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Google – My Activity

myactivity.google.com

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Re: Google – My Activity

#61

Post by flattone »

docker_up wrote: post #55

The only real solution is to fill your history and your Gmail purchases with fake emails and fake clicks and fake purchases. If you add so much random data then there's no way Google can pick up anything useful. I think the other tactic to defeat Google is to click on EVERY SINGLE AD you see. It will destroy their ad tracking capabilities and it will also destroy their business since they won't be able to tell what i…

Isn't there a 'not google' solution? Real question.

Also I'm thinking/wanting the same for my phone. (hardware and service). Is there a method for public owned cell phone service (not expecting it to exist, but as a feasibility question - regardless of current obstacles)?

Re: Google – My Activity

#62

Post by flattone »

docker_up wrote: post #55

The only real solution is to fill your history and your Gmail purchases with fake emails and fake clicks and fake purchases. If you add so much random data then there's no way Google can pick up anything useful. I think the other tactic to defeat Google is to click on EVERY SINGLE AD you see. It will destroy their ad tracking capabilities and it will also destroy their business since they won't be able to tell what i…

Also I'm not sure re how effective is filling up gmail with fake emails and fake clicks. Is it?

Re: Google – My Activity

#64

Post by GRiMe2D »

fghtr wrote: post #38
britch wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love Maps and Gmail alternatives if anyone has them.

> Gmail alternatives https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20005980 > Maps https://openstreetmap.org

Note that OpenStreetMaps isn't about maps. It's about Open Data for Maps. So technically you can use like maps but consider using apps or maps that use OSM.

Great example is MapsMe for Android and iOS. Works offline. However, there are ads in app and probably from Google

Re: Google – My Activity

#65

Post by snowwindwaves »

truebosko wrote: post #44
booleandilemma wrote: post #25

Just gonna leave this here: https://duckduckgo.com/

What's notable is that when I search though DDG, Google still is able to see and track my search item there. I did not even think about that, but a bit eye opening. (I am using Chrome, afterall)

Do you mean When you search using google through ddg via !g bang operator, not when you search just using DDG (which uses bing apparently)?

Re: Google – My Activity

#66

Post by la_barba »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #39
jeromegv wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should be allowed to keep our past emails without having them build a purchase object of everything we have ever bought.

Why does it matter, though? They claim the list is there purely for your own personal consumption. If that's true, and you don't care to use it, it costs you nothing that it exists. If that's false, then it doesn't matter whether you can delete it or not, because if they're willing to lie about its uses, they would also be willing to lie about whether they deleted it.

> They claim the list is there purely for your own personal consumption

The problem is that they are constantly thinking along these lines, and building products to enable this. Also, they are an advertising company, so this is something that is of value to them. Fox guarding the hen-house stuff.

In my mind, its kind of like hiring an IP lawyer at a company. Even if your company is not litigious, there is a chance that at some point the lawyer initiates legal action to "prove their worth" or even advance their career inside the company. Same thing with this, why is Google paying developers to build this product if they're never going to use it? What is the business justification? Its certainly not for PR or marketing reasons.

Having an apparatus ready to go is very different than having no apparatus. This is part of the reason why weapon buildups are bad across the board even if people claim "nobody" is going to use them.

Re: Google – My Activity

#67

Post by Xunxi »

danShumway wrote: post #13

On this subject https://myaccount.google.com/purchases Turning off all of the controls under myactivity won't stop Google from scanning your emails to track any purchases you make. The only way to stop that is to switch off of Gmail.

This is quite troubling and enlightening to the point that I'll have to start redirecting my purchase receipts to a non gmail account.

Are there any other 'hidden' urls to expose what other data Google is siphoning off our private transactions or conversations for that matter?

I've had all controls under activity disable a long time and periodically check to make sure they stay that way.

This one crosses the line! To the point that the only way I can get rid of the older records is to delete the purchase receipts entirely.

This link needs a thread of its own

Re: Google – My Activity

#68

Post by malvosenior »

"Visited YouTube Music Served location-based recommendations Temperature: Warm Weather: Overcast"

Really? No wonder my recommendations suck so bad, why on earth would where I'm located impact what music I want to listen to?

Edit: extremely curious why this is being downvoted. Anyone care to comment?

Re: Google – My Activity

#69

Post by sajithdilshan »

glerk wrote: post #22
sajithdilshan wrote: post #3

Jesus fucking christ. This is scary. They can build a full profile of me with all this data.

Do you enjoy your free email account, free maps, free YouTube and free search?

My email (gmail) is bound with so many services (both online and offline) and it is part of my online identity. It would be so much effort to change the email now.

I don't think there is an alternative to google maps which is in the same level as quality and richness in information. I would be totally lost without google maps when I'm traveling to other countries, especially when it comes to public transportation like tram, U-bahn and busses.

Re: Google – My Activity

#70

Post by rezistik »

amelius wrote: post #53
truebosko wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's notable is that when I search though DDG, Google still is able to see and track my search item there. I did not even think about that, but a bit eye opening. (I am using Chrome, afterall)

DDG should warn about that.

Why? Genuinely, if you're using Chrome shouldn't you expect that they can see your browser history?
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