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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

#191

Post by jefftk »

lmkg wrote: post #157
yourad_io wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an example of this?

When Google Ads is linked to Google Analytics, the links append the 'gclid' query parameter to the URL they point to. This value is how a downstream conversion, collected by Analytics, is associated with the upstream ad click from Google Ads. The 'gclid' parameter is unique to the ad impression, i.e. it's a join key to both the term that was searched, and the user who searched for it.

gclid is appended to ad clicks, but not organic search: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9744275

(Disclosure: I work at Google, speaking only for myself)

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

#192

Post by karinakarina »

obviouslynotme wrote: post #153
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter who is surprised?

Because it won't change. Everyone here knows what Google is and I will bet you that over 90% of HN unique users come from a Chrome browser. It will only get worse. Google always steps on everyone when it dominates a market. Gmail marked your private email server as spam by mistake? Good luck even finding someone to care. Chrome is at this very moment disabling the HTTP2 standard push feature, essentially asserting Ch…

I disagree. Change is possible, though it may be a while before we see it across all mainstream products. But, the EU and California are making progressing in pushing Big Tech to making changes to their data collection policies, consumers are opting for privacy friendly products (DDG saw the dramatic increase in search of 62% in 2020), and companies are making structural changes in some of their products.

And yes, privacy law is needed to bring privacy back. But, it's also people and privacy friendly products. We have some power. Don't dismiss everyone because one company is too big.

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

#193

Post by Seirdy »

jasonvorhe wrote: post #161

A company that purchases data from another search engine (that most likely also uses aggregated personal data to deliver results) with just two products (search + browser) compares its app data usage to a behemoth that strives for the most personalized experience possible in exchange for personal data in order to display personalized ads. Google's apps offer opt-in voice search (solving Audio), optional end to end en…

> I really wish DDG would innovate on search, improve their own crawlers & indexing and then attack Google head on by comparing better results with the ad-ridden, SEO-flooded shit show that Google results have become.

DuckDuckGo's organic results are proxied from Bing (or sometimes Yandex). Their crawler (DuckDuckBot) just fetches favicons and scrapes data for a few Instant Answers.

Most of DuckDuckGo's non-privacy-related selling points are their instant answers, which in my experience are really good.

Alternative indexing engines to the "Big Three" English indexers (Google, Bing, Yandex) with decent privacy include Mojeek, Right Dao, Gigablast, Gowiki, wbsrch, and others. I've counted 16 English alternatives in all.

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

#194

Post by karinakarina »

izgzhen wrote: post #173

DDG will still have a hard time competing with Google in both search quality and revenue even if only keyword-based ads is allowed and used in future. Privacy is a nice feature to have, but not sufficient.

Okay maybe it won't overtake the tech giant but what about just providing a private choice? And what about Startpage? 1. Startpage provides Google results while protecting privacy. 2. So far, contextual marketing has been profitable for both Startpage and DDG. It's not Google level revenue, but interest in private search is growing significantly.

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

#195

Post by Isthatablackgsd »

karinakarina wrote: post #186
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…

For search: Use Startpage - gives you Google results with privacy. For email: Most people have multiple emails - work, school, personal, from the early 2000s. It's not out of this world to switch to an encrypted email service. Android: Never used it because I like iPhone. And, iPhone is a pretty great alternative to Android - definitely more private. But isn't there GrapheneOS and LineageOS?

> For search: Use Startpage - gives you Google results with privacy.

FYI, Ads company brought up Startpage. Despite their public statement with privacy for Startpage, I don't trust them since they can 180 it without any repercussion.

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

#196

Post by karinakarina »

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #140
fsflover wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare their privacy policies. Otherwise you are right and it's better to use https://yacy.net and SearX.

1) I use VPN anyway, so Bing doesn't know who I am. 2) Bing belongs to Microsoft whose primary business is to sell software, not ads, so they are less dependent on collecting user information. 3) If I wanted a search aggregator, I would use a non-US company, for example, Qwant.

1) VPNs only hide your IP address. They don't make you anonymous. Search engines and websites can still track you.

2) If it's non-private, it still collects personal data.

3) Or Startpage - HQed in the Netherlands, hides IP address, Anonymous View feature lets you visit results in private, and Google results.

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

#197

Post by CivBase »

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…

I switched to DDG and ProtonMail with very little effort, even after using multiple GMail accounts for well over a decade. I occasionally retry searches on Google if the DDG results aren't good enough, but Google rarely finds anything DDG can't.

Android has proven much more difficult to drop, although I'm hopeful that Librem and PinePhone are paving the way for an eventual alternative. I'm still using Android for now, but I at least try to source my apps from F-Droid instead of the Google Play Store.

Maps and YouTube have been a little difficult. I'm trying to use OsmAnd on my phone, but I still find myself going to Google Maps somewhat frequently. I've replaced the YouTube app on my phone with NewPipe and I try to watch content on alternative platforms when possible, but there's a lot of stuff posted exclusively on YouTube.

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

#198

Post by karinakarina »

Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #195
karinakarina wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For search: Use Startpage - gives you Google results with privacy. For email: Most people have multiple emails - work, school, personal, from the early 2000s. It's not out of this world to switch to an encrypted email service. Android: Never used it because I like iPhone. And, iPhone is a pretty great alternative to Android - definitely more private. But isn't there GrapheneOS and LineageOS?

> For search: Use Startpage - gives you Google results with privacy. FYI, Ads company brought up Startpage. Despite their public statement with privacy for Startpage, I don't trust them since they can 180 it without any repercussion.

(Startpage employee) Privacy policy hasn't changed and that's legally binding.

"Marketing messages can claim almost anything, but a privacy policy has legal status." - Robert E.G. Beens, Startpage CEO and Co-founder

If you have questions, let me know.

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

#200

Post by donaldo »

abandonliberty wrote: post #189
leokennis wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> any price over $0 is a dealbreaker. The user pays for Google in the end, just not consensually. It's a closed loop. All the money ultimately comes from the users. Product or politics, all advertisers are expecting to get some return. Unfortunately it's in human nature to not want to pay. Search needs to be a utility that we all fund to make it the best tool for society.

Are we talking about the same Google? I don’t remember them taking money without my consent.
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