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Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

propublica.org

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Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#81

Post by cato_the_elder »

rootusrootus wrote: post #78
cato_the_elder wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does do archiving, and it does it very well. It's fast, provides short URLs, blocks ads in the archived pages, tries to bypass paywalls and login walls, and resists censorship. That's why people use it. And it's funded by ads, so yes, it does have tracking scripts, just like a good chunk of the internet. If you are privacy-conscious (or just don't like ads), then you can use uBlock Origin to get rid of them.

So it blocks ads making the content producer money, then puts in some ads of its own along with trackers. This is good because?

> This is good because?

Two reasons. One is that ads probably aren't worth archiving, and removing the bloat makes the service run smoother (and it's easier to block the archive.today ads, than it is to block all those popups, random redirects, etc.).

The other is that "content producers" aren't necessarily good guys. Depriving all those clickbait manufacturers of clicks when you are hate-reading them is probably a good things.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#82

Post by actionfromafar »

ShivShankaran wrote: post #80
pessimizer wrote: post #8

Is this really a complaint that a single, well-established Russian ad company got the same information from Google that they would give to any US company with an email address? This is part of the cognitive dissonance that insists that Russia has the most effective intelligence services in the world, that can manipulate elections at will and subsume every US social movement to spread its propaganda, but is too stupid…

> that can manipulate elections at will and subsume every US social movement to spread its propaganda, but is too stupid and helpless to create a US front company The first chapter of "Propaganda" is that the enemy is cunning and wicked while also weak and helpless at the same time. It's also weird that Russia has been running out of ammunition for the last 5 years and is a weak enemy at the same time its able to fig…

It's not strange. I had deep respect and even some fear of the Russian Army for what it could potentially do to my country.

That fear is now largely gone for me. If they can't blitzkrieg the Ukraine, good luck coming here. It would be hell of course, but we could keep them at bay.

"The west" have supported the Ukraine, but only really with a trickle of arms compared to its resources in reserve. The combined air forces alone of the west would totally mop up the Russian forces at this stage of the war.

The santions have driven up the Ruble, true, but how much is really transacted with that Ruble? It's also problematic to have a strong currency. Russian soldiers are for some strange reason paid a war risk premium calculated in dollar equivalents, which means less rubles when exchanged at the current rate.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#83

Post by cato_the_elder »

apstls wrote: post #25
BrainVirus wrote: post #18

The sad thing about news like this is that most people only pay attention at all because they've been bombarded with anti-Russian propaganda, not because this showcases Google's awful anti-privacy practices. Despite years of warnings, examples and analysis of where this can lead, the only thing that matters in the end is some emotional trigger word that makes the public think they are dealing with an "outgroup". The…

Accurate reporting of Russia's cyber activities is not propaganda.

Selective and misleading reporting of facts is probably both the most common and the most effective form of propaganda.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#84

Post by willcipriano »

Georgelemental wrote: post #71
barrbid8 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting negatively on the Iraq war or blackwater or Facebook isn’t “anti American propaganda”. Just because you are anti establishment doesn’t mean you should instinctively support the Russian establishment which is incidentally many times more horrific and out of control than the people you claim are spreading “propaganda”. (I’m guessing NGOs, charities like amnesty international or anyone who reports on the war c…

> Reporting negatively on the Iraq war or blackwater or Facebook isn’t “anti American propaganda”. Yes it is. Propaganda doesn't have to be untrue

Propaganda is just something the powerful yell when the truth comes out. It's a exclamation not a description.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#85

Post by burkaman »

jonny_eh wrote: post #46
theptip wrote: post #44

> This means Google may have turned over such critical information as unique mobile phone IDs, IP addresses, location information and details about users’ interests and online activity Can someone help me to understand this? I thought Google kept this kind of user-preference (interests/activity) data to itself, and used that as the sauce powering its ad auctions. If you run a site, GA will give you IP, location, etc.…

> Google allowed RuTarget, a Russian company that helps brands and agencies buy digital ads, to access and store data about people browsing websites and apps in Ukraine and other parts of the world In other words, they collected data via websites and apps, just like any other JS or native ad library does. This wasn't data that Google collected, then handed over. It's a misleading headline IMO.

The line you quoted is just a slight rephrasing of the headline with a little more detail. What are you finding misleading?

Google allowed [a Sanctioned Russion Ad Company = RuTarget, a Russian company that helps brands and agencies buy digital ads], to [Harvest = access and store] [User Data = data about people browsing websites and apps]

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#86

Post by throw10920 »

Georgelemental wrote: post #71
barrbid8 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting negatively on the Iraq war or blackwater or Facebook isn’t “anti American propaganda”. Just because you are anti establishment doesn’t mean you should instinctively support the Russian establishment which is incidentally many times more horrific and out of control than the people you claim are spreading “propaganda”. (I’m guessing NGOs, charities like amnesty international or anyone who reports on the war c…

> Reporting negatively on the Iraq war or blackwater or Facebook isn’t “anti American propaganda”. Yes it is. Propaganda doesn't have to be untrue

>> Reporting negatively on the Iraq war or blackwater or Facebook isn’t “anti American propaganda”.

> Yes it is. Propaganda doesn't have to be untrue

This makes all negative reporting propaganda by definition, which is clearly untrue.

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#87

Post by refulgentis »

dbtc wrote: post #74
refulgentis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I am not "HN", just one human, one mind (more or less). Communication is what we are doing here. When you propagate a message to many people, then it's propaganda. Once upon a time the word had no negative sense. Then it did, so they changed the job to PR.

Source?

Re: Google allowed a sanctioned Russian ad company to harvest user data for months

#90

Post by burkaman »

pdimitar wrote: post #20

What the hell does the recent Russian hostility has to do with this? Sanctions? You mean that the privacy laws that have been ignored and laughed at are not a bad enough violation? Apparently it's not, huh. Google and Facebook have been extremely anti-privacy since practically their inception but suddenly NOW it's a problem because an attached Russian company has been doing what Google has been enabling any company t…

> Google and Facebook have been extremely anti-privacy since practically their inception but suddenly NOW it's a problem because an attached Russian company has been doing what Google has been enabling any company to do, for decades?

Propublica has been reporting on Google and Facebook (and others) privacy issues for most of their 15 year history. See their Dragnets series: https://www.propublica.org/series/dragnets

A few examples:

2010: https://www.propublica.org/article/governments-increasingly-...

2012: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-best-reporting-on-fac...

2012/2014: https://www.propublica.org/article/no-warrant-no-problem-how...

2014: https://www.propublica.org/article/its-complicated-facebooks...

2016: https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-droppe...

2016: https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-doesnt-tell-user...

Why would this topic be suddenly out of bounds now that Russia is involved?

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