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Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

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Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#91

Post by luckylion »

andrepd wrote: post #81
the_duke wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use uMatrix, but the amount of sites where you need to allow Google domains and cookies for reCaptcha to work is depressing.

And then you will be "punished" for being off the grid, and the images will take 8 seconds to fade out and fade in...

Glad I'm not the only one hating this. Especially with lots of captchas in a row it's super annoying - "yeah, it's the same browser, same cookie, same IP, doing the tenth captcha in 10 minutes, all previous tests succeeded ... better make sure to look extra closely and slow it down".

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#92

Post by chefandy »

xvector wrote: post #73
teekert wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often get reminded by apps that "This app will not function when play services has no access to: Contacts, calendar, call history (and about 5 more things)". I once turned everything I though to be unnecessary off from the settings. Indeed nothing ever stopped working correctly but many things started nagging me periodically, while functioning perfectly.

I just stopped using Android after shit like this. Privacy is an afterthought at best, despite the great new permissions model. And it's absolutely not Android's fault as much it is app developers' faults. Want to use an app that tracks your dreams? Most devs will have you sign up for their terrible service so they can store the information in plaintext on a server. At least with iOS most devs seem to opt for CloudKi…

Not sure why this would be down-voted, unless people are really just that tribalistic about phone/tablet OS choice.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#93

Post by [deleted] »

owaislone wrote: post #88
brandonhorst wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're in luck! Those requirements were removed months ago. You can use Assistant with those settings disabled no problem.

I just tried. Still asks me to turn on web and app activity, voice and audio activity, and device information. I say "OK Google" and it asks me to turn these things on. It does understand that I invoked it but won't help me unless I turn on these three trackers.

[deleted]

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#94

Post by devereaux »

mattlondon wrote: post #3

This is welcomed, but they might do better to remove the requirement to have the Web/Location/App history enabled for apparently unrelated features. E.g. I cant store my home location in Google Maps without turning on Web & App activity history. Why? I cant share my current location (not historic, just my latest location - they only need to store one) with my partner unless I turn on Web and Location history. Why? I…

Here is another nudge: how easily can you write a rule to delete from gmail inbox after say X days? (same question for outlook.com, icloud.com etc)

There are ways for technical users, but it nudges users to leave all the juicy data to the company, which can then use it in any way it feels (including monetization)

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#95

Post by mtgx »

user17843 wrote: post #86
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source, or any evidence that they don't? Google doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is literally their business model.

I think this is basically the GDPR rules, but I would need to look into the details more.

Translation: American users are f-ed.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#96

Post by mtgx »

amirmasoudabdol wrote: post #56

This is actually worst for your privacy because it gives you an impression that your data is not being used. However, by the time that you remove it Google is already done with your data. I feel this will spread to other type of data that they are collecting too. I cannot convince myself that it’s a good thing and Google has good intentions with it.

Yes, maybe if the auto-delete was for 24h, at least as an option, but 3 months? Why bother? Just pause the activity completely:

https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#97

Post by russdpale »

shereadsthenews wrote: post #33
loudtieblahblah wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I simply do not believe this. Unless they're audited by a source that can be trusted and have the findings made public, I will not believe it either.

You're welcome to all the tinfoil you can fit on your head but this is a written policy Google markets to their paying customers. What you are saying is they are just committing overt fraud. https://cloud.google.com/security/deletion/

Brother it's 2019, Im not sure if you noticed but fraud is in big time. Markets are at all time highs. Fraud penalties are just over head.

Besides, for that document to work, the authors have to be trust worthy.. in this case the authors are not even close to trustworthy it might as well have been written by the hamburgler.

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#99

Post by saulrh »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #2

Will they also untrain the machine learning model that they've fed all of this data into to predict exactly what kind of ads are most likely to get you to spend money? How about slurping up data for users who don't have an account but send a ping to google on every goddamn page on the internet?

From someone else's post up-thread: "In general models trained on individual users' data get rebuilt when the underlying data changes so as to properly reflect the current state of the source data." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19809346

Re: Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History

#100

Post by qvrjuec »

russdpale wrote: post #89
aiiane wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First let me say that I can't speak to whether anything "significantly impacts Google's revenue" - either I don't have any material information in that regard, or if I did the SEC probably wouldn't want me making statements about it. :) So with that caveat in mind, let me see what I can help answer. I'm not entirely sure what nuance you're implying when you say "different deletion policies" - while for instance Cloud…

Uh, I guess all of this is wonderful and I appreciate the write up, but anecdotal evidence on an internet forum is not very reassuring to many of us. Until Google commits to some real actual transparency, there is no reason to believe they are actually deleting any data from their own servers, and that the options presented to end users is nothing more than a placebo switch. No offense to you, but I remember when Ama…

What data are the Amazon devices sending other than recordings of commands which need to be interpreted?
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