actually want to be logged in permanently) * use Zoho as a replacement for shared Google docs * use Youtube either in private window, and/or d…
> * use anonymous/private/porn mode browsing most of the time (except for sites I actually want to be logged in permanently) instead of this, I just use Firefox and use the Multi-Account Container function to separate my browsing
Firefox is great on desktop, but I've found it too slow and clumsy on mobile, sadly.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#325I tried using Google Maps without search history turned on. It's basically a downgraded version. They tied saving locations with the search history, so it won't let you search for friends' contacts, set a home address, etc. Is it on purpose? I don't know, but I find it weird that they would tie some unrelated features together. Why does setting a Home address require search history?
I've typed the same postcode into Maps almost every day for the past 5 years - Google, could you maybe help it be the first autocomplete result when I enter it manually?
I don't get why this is downvoted. I have the "spy on me all the time" stuff left on and I've found Google maps Autocomplete hilariously awful. Like, when I submit and get locations back it's generally okay, but the Autocomplete suggestions are just insane.
Like, they know exactly where I am all the time, why are they Autocompleting locations that are nowhere near me or any of my typical destinations?
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#326Keep the karma points at 666 for humorous effect please.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Walmart.com has stepped it up recently. Still a long way to go, and I doubt their intentions are any better, but competition is healthy.
As much as Amazon seems to be throwing their mud in consumers' collective faces, the Waltons are 100% not better people and Wal-Mart's entire success is based on exploiting low-wage workers and subsidizing your workforce through social programs. That's like trading arsenic for cyanide.
At least you aren't getting stories about Walmart workers having to pee into bottles like Amazon workers.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#328Another example of Google not even trying to give the account holder an option to pause tracking is the purchase/order-linking feature for purchases history. They scan the users Gmail account for orders/receipts and quietly storing that information into the purchases history as can be seen by going to https://myaccount.google.com/purchases.
Instead of giving the account holder an option to delete this history, their helper section vaguely mentions you can go to Gmail and "manage" the corresponding message. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7673989
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
>While Voice Match learning the sound of your voice sounds like a completely local task But voice rec is not local. The reason it asks to store your voice is because they need to send it to their backend for recognition.
But voice rec is not local Voice rec was local until about ten years ago. You could even buy software dictation products that installed from CDROM and didn't need a network connection. I shouldn't need a network connection to do anything voice on my own device. It should only reach out to the network for things it doesn't have local knowledge of.
Can confirm. Microsoft Speech API of ~2007 with little training worked very well for me, even across the room on a crappy microphone I hand-soldered to a 2m cable. If that worked fully off-line without a big performance penalty on mid-end 2007 hardware, it surely can work now.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#330They constantly berate you to deactivate no tracking preferences on google maps. When you're aware of this fact you start seeing it everywhere, not just on google. For example, on Pinterest they will berate you to sign up using highlighted buttons on land, and the x button is out of the way on the top right corner. This end result is due to product managers/devs looking at conversion rates and optimizing for whatever…
The result of this A/B testing amounts to a dark patterns. A/B testing a user choice by manipulating him/her like that seems like a no-no.
A/B testing is the way Satan interacts with this world. Optimizing for business metrics eventually leads to dark patterns, and also provides a convenient excuse ("data says so!").