Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maps and Earth were not in-house built but purchased.
WAIT WHAT? [real time search ongoing] Goodness how have I not known this?!
Yep, I had Earthviewer 3D installed on my PC before Google Earth was a thing.
Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
161–170 of 452 posts
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think "tracking" is a bit misleading here. It's product (search) usage activity. None of the Workspace data you provide is ever used outside of Workspace, nor is it used for any other purpose than for the benefit of you and your users (we can't create machine learning models from your data to improve the experience for other customers, for example, without your prior consent), and that data is never used for ads.
But how can we trust what you say? Google is not necessarily a very trustworthy company anymore. Case in point, the subject at hand: people who said they did not want to be tracked, now have to find a setting and say it again. That does not inspire confidence in the company, and as a proxy, it doesn't give me much hope that I can trust what you say.
Well if you don't trust them then probably don't use them, since they could save your activity no matter the state of the tracking toggle in the UI.
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#163What is going on inside Google? Far worse search results recently, verbal ads during Maps navigation directions, and stuff like this. Do they see some writing on the wall (eu pressure?) and they’re squeezing as much as they can while it’s an option?
> verbal ads during Maps navigation directions
Say what? I've neither experienced nor heard others mention this, is this recent?
Coincidentally, as a result of an HN post earlier in the day (wifi required for GPS) I installed Osmand+ to try out for navigation.
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#164[deleted]
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the spiral of businesses based on personal data. They are pressured to meet quarterly earnings targets. As more people flee with their data, they must squeeze more out of what they have and can get. They are trying to diversify into business services and hardware, but those are struggling even though often heavily discounted. Their tarnished reputation is making it harder for customers in those markets to tru…
"quarterly earnings targets" It's worse than that: It's YoY revenue growth targets that really matter to the stock price, hence the never-ending push to put more ads into places you never expected to see them. FWIW I've pretty-much given up on YouTube due to the aggressive ad insertions.
NewPipe / Invidious or Youtube Vanced. So good, except when you accidentally experience raw YT again.
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#166the more devices services and programs i use, the more time i seem to spend, justifiably, monitoring, fiddling, and concealing. it's like living with people who try to watch you on the bathroom.
its disgusting and vile and exhausting and creepy. nothing about this even remotely approaches 'okay', and we need to stop. I've heard more than a few kids under 25 or so who don't remember when technology was just fun say things like 'uncle ted was right', and given their experience, i can't really fault them.
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Will this be different for European users because of GDPR (default on that is, the splitting sounds like it would be a GDPR win), if not what are the arguments for it being GDPR compliant? What happens to data of searches of users that were in a Workspace and no longer are, by being fired or by no longer paying for the service themselves? What happens if they move to a new organization?
Presumably just like all your corporate Slack or Teams chat history, or your emails, the things you did on company time remain the property of the company you're employed by.
presumably, but I was consulting recently at a company that had a Workspace and I felt that
1. Google seems to want to put me into that workspace whenever I go to chrome and login despite not being at the company anymore.
2. I saw some search results in normal gmail / google search and vice versa that made me suspect there could be data shared between the workspace searches and my non workspace searches. Which would make some sense because I, like many people, don't zealously make sure work searches are never done when logged in to my private account. Example of search results improved - searched privately chose stackoverflow down page, searched workspace some days later, stackoverflow answer first result (not scientific, maybe I improved my search second time to get the stackoverflow result I was looking for) I noticed it and thought, huh, probably they merge this stuff.
So what I mean is does this happen:
Search private - switch workplace account - private searches enrich relevance of results in workplace account search - search workplace - switch to private - workplace searches enrich relevance of results in private account - quit job, start new job without company account all searches in private, quit job - start job with company account - private search history enrich relevance of results in workplace account search.
So sure, presumably not, but I'm not sure that we should presume without also confirming.
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your comments and the email both are written like nobody really wants tracking off, at least not if they know what’s good for them. Is that what you believe?
I think "tracking" is a bit misleading here. It's product (search) usage activity. None of the Workspace data you provide is ever used outside of Workspace, nor is it used for any other purpose than for the benefit of you and your users (we can't create machine learning models from your data to improve the experience for other customers, for example, without your prior consent), and that data is never used for ads.
You challenged the tone of the question, but you didn't attempt to answer it. Do you believe that nobody in their right mind would want this functionality turned off?
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sadly I see similar behaviour from Apple on iOS. When they change the terms of iCloud use the options are agree or the passive aggressive “Maybe be latter”. That really means we’ll keep asking you until you agree. Any company using the phrase “maybe latter” instead of “no” is not one you can trust.
To be honest, ToS is a bit different thing. You have no right to use services without accepting it at some point.
Surely, we should be able to reject and turn off the service though if the terms change? i.e. "I don't and agree and don't want this."
Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off
#170Hello hello, PM for the feature checking in here. amf12's reply is quite on-point. Web and App Activity is designed to store search activity across all Google services, and we're splitting Workspace data out since it's governed by strict data handling guarantees, with the hope that more people will feel comfortable getting the benefits of better search in Workspace without having to opt-into search history being trac…
Why would you not default to off and let users make a conscious decision, especially if they had turned it off previously? Because this sounds like making excuses to be honest and the usefulness is irrelevant if I do not like to share data.