221–230 of 348 posts
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TVs are so cheap now because of ad subsidies. That 42” panel wouldn’t cost $199 if it weren’t for ads.
Nonsense. The same surveillance capitalism runs on a multi-thousand dollar OLED panel.
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In some ways, it sounds like you didn't pay enough, if the cost is subsidised by data collection and advertising.
Regardless of how much you pay, what is their incentive as a large organization not to get more money out of you, if they know they can get away with it?
Earlier this week there was a post regarding Google and its utilization of private health information. A number of Googlers came forward to describe how very seriously Google takes user privacy and keeping inappropriate data from being shared across silos. I got the overall impression of Googlers taking the position of “you guys don’t know how seriously we take peoples privacy.” If any of those Googlers would please…
Earlier this week there was a post regarding Google and its utilization of private health information. A number of Googlers came forward to describe how very seriously Google takes user privacy and keeping inappropriate data from being shared across silos. I got the overall impression of Googlers taking the position of “you guys don’t know how seriously we take peoples privacy.” If any of those Googlers would please…
Health care data is the only thing with regulations in the US. Everything else is fair game. That is how Google rakes in the billions. They aren't going to leave money on the table to satisfy an ethical code.
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Which phone do you recommend going with it?
GrapheneOS supports Google Pixel 2 and later, but only Google Pixel 3 and later are currently supported by vendor security updates: https://grapheneos.org/releases All Google Pixel phones released to date receive vendor security updates for 3 years after the release date: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/4457705 A Pixel 4a ($349 new) would cover you until August 2023, and a Pixel 4a (5G) ($499 new) would…
There’s a huge privacy battle on the horizon in tech. The initial scuffles are just the beginning. Google and Facebook’s business models depend deeply on being able to track information that consumers are increasingly unhappy to share. Both companies attempts to diversify their dependency on such info for their revenue have been broadly unsuccessful (Google fiber or a Google car anyone?). Meanwhile the likes of Apple…
One thing I've been meaning to do for a while is try to use a 'hardcore' AOSP 'de-googled' Android rom, like ParanoidAndroid. I've no idea how much of a pain in the arse this will be. Heck, being rooted causes enough unexpected "why do you not work" moments for me. If anything, I feel Google has got more hostile to the privacy-conscious user over time. The trouble with privacy as a product is that it's _very_ hard to…
I used paranoid android in the past and it definitely isn't privacy focused. The name makes it sound it's privacy focused but that's about it.
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Location targeting isn’t effective. https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/pdf/10.1287/mksc.2019.118... Google are fighting tooth and nail to protect the illusion that their ads work.
Location data is very important for search. Try turning on a VPN from another country, opening an incognito window and doing a google search for 'pizza'. See how the results are nearly useless...? A bunch of delivery services that don't deliver in your country, who want payment in a currency you don't have, and all written in a language you don't speak. Location at the local level matters less, but even so it makes s…
Google had a brilliant advertising business with AdWords originally, where the ads were simply based on the search term and not a bunch of Orwellian surveillance on the person searching. From the research I've seen, all this privacy-invading crap doesn't even improve ad performance much - it's small incremental gains at best. And per this article, those gains are clearly coming at the expense of user trust and goodwi…
I'm reminded of the vitamin water lawsuit
"Coca-Cola criticized the suit as "ridiculous" on the grounds that "no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking Vitaminwater was a healthy beverage"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Brands#vitaminwater
The point being that normal people think "advertising" means showing a picture of a car or cereal, and google thinks advertising is identifying the individual.
I've had a string of Google phones going back to the Nexus 5x but, for the very reasons laid out in this article, my next phone will likely be from Apple. That will be my first Apple product.
I went through this and then realized that apple hardware is not meant for people who like to actually do things with their computers
I saw some people saying that this makes them want to switch towards iphones next. I'm not gonna lie, I considered it for a moment too, like a year ago... But apple is now engaging in its own share of dark patterns and is now collecting data too. There have been multiple articles on the matter shared here even. Thinking that apple is better than google for privacy (or, even if it is right now , that it will remain so…
Google says right up front, right in the open "hey, we're gonna look over your shoulder at EVERYTHING you do with your phone. Go ahead and switch off all those placebo buttons on the "privacy" tabs, but we'll still glean telemetry from you". Ok, they don't use those exact words, but they do state that's what they do. But even then, it's not enough for them so they dig more and more and more.
Apple gets their feet held to the flames all the time, especially now that they're leaning into the privacy. Will the convince anyone here? I doubt it. Everyone here are "experts" and they're not gonna let Apple fool them! No-sir-re!