Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

theregister.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 320 posts

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#101

Post by [deleted] »

asutekku wrote: post #88
mattlondon wrote: post #86

I wonder what people want out of these kind of lawsuits. If you can clearly identify exactly how much data is consumed, and you have a service plan that tells you exactly how much that data cost to use then the damages are precisely computable. So a judge can turn around and just award these people $4.72 in damages or whatever and case closed? What is the angle here, or is it just another "google-is-evil-but-i-still-…

It's that the device should not use user's data at all when it's not in use, considering google does not pay for it.

[deleted]

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#102

Post by jsjohnst »

mschuster91 wrote: post #85
swiley wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't really matter who's involved, the security model in android is extremely user hostile. Many organizations are given super user access on device and the end user isn't. Only one of these needs to be poorly behaved (not even selling ads) for the device to be full of unremovable malware. There's definitely a social problem here, but I think for once people HN are underestimating the importance of a technical…

> Many organizations are given super user access on device and the end user isn't. That depends. Assuming an uncorrupted chain of delivery between you and the manufacturer, if you're running a vanilla AOSP, the only organization having root access is Google and you. Even with Samsung and other manufacturers, they are the only additional party whose packages have admin rights. The situation is more nasty with devices…

> The situation is more nasty with devices bought/leased from a carrier because these insist on preloading all kinds of crapware

Apple has their own issues, but at least the above carrier crapware issue isn’t one of them on iOS and never has been.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#103

Post by dogma1138 »

deeter72 wrote: post #98
luord wrote: post #93

Between this and Jeffrey Paul's article shared yesterday about Big Sur and Apple Silicon[1], it's becoming increasingly tempting to throw my phone away and keep using only Linux with no applications primarily developed by these giants (i.e. no Chromium, etc). Supporting initiatives like the Librem phone is also moving up in my list of priorities, once I get enough money to spare at least. [1]: https://news.ycombinato…

I personally feel like, Apple is the best choice for the time being until actual daily usable Linux high end phones are a reality. Apple although has highly monopolistic practices are privacy oriented and are interested on just selling the physical device.

Linux high end phones will never be a reality, at least not what people here would consider Linux at best you’ll get is Android or Android like OS.

Other than that you’ll get low volume low end devices at high end or higher prices due to lack of economy of scale.

What most consumers actually want and I’ll put in that list also many many people that say they want a “Linux Phone” but in reality will go back to their iPhone/Android after a week is quite different than what a tiny niche is willing and capable of dealing with.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#104

Post by jsjohnst »

peteradio wrote: post #70
dalbasal wrote: post #39

These bits of litigation are interesting, but my usual takeaway is a mild contempt for the whole thing. Whether it's something minor like this or a major antitrust cases (eg, the recent adwords EU case), what is and isn't legally actionable seems arbitrary from a non-legal perspective. Even legislation efforts like european "cookie laws" and such seem bumbling and naive. What's the legal fix to this, assuming google…

It should be illegal to allow a consumer to click "terms and conditions" have been read in a super-human period of time.

Even if you actually forced a customer to read the T&C’s somehow (rather than just annoying them with a forced delay), do you think the average consumer would understand what it means and what trade offs they are making?

The “solution” isn’t forced legaleze on customers, it’s more “do what’s in the customer’s best interest” not “do whatever you can legally get away with to make the most money off them”.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#105

Post by lenkite »

yakireev wrote: post #78
lenkite wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK Windows telemetry can be easily disabled.

What? It's the opposite of this, in Windows 10 telemetry can not be disabled at all. All you get is a choice between "Basic" / "Enhanced" / "Full (recommended)" modes.

Those are the dumbed down options for plain users.

Power users just disable the Telemetry service.

Start > Run > services.msc. Right-click on "Collected User Experiences and Telemetry". Stop the service and change startup-type to Disabled.

Or you can use windows group policy editor. (which every IT department uses)

Start > Run > gpedit.msc Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Data collection and Preview Builds

Allow Telemetry > Disabled.

Now, please do educate me on how to disable telemetry on MacOS Big Sur without third party software.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#106

Post by jsjohnst »

daniellarusso wrote: post #61
teekert wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for wireguard. I leave it on always. Only thing I have trouble with is Sonos, which does not even connect to the system even in my own network.

I believe the issue with Sonos and the VPN is making mDNS or multicast available across subnets. I struggled with a similar issue with Spotify to play to networked devices from my device. This may point you in the right direction... https://en.community.sonos.com/advanced-setups-229000/yet-an...

If it’s actually a mDNS/multicast issue, you can run an mDNS proxy or similar to bridge the networks. I don’t have a Sonos setup to test with, but it works for other mDNS services.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#107

Post by dsr_ »

crazygringo wrote: post #82
dsr_ wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a reasonable person has never wondered if their OS is doing something in the background, is shocked when I tell them about it, and then shrugs and goes back to using it because the alternative is to learn something new.

Why would they be shocked? How else would their phone know there are apps to be updated, notifications received, etc.? (On a computer, anti-virus updates too.) How would it know the temperature or stocks as soon as it's brought up, even when there's no cell service? It's pretty common sense. And on iOS and Mac you prominently choose to enroll in analytics when you set up your phone, so the idea of analytics isn't a s…

Rule of thumb: everybody who has an HN account is an outlier compared to the general population.

General people -- even those who are highly educated and use computers all the time -- do not think about their tools. They click on defaults without thinking about them. And Apple and Google and Microsoft know this and take advantage of it.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#108

Post by BlueTemplar »

chrisseaton wrote: post #54
BlueTemplar wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't smartphones starting to penetrate third world countries?

Yes. Is that relevant? Their data is often cheaper than ours!

Which 'ours' ?

Cheaper compared to the income & cost of life ? With the median world income being $30/month, I doubt so !

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#109

Post by driverdan »

lenkite wrote: post #105
yakireev wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? It's the opposite of this, in Windows 10 telemetry can not be disabled at all. All you get is a choice between "Basic" / "Enhanced" / "Full (recommended)" modes.

Those are the dumbed down options for plain users. Power users just disable the Telemetry service. Start > Run > services.msc. Right-click on "Collected User Experiences and Telemetry". Stop the service and change startup-type to Disabled. Or you can use windows group policy editor. (which every IT department uses) Start > Run > gpedit.msc Computer Configuration> Administrative Templates> Windows Components> Data col…

And then next time Windows is updated it re-enables all of that garbage.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#110

Post by narogab »

luord wrote: post #93

Between this and Jeffrey Paul's article shared yesterday about Big Sur and Apple Silicon[1], it's becoming increasingly tempting to throw my phone away and keep using only Linux with no applications primarily developed by these giants (i.e. no Chromium, etc). Supporting initiatives like the Librem phone is also moving up in my list of priorities, once I get enough money to spare at least. [1]: https://news.ycombinato…

luord says >"...and keep using only Linux ..."

Tempting but, since the last update, Ubuntu's disk indicator flashes every second, reminding me of the doomsday countdown in "Independence Day" and of HAL reading lips in "2001".

Post reply on HN