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Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

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131–140 of 220 posts

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#131

Post by xwolfi »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #18

One of the most disappointing changes in Android recently is that any network-assisted geolocation plugins must now be installed as a system app, not a user app. That means that even if you use LineageOS where most Google stuff has been stripped out, getting a GPS fix through network assistance still sends data to Google servers. Only a tiny minority of users are comfortable working with the command line and will ins…

I have a Huawei without Google, and I can do geolocation, maybe you could try that too ? If you use google for search and huawei for map, they can't cross reference to each other since they're forbidden to talk to each others.

I actually feel so much better without all the google stuff, weird no?

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#132

Post by hoot »

absolutelyrad wrote: post #109
tabs_masterrace wrote: post #57

The number of government requests for user information is actually scary: https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview So Google handed over info on 175k accounts in the last half of 2019 alone? It seems it's becoming common practice to routinely pull citizens data, without much of a warrant and without the target's knowledge. There used to be a thing called secrecy of correspondence, preventing governmen…

> https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview WTF? This makes me extremely uncomfortable for some reason. There was some hope in mind that Snowden was exaggerating but this is just insane. It feels like liberty has failed. There's no other option but to give in and accept. I submit to the overlords, but I'm not happy about this.

Liberty is not free. If you value it, then you're going to have to fight for it. Submission now leads to your descendants living in an oppressive dystopia.

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#134

Post by pferde »

submeta wrote: post #25

I am about to delete Google Maps on my iPhone. Are all those issues valid on an iPhone as well or does Apple limit it‘s privacy evading features? Edit: Done. Deleted it. Now if only I had an alternative to Garmin Connect. Love my fitness watch (Garmin Fenix), but hate the way they collect data about me. And no alternative.

Have you tried https://github.com/SamR1/FitTrackee ?

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#135

Post by propogandist »

Kelamir wrote: post #122

Does removing Google-related apps(via ADB, for example) prevent one from being tracked by Google? For example, I've recently removed "Google Play Services" and much of Google stuff has disappeared. In settings of location, before I removed the app, it was mentioned that Google collects location data for something. Now it does not say so, with the app being gone. Does it mean Google no longer collects it, or is Google…

you have to get a custom ROM, like lineageOS. The OS itself (and most of the stock apps) are calling home to Google constantly, depending on the phone manufacturer, it's likely calling home to them all the time too.

You can use something like Netguard to get some idea of what's going off your device (if you're rooted AFWall). It's not perfect, but it's essential software in my opinion. You can see somethings that of that get through Netguard on PiHole, if you have it setup on your network.

Removal of play services is one step, but pretty much every app on the phone from the stock keyboard ("Gboard") to all pre-installed apps call home. In the newer versions of Android, Gboard and other apps will complain every few seconds if/when Play Services is Disabled, as they don't get to send the telemetry and usage data to Google.

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#136

Post by kortilla »

est31 wrote: post #44
sdfhbdf wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IPV4 geolocation is based on maintained databases (e.g. Ma Mind) that usually are city or street accurate. The popular rhetoric that having an IP is having the location is most often wrong unless Your users have static IPs registered to them. The way law enforcement does it is by subpoening the owner of the IP of pointing to the user associated with the IP at specific time but that still is prone to errors because of…

If other devices in your network send data to Google, the network is uniquely identifiable by Google, no matter what individual devices of guests etc. do.

CGNAT means sometimes an IP just identifies an entire ISP and nothing more.

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#137

Post by kortilla »

octoberfranklin wrote: post #85
inquirerofsorts wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Behind a CGNAT, which most mobiles devices are, makes that point fairly moot. When I look up "my ip" on the phone it's always in a capital city 6 hours away. Your mileage may vary of course.

There are only three mobile carriers in the US, which means at most three organizations controlling the CGNATs. I can assure you that they are selling the reverse port-to-user mapping to the highest bidders.

>I can assure you that they are selling the reverse port-to-user mapping to the highest bidders.

Based on what evidence?

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#139

Post by kortilla »

izacus wrote: post #127
prepend wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple Maps doesn’t sell that data to advertisers. And they collect much less than Google.

Last I checked Google didn't sell data to anyone either. I'm also interested in the claim that Apple Maps collects less data in this respect - they both report your current location for traffic analysis and have your day-to-day movement option available (the same that powers Find My Friends on iOS). Are you sure you're just not rationalizing Apples collection? It's kinda important to be realistic when it comes to pri…

> Last I checked Google didn't sell data to anyone either.

If they allow advertising based on constraints on that data, they are selling it, albeit indirectly.

Re: Google knows where we are, and so do advertisers

#140

Post by tremon »

feralimal wrote: post #96
randomsearch wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They were planned to make your private information into a commodity. Are you seriously suggesting then when Apple launched the iPhone it was a plan to spy on you?

Did you ever wonder about the discrepancy in tech that occurred at that time the first iPhone appeared? We were all using desktops or fairly clunky laptops. Then, out of nowhere, we have touchscreens, cameras, maps, etc AND the power of a desktop machine, in a device that's 1/20th the size! It was such a staggering leap! I think phones were technology that was so far ahead of what we were prepared for, we had no mean…

We were all using desktops or fairly clunky laptops. Then, out of nowhere, we have touchscreens, cameras, maps, etc AND the power of a desktop machine, in a device that's 1/20th the size!

This wasn't all of a sudden. In 1999, I already had a Palm PDA with touchscreen, pen and handwriting recognition. Digital cameras also existed, but were limited by storage size and power efficiency. Handheld color screens were a commodity since the Gameboy Color in 1998, and had existed since the Atari Lynx in 1989.

All of those technologies already existed before the iPhone came along. The limiting factor, before 2005, was silicon (transistor) density and power draw, which also saw gradual increases (Moore's Law), not a leap. After 2005 or so, the processors became powerful enough to support a generic OS and that allowed all those technologies to be combined in a single device.

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