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Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

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Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#171

Post by leokennis »

Crazyontap wrote: post #131

I guess the majority of people on HN already know this more or less. The problem is still this: We still don't have good alternatives to Google's products and services. 1) Android: Google still owns all our phones. Even on rooted phones it hard to remove google services that god know send so many requests containing whatnot to the eeee addresses. Just install no-root firewall and you will be amazed the amount of pend…

There is one good argument for Google, and that is it’s free as in beer. For most people, any price over $0 is a dealbreaker.

However, assuming you’re willing to pay for privacy, switching e-mail is super easy. For example, from the Fastmail UI, you literally log in to your Google account and all your mail is transferred to Fastmail.

Switching to DDG? It’s 95% as good.

Switching to Apple Maps or OSM? It’s 95% as good.

Google Drive? There are 100 competitors.

There is one site you cannot do without, and that is YouTube. Everything else from Google can easily be ditched, the only two things in your way could be a reluctance to pay money and a slight feeling of unease at having to get used to something else.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#172

Post by d1zzy »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #72
ricardbejarano wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough. But beware, Chrome's lead on render speed is most likely thanks to the performance data they collect. Any other browser you may choose might not collect that data, but don't be surprised if it halves your battery life and takes twice the time to render stuff (such as Firefox in macOS about 6 months ago, don't know how it performs now). There are reasons for data collection, and I don't think everything i…

I happily trade 'slower' performance for more privacy.

And you make that trade by using another browser (or Internet search service, email service, etc).

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#174

Post by d1zzy »

freedom42 wrote: post #127
ricardbejarano wrote: post #11

Controversial opinion: Half the data Chrome collects is harmless, and the other half is up to the user to give up: - Location data: you are asked and must approve for Chrome to use (at least on macOS) - Financial data: you must enter it manually and click "save for future use". Could it be better? Sure! But I think DDG is exaggerating here. We're not _that_ bad.

Recently, Google shared data about Google Docs which led to an unnecessary arrest. "Police confirms that Disha was arrested after Google shared details." https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/disha-ravi-a...

Was the shared data as a result of a lawful request? Any company would have to comply in that case.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#175

Post by Leban »

shadowgovt wrote: post #99
danShumway wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is kind of deceptive. Approving location data to be saved or used during a web search is not the same thing as approving location data to be used for advertising and product personalization. Same with contact information, same with browser history, same with search history and unique IDs. Also, none of that data is harmless. > I think DDG is exaggerating here Google shouldn't be basing advertising off of individ…

It turns out, solving the problem of being an assistant device approaches the "AI complete" boundary, and the set of data interconnections needed approaches "arbitrary." Hence, the interpretation that the data should be usable as Google sees fit.

You left out the /s

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#176

Post by asjkaehauisa »

All is about threat model. I really would love to switch to firefox but afaik it's less secure. So who would hurt me more, so random dude or corporation? My choice is simple.

It's the same with all messengers. I use facebook messenger (because everybody around me use it) and i know that they collect a lot of data (and have acess to my chats). For me, still threat isn't facebook but my acquaintances who use weak password, so they're easy target (and my messages would be compromised).

We have to change our mind about computers. Everything can be exploited and used against us.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#177

Post by [deleted] »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #43
encryptluks2 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you use Linux, and Chromium is also in the Chocolatey repo and Homebrew.

People who use Linux to browse the web, or install browsers with Chocolately or Homebrew, are all an extreme minority of browser users. Also, this post is about iOS...

[deleted]

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#178

Post by SimeVidas »

asjkaehauisa wrote: post #176

All is about threat model. I really would love to switch to firefox but afaik it's less secure. So who would hurt me more, so random dude or corporation? My choice is simple. It's the same with all messengers. I use facebook messenger (because everybody around me use it) and i know that they collect a lot of data (and have acess to my chats). For me, still threat isn't facebook but my acquaintances who use weak passw…

> I really would love to switch to firefox but afaik it's less secure.

Afaik it’s more secure. Personally, I’ve enabled DNS-over-HTTPS and HTTPS-only mode, which are both available as standard options in Firefox. There are more security options on the about:config page.

Of course, there’s also Enhanced Tracking Protection, which is enabled by default. It’s more of a privacy feature, but it has a positive effect on security as well..

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#179

Post by Zelphyr »

ricardbejarano wrote: post #11

Controversial opinion: Half the data Chrome collects is harmless, and the other half is up to the user to give up: - Location data: you are asked and must approve for Chrome to use (at least on macOS) - Financial data: you must enter it manually and click "save for future use". Could it be better? Sure! But I think DDG is exaggerating here. We're not _that_ bad.

Data collection like that is harmless until it isn't, and then there's no turning back. So, no, it's not harmless.

I'm assuming by your use of the word "we're" that you work for Google?

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#180

Post by varispeed »

Are they not violating GDPR because of that? Surely they don't need to know most of that data to process search queries? Or it is a classic example of trying to bypass regulation by creating the fake need for this data in their T&C. Another question is that why regulators don't look into that? If I search for "Pythagorean formula", do they need my address for that? I think the business model like Google should be outlawed (and I believe it already is illegal in the EU) and it should not be possible to pay for a service with your personal data. Yes, I get the argument that if services become paid, then a lot of people won't be able to afford the subscriptions, but we could have a law that email operators should provide basic email service for free, just like banks have to provide basic bank accounts free of charge.
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