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Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#391

Post by joshuamorton »

zepto wrote: post #390
joshuamorton wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. We’re talking about people who have already switched it off. No, we're talking about accounts who already had it (as part of broader setting) disabled for them, in a context where the data in question can (contractually) only be used to provide the service anyhow. > 2. There is no need for any tracking to implement this. It can be done on the client. Pray tell me how you can do client side search history recomme…

> No, we're talking about accounts who already had it (as part of broader setting) disabled for them, in a context where the data in question can (contractually) only be used to provide the service anyhow. That doesn’t contradict that it was switched off intentionally. > Pray tell me how you can do client side search history recommendation for the first query I make after logging in. Logging in to what? Are you sayin…

The search history in this context is Gmail and drive in app search history. This has absolutely nothing to do with your browser.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#392

Post by zepto »

joshuamorton wrote: post #391
zepto wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, we're talking about accounts who already had it (as part of broader setting) disabled for them, in a context where the data in question can (contractually) only be used to provide the service anyhow. That doesn’t contradict that it was switched off intentionally. > Pray tell me how you can do client side search history recommendation for the first query I make after logging in. Logging in to what? Are you sayin…

The search history in this context is Gmail and drive in app search history. This has absolutely nothing to do with your browser.

Then it’s a trivial feature that you can simply ask people if they want to enable rather than opting them in when they opted out.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#393

Post by joshuamorton »

zepto wrote: post #392
joshuamorton wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The search history in this context is Gmail and drive in app search history. This has absolutely nothing to do with your browser.

Then it’s a trivial feature that you can simply ask people if they want to enable rather than opting them in when they opted out.

The users in question never opted out, their domain admins opted out of a different feature.

And the corollary equally applies: it's a trivial feature with no privacy impact, why require opt-in. I don't want to be spammed with opt-ins every time every app I use adds a trivial new feature. I'd be clicking a dozen boxes a day.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#394

Post by sharken »

cma wrote: post #339
eganist wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's be honest, the real reason for making this opt-out again is that you hope lots of people won't notice and you can start collecting their data. Please reconsider. I'm keen on seeing if there's any legal code or case law that addresses opting someone back in who's already opted out. And I'm hoping there's personal culpability for the change, too. Not just corporate fines. But this is probably just wishful think…

Verizon is now doing this. If you opt out, they add new categories of tracking and then opt you back in: > Custom Experience is a rebrand/spinoff of Verizon Selects, which customers were automatically enrolled into when they used the Verizon Up rewards program. Verizon Selects is being rebranded Custom Experience Plus (and anyone who was previously a member of Verizon Selects automatically gets moved to the new Plus…

If enough users feel bothered by this i hope Google reconsiders.

Don't ever change a users opt-out preference, instead give them information so they can decide on their own.

But Google knows very well what happens if they do this - almost nobody will opt-in.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#395

Post by Nbox9 »

joshuamorton wrote: post #387
Nbox9 wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I want Google to store my search history? I can look at my search history just fine with my local copy on my web browser. (Web browsers store previously visited websites)

The search history in this case isn't your browser search history, but in-app search history within gmail/drive. Your browser doesn't store that.

Which drive files I open is 100% in my web browser history.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#396

Post by Groxx »

snowwrestler wrote: post #346
pessimizer wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't have to let small customers buy them, or put them up for auction like their other ads. Just offer it to big companies directly, especially ones that might be visual landmarks like a McDonald's or a Dunkin Donuts.

Google does not do this; they don’t have secret offline ad sales. Even their largest customers have to go through a UI to place every ad. That’s why ads are so profitable for Google. The entire system is highly automated, which lowers costs.

It's kinda funny that you think there are no B2B sales or promotions involved in the world's largest advertising business, even in the face of increasingly-numerous evidence of them doing so multiple times for many years. I agree most cases don't, but zero is laughably, trivially false.

Big businesses absolutely have inside access to get things done that are not generally available. Heck, that's practically Google's entire support strategy - know someone who knows someone, otherwise deal with the automation which just repeats "no" in a loop. Sometimes it's just because it's not ready for wider onboarding (big customers get tapped for trialing big new features (like Uber/Lyft/etc's rideshare integration in maps), not all of which ever go further), sometimes very clearly not. E.g. current Facebook/Google legal battles, like https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/14/google-facebook-ceos-oversaw... , and that's far from the first. It's just the latest and greatest and stands a chance of actually going somewhere.

Sure, they may not be phoning up a friend and passing $$ directly to dodge using the UI's pricing. Instead they get automation built for them, so they don't have to do that. Because you're right, it doesn't scale.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#397

Post by joshuamorton »

Nbox9 wrote: post #395
joshuamorton wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The search history in this case isn't your browser search history, but in-app search history within gmail/drive. Your browser doesn't store that.

Which drive files I open is 100% in my web browser history.

But searches made in the drive UI are not. (and gmail history certainly is not, and actually drive files viewed in certain contexts aren't either)

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#398

Post by Darmody »

riverguardian wrote: post #70

Hello 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…

I don't want to be rude, but if you're going to treat us like idiots, keep your bs propaganda to yourself.

Sometimes I wonder if people like you really believe their own lies to sleep better at night.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#399

Post by Groxx »

maest wrote: post #243
jjulius wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus wept, that's asinine. Edit: Oughta start taking bets on how long until this makes its way into Waze, and then how long until Google prevents us from turning Waze's voice nav off.

> Oughta start taking bets on how long until this makes its way into Waze Waze is already serving very aggressive modal-type ads mid-navigation. I got a pop-up for a car repair shop 20 minutes out of my way, _mid-navigation_ with a big "add to route" option. Could not swipe it away, had to press a small 'x' button to close the ad. All this while driving and trying to figure out which way I should go the next intersec…

I immediately bounced off Waze because of all the advertising strewn throughout it, and the couple times I've re-checked over the past few years were all as bad. It's incredibly intrusive and disruptive, I have no idea why people use it nowadays.

Re: Google to turn on activity tracking for many users who turned it off

#400

Post by dredmorbius »

snowwrestler wrote: post #261
Groxx wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been in my app for a couple years - I hate it every time. Not only is it very clearly advertising, it's nearly always useless because the restaurant/whatever is barely or not at all visible on the approach to the turn. It's pretty clear they're going for paid landmarks, not useful ones (though I don't like landmark-directions either way).

Could someone please point me to the spot in Google’s ads product to purchase these ads-in-navigation-directions? If these are really ads, there will be a place to buy them. Google doesn’t run ads for free.

Imagine what the global political implications of a landscaping company located between a sex shop and cermatorium being able to place navigational ads might be!
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