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Google Fights Back

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Re: Google Fights Back

#41
post #33

I'm impressed with the direction Google is taking, and how they've pivoted in the face of public awareness of privacy concerns. I like the Google products and services that I use. There are some that I miss (Reader) and some that just confuse me (Bookmarks), but the core works for me. Based on commentary I've seen, I may be the only person on Hacker News to think so. Regardless, I'm hopeful for the future.

Google pivoted? When? And from what to what? Still a company that collects and sells consumer data and ads right?

Technically "we do not sell your data" ;)

"We just have your data, and sell promises to show you exquisitely targeted ads based on our exhaustive data about you."

Re: Google Fights Back

#42
post #33

I'm impressed with the direction Google is taking, and how they've pivoted in the face of public awareness of privacy concerns. I like the Google products and services that I use. There are some that I miss (Reader) and some that just confuse me (Bookmarks), but the core works for me. Based on commentary I've seen, I may be the only person on Hacker News to think so. Regardless, I'm hopeful for the future.

Google pivoted? When? And from what to what? Still a company that collects and sells consumer data and ads right?

Generally, Google does not sell personal data. They use personal data to sell ads.

Re: Google Fights Back

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It simply doesn't work in any real life situation. Yes, the problem of self driving cars is they can kill people, that's the whole problem, thing is that google is always promising that "they are here for all", "it's the next year", etc. it's all BS. You don't have a google self driving car, and you didn't book your hairdresser via duplex, and you won't be booking your car or anything through any of this. Those are t…

duplex is available though, have you even tried using it ? can you provide any basis for your "facts" Siri being subpar when compared to Google Assistant is well established.

> Siri

Is this about Siri?

Re: Google Fights Back

#44
post #32
post #21

>It all begins with our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, and today, our mission feels as relevant as ever. I said this 15 years ago and I will repeat it again. Google is like a man selling boats after a dam brake. They are profiting by managing the problem, not by fixing it. It is to their benefit if the problem actually gets worse. In other words, looking at…

Also > our mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible to Google

And to make the wrong information inaccessible.

Re: Google Fights Back

#45
post #22
post #7

Google owns my soul. Their boxes know when I sleep, when I wake, how much I exercise, what I listen to, my innermost thoughts, my chats with loved ones, what I watched on Netflix last night, what my company does, the flu I have at the moment, what the hypochondriac in me looks up in the middle of the night, what I buy, whom I call, what I spend money on, where I spend it... I nominally pay for these services, but I s…

> what happens when google is Google no more? Google already have many, many advertising partners to whom they gladly provide your location and other data. But they anonymize it, so you are safe ;)

How can I buy anonymized location data? Is there a landing page for that service?

Re: Google Fights Back

#46
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Where is their self driving car too? Waymo is not a car company. They don't have the capability to make an actual car even if the autonomy stuff worked well enough to be used nationwide. Which it does not and will not in the foreseeable future.

They promised that we all be driving in self driving cars in 2017. And they announced they partnered with FIAT Chrysler automotive. Google simply doesn't have it. Google sells this BS to journalists, and they sell it to Wall Street. That's only why Google is worth $817B.

Where did they promise it, again?

"Company is wrong about release date of cutting edge technology" isn't exactly a new story.

Re: Google Fights Back

#47

I'm impressed with the direction Google is taking, and how they've pivoted in the face of public awareness of privacy concerns. I like the Google products and services that I use. There are some that I miss (Reader) and some that just confuse me (Bookmarks), but the core works for me. Based on commentary I've seen, I may be the only person on Hacker News to think so. Regardless, I'm hopeful for the future.

how they've pivoted in the face of public awareness of privacy concerns. Can you provide some more information about this pivot? I haven't noticed it, and I thought I was paying attention.

Kinda the whole point of the linked article of this thread.

Re: Google Fights Back

#48
post #24
post #7

Google owns my soul. Their boxes know when I sleep, when I wake, how much I exercise, what I listen to, my innermost thoughts, my chats with loved ones, what I watched on Netflix last night, what my company does, the flu I have at the moment, what the hypochondriac in me looks up in the middle of the night, what I buy, whom I call, what I spend money on, where I spend it... I nominally pay for these services, but I s…

Your point is well taken, but 100 years will anyone care that you had the flu on May 7 2019? >Who the fuck owns MySpace now? It's all deleted. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/18/18271023/myspace-music-vi...

> but 100 years will anyone care that you had the flu on May 7 2019

My future health care provider might. Maybe they’ll spike rates by figuring out how often I’m ill using this data.

Maybe I will marry a congressman someday and the sext that I sent today to my BF will be used to blackmail us.

Maybe 30 years from now, people will be able to use my youthful indiscretions as leverage.

Maybe I won’t get certain jobs because of where I’ve been or whom I’ve accidentally been close to in the location data.

Maybe my sleeping habits will lead to higher life insurance rates.

Russia and private actors have already personally targeted millions of people using highly directed ads to move an election using publicly available data. Imagine what they could do with Google’s data. Target congressional aides? Target the POTUS’ mistress (or mister)?

In the hands of a Caesar or a Napoleon that data is the power to reshape the Earth, smite your enemies, eviscerate any obstacles and remake the holder into an invincible demi-god.

Re: Google Fights Back

#49

> The implicit message was clear: “Yes, we have all of your data, but the fact we have all of your data is a good thing, because it allows us to make your life easier.” This is why a) free/libre software and b) Moore's law are important. Trading privacy for convenience is a real trade you can make right now, and nobody benefits from pretending it isn't--the first step to fixing that problem is to admit it exists. But…

It's not really about it being cloud based. It's about having a central trusted party with access to private data which has public utility. As an example, Tesla collects lots of private data about their users' driving, in order to train their self-driving tech. Doing this in a free software solution (if you consider the training to be part of the software) would be less practical, as it would require training journeys to be publicly available.

The way out of this situation is to develop competitive solutions which are less private data dependent.

Re: Google Fights Back

#50
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your point is well taken, but 100 years will anyone care that you had the flu on May 7 2019? >Who the fuck owns MySpace now? It's all deleted. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/18/18271023/myspace-music-vi...

> but 100 years will anyone care that you had the flu on May 7 2019 My future health care provider might. Maybe they’ll spike rates by figuring out how often I’m ill using this data. Maybe I will marry a congressman someday and the sext that I sent today to my BF will be used to blackmail us. Maybe 30 years from now, people will be able to use my youthful indiscretions as leverage. Maybe I won’t get certain jobs beca…

> > but 100 years will anyone care that you had the flu on May 7 2019

> My future health care provider might. Maybe they’ll spike rates by figuring out how often I’m ill using this data.

You seem to be perhaps a little too optimistic about your life expectancy.

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