Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers • Hacker News Board

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#91

Post by close04 » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:34 PM UTC

xacky wrote: post #55

skocznymroczny wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Firefox when Chrome started messing with the ad blockers. Haven't really had any issues. I prefer developer tools on Chrome but I rarely need to use them anyway.

The trouble is that Mozilla has admitted they can't survive without Google's revenue. You are basically using Google by proxy unless you use a truly independent browser engine of they get blocked by Cloudflare for not having enough fingerprinting tech.

> You are basically using Google by proxy unless you use a truly independent browser engine

This conclusion doesn't follow your premise. Google has to pay because if Mozilla dies, so does the claim of any real competition on the browser engine market. So everyone agrees Firefox's engine is truly independent. Google pays so Firefox users don't use anything that has to do with Google.

If you think about it, the only real way to not hurt Google is for Firefox to stop existing. Chrome would end up being spun off from Google.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#92

Post by ifh-hn » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

tardedmeme wrote: post #80

ifh-hn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm similar but instead of brave, which I don't trust, prefer Firefox.

I don't trust Firefox either, so I use Zen, which is based on Firefox and also changes the UI.

Zen lost my trust since: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43443494

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#93

Post by Gander5739 » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC

bloqs wrote: post #83

vehemenz wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, why Brave though? There's Safari, Chromium, LibreWolf, Ladybird, and plenty of others.

1. Because it's most popular. Guaranteed support and "monkey see monkey do". 2. The adblocking is preconfigured, and non technical users trying to find the right extensions has a very bad history of unintentional malware. Ad block? Adblock plus? Ublock? Ublock origin? This is a great example of what floors a lot of technical folk who would be "why not just install ublock origin" and fail to understand the "why should…

Librewolf meets 2 and 3 (it comes with ublock origin preinstalled), but admittedly fails 1 quite badly.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#94

Post by ubermonkey » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:44 PM UTC

I still don't understand why so many people have accepting using an ad company's browser.

The motivation vectors exist here to ensure that, over time, Chrome behaves in ways the end user DOES NOT WANT.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#95

Post by blks » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #11

I know that I'm in a bit of a bubble with this one, but I am surprised there is still anyone using Chrome instead of Brave. I get the dependency on Gmail other Google-specific tools, but the built-in ad blocking and Google-free aspects of it made me switch instantly and haven't look back after years.

Brave’s owner is a very sketchy dude. With all the news that were happening around brave, all the shitcoin stuff, I wouldn’t be surprised if the browser is mining crypto.

The single affiliated link scandal is enough to not touch that project with a ten foot pole.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#96

Post by cferry » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:56 PM UTC

My belief is that the AI business is all about data collection. The value isn't so much in the quality of the models (that's what enterprise customers and developers pay to get), but in the amount of data that comes "for free" to whoever hosts the models. And then it's worth whoever buys it thinks it is, like insurers or advertisers.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#97

Post by janalsncm » Thu, May 07, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

ifh-hn wrote: post #92

tardedmeme wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't trust Firefox either, so I use Zen, which is based on Firefox and also changes the UI.

Zen lost my trust since: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43443494

In my mind, no browser is perfect. However, as far as I can tell that’s not nearly as sketchy as the title implies. It’s for local debugging.

Zen has other issues for me on Ubuntu (eating a ton of resources) which is why I usually use FF. But I put Zen in a different category from Brave and definitely better than Chrome.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#98

Post by janalsncm » Thu, May 07, 2026, 8:00 PM UTC

xacky wrote: post #55

skocznymroczny wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Firefox when Chrome started messing with the ad blockers. Haven't really had any issues. I prefer developer tools on Chrome but I rarely need to use them anyway.

The trouble is that Mozilla has admitted they can't survive without Google's revenue. You are basically using Google by proxy unless you use a truly independent browser engine of they get blocked by Cloudflare for not having enough fingerprinting tech.

What browser can genuinely claim independence from Google? Chromium browsers are all arguably in the same camp. If FF is implicated, then so are forks like Zen.

Safari is probably the only one?

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#99

Post by StilesCrisis » Thu, May 07, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #11

I know that I'm in a bit of a bubble with this one, but I am surprised there is still anyone using Chrome instead of Brave. I get the dependency on Gmail other Google-specific tools, but the built-in ad blocking and Google-free aspects of it made me switch instantly and haven't look back after years.

If you're anti-Google, use Firefox. It's hypocritical to use the browser they're paying to build, then complain about how they generate revenue to fund it.

Re: Chrome removes claim of On-device Al not sending data to Google Servers

#100

Post by blks » Thu, May 07, 2026, 8:07 PM UTC

SunshineTheCat wrote: post #11

I know that I'm in a bit of a bubble with this one, but I am surprised there is still anyone using Chrome instead of Brave. I get the dependency on Gmail other Google-specific tools, but the built-in ad blocking and Google-free aspects of it made me switch instantly and haven't look back after years.

I was using Firefox, Vivaldi, Zen, and finally got fed up with various issues that Zen was having, so I switched to Waterfox. I am very happy and the browser is very fast; difference is immense.