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PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

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Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#71

Post by maccard »

Nextgrid wrote: post #51
distances wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I clear my YouTube search and watch history about once a week. Partly because of privacy, but also because a single binge of, say, metal casting videos does not mean I want them recommend ever again in the future.

They use browser fingerprinting and/or IP addresses as well. Even on a brand new browser session, doing something even slightly related to the previous session brings back its entire recommendation history.

> doing something even slightly related to the previous session brings back its entire recommendation history.

Are you sure that it does, and that it's not just a case of "hey we've never seen this person before, but they watched X, let's immediately start with recommendations Y and Z because other people who watched X were engaged with it?"

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#72

Post by user17843 »

This is overkill.

A way simpler solution is to simply not have a registered account with those companies. That's where the problems start, when they tie certain browsing and telemetry data to your true identity.

For everything else a good content blocker + the typical pihole list that include telemetry domains are enough protection.

I am registered with Apple and Amazon, and there's no way for me to change that because there is simply no one else that delivers this kind of value.

Long-term I could see the possibility of leaving Amazon, but there is a security-advantage when using amazon because otherwise I would leave all my personal data to countless small vendors who regularly get hacked, etc.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#73

Post by zymhan »

user17843 wrote: post #72

This is overkill. A way simpler solution is to simply not have a registered account with those companies. That's where the problems start, when they tie certain browsing and telemetry data to your true identity. For everything else a good content blocker + the typical pihole list that include telemetry domains are enough protection. I am registered with Apple and Amazon, and there's no way for me to change that becau…

It's folly to think an account is the only way for advertisers and retailers to identify and track you.

Signing up for an account is just more explicitly forking over and sharing data. But you're being tracked by every possible method, and it is possible to piece together the remaining information.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#74

Post by bacr »

distances wrote: post #44
whatshisface wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personalization makes it incredibly hard to "watch the watchers," because everyone is getting a slightly different view of what Google is doing. I would like to see a program where users submitted data about their recommendations to researchers so that we could uncover Google's opinions. It would have a lot of financial value to YouTubers and would make it harder for Google to abuse their role as censor. I could imag…

I clear my YouTube search and watch history about once a week. Partly because of privacy, but also because a single binge of, say, metal casting videos does not mean I want them recommend ever again in the future.

One thing this opens you up to is the average recommendation, which is biased towards inflammatory or click-bait content.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#75

Post by csydas »

user17843 wrote: post #72

This is overkill. A way simpler solution is to simply not have a registered account with those companies. That's where the problems start, when they tie certain browsing and telemetry data to your true identity. For everything else a good content blocker + the typical pihole list that include telemetry domains are enough protection. I am registered with Apple and Amazon, and there's no way for me to change that becau…

This is actually not feasible as a solution because of shadow profiles. Google et. al. track you even when you are not logged in. Simply landing on a page is enough to capture your use habit and infer browsing/purchasing patterns from it. Look at Google Purchases revealed to many just a bit a go. It was retroactive for sure just scanning our inboxes which Google does have access to, but it can use known information to find seemingly anonymous data from referred info in the Anon chain.

It's not really a choice to say "just don't use it", because even appearing on a site with Google tie ins feeds mineable information.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#77

Post by mrich »

madads wrote: post #76

I would like to simply block irrelevant YouTube ads while my toddler indulges in ‘Land before time’ episodes. Is that possible? Last time I checked they use some randomised domains to load ads...

Would that be worth €11.99/month to you? (YouTube Premium)

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#78

Post by Anarch157a »

madads wrote: post #76

I would like to simply block irrelevant YouTube ads while my toddler indulges in ‘Land before time’ episodes. Is that possible? Last time I checked they use some randomised domains to load ads...

Firefox with uBlock Origin takes care of that. I haven't seen an Youtube ad in years.

Yes, they use randomised hostnames, but there are other parts of the URL that are not.

If you don't want to use a browser extension for pattern matching the whole URL, you're gonna need a transparent proxy in your networks gateway.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#79

Post by user17843 »

csydas wrote: post #75
user17843 wrote: post #72

This is overkill. A way simpler solution is to simply not have a registered account with those companies. That's where the problems start, when they tie certain browsing and telemetry data to your true identity. For everything else a good content blocker + the typical pihole list that include telemetry domains are enough protection. I am registered with Apple and Amazon, and there's no way for me to change that becau…

This is actually not feasible as a solution because of shadow profiles. Google et. al. track you even when you are not logged in. Simply landing on a page is enough to capture your use habit and infer browsing/purchasing patterns from it. Look at Google Purchases revealed to many just a bit a go. It was retroactive for sure just scanning our inboxes which Google does have access to, but it can use known information t…

You contradict yourself. Google Purchase history requires a google account, they can't connect it to you if you are not logged in.

The reason google pushes the log-in in their browser is exactly because they want to be able to tie this all to your account.

Re: PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services

#80

Post by user17843 »

zymhan wrote: post #73
user17843 wrote: post #72

This is overkill. A way simpler solution is to simply not have a registered account with those companies. That's where the problems start, when they tie certain browsing and telemetry data to your true identity. For everything else a good content blocker + the typical pihole list that include telemetry domains are enough protection. I am registered with Apple and Amazon, and there's no way for me to change that becau…

It's folly to think an account is the only way for advertisers and retailers to identify and track you. Signing up for an account is just more explicitly forking over and sharing data. But you're being tracked by every possible method, and it is possible to piece together the remaining information.

Where is your evidence?

Did you even read my comment? The typical pihole lists already include tracking domains.

What you imply is that if I visit youtube.com with tracking disabled, they still create a profile of me. Then tell me, what unique identifier do they use?

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