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Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

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Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#101

Post by stordoff »

gthtjtkt wrote: post #19

It feels like Google has a team dedicated to finding new and idiotic ways to make Android more annoying. The most recent annoyance I experienced was the "Welcome to [State]" announcement every time you're using Google Maps navigation and you cross a state line. Really, Google? You had to interrupt my music for that?

I almost feel like there's a slight trend away from technology just _quietly_ doing its job, and instead wanting to be noticed/the centre of attention. I've noticed it with Windows - I've started getting "Defender has scanned your computer and found no threats" notifications, and I've had prompts to rate default apps (not sure if it was Groove Music or the default Photos application on Windows Phone). It also happens on Xbox - I've been part-way through watching a DVD only to get a notification "Use Cortana to do X" (which was doubly frustrating because it was foreign language content and it covered the subtitles).

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#102

Post by mankash666 »

Concur completely. The practical alternative - an iPhone, is worse in other ways. In the history of general purpose computing, never ever has a company sold hardware to the customer transferring ownership rights to the customer, and then locked the device up to apps approved by the hardware manufacturer, going as far as taking a 30% cut. How this is flying past regulators is anyone's guess, and as more time progresses, people will begin to think that running apps on hardware they own is a privilege, not a right. Ludicrous!!

So, the choice between an ever spying phone and one that you cannot run/publish apps of your choosing is a hard one. However, with the right configuration, Android can be made a lot less intrusive, retaining the ability to run the apps of your choosing

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#103

Post by geofft »

someguydave wrote: post #84
geofft wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a huge and meaningful distinction about the technical ability to violate your privacy, and actually doing so, and trust (slash non-creepiness) is largely about not doing so when you could. For instance, the fact that my roommate can open my bedroom door at any time does not mean that I have no privacy when making phone calls in my room; it means that I have privacy because I trust my roommate not to do so, ex…

Your cell phone cannot function without actually knowing where you are (to some approximation) at all times. This information is known to the phone company, at the very least. The phone company almost always records and retains that information. Similarly, you cannot communicate to anyone on the internet without using an IP address, which your counterparty must know and nearly always retains.

I think that's what I said - I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing with me?

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#104

Post by mudil »

rsync wrote: post #91
Mizza wrote: post #18

Google are a deeply, deeply unethical company and all of their employees are complicit. On a more practical note, I live in apartment above a restaurant. My phone now asks me to review this restaurant every time I come home and wants me to post photos I take in my apartment to the restaurant's map page. Now that OSM data is as good as Google and Maps.Me is a good enough client, my next phone will be completely de-Goo…

"Google are a deeply, deeply unethical company and all of their employees are complicit." ... "My phone now asks me to review this restaurant every time I come home ..." Why are you using their products (specifically, their phones with their ecosystem built-in) if they are "deeply, deeply unethical") ? Every single step you take while your phone on is giving them more data and building their resource base.

Google is deeply unethical company because it follows you from the restaurant to your bedroom, literally. Google knows your sexual orientation, your friends, your hobbies, your political orientation. And they do it so they can show you an ad! Image any other multinational doing this, and there would be riots on the streets!

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#105

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh »

People in this thread are clutching their pearls about invasion of privacy and are going on about how they won't do any free work for Google yet hardly any of them has voluntarily given a dime to Google in return of the tons of services they get from it.

Where do you think all the reviews come from? Who puts information about traffic cops on Waze? From a million monkeys smashing keyboards?

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#106

Post by mda »

Mizza wrote: post #18

Google are a deeply, deeply unethical company and all of their employees are complicit. On a more practical note, I live in apartment above a restaurant. My phone now asks me to review this restaurant every time I come home and wants me to post photos I take in my apartment to the restaurant's map page. Now that OSM data is as good as Google and Maps.Me is a good enough client, my next phone will be completely de-Goo…

Deeply unethical because it asks you to leave a review?

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#107

Post by amelius »

ovao wrote: post #94
Mizza wrote: post #18

Google are a deeply, deeply unethical company and all of their employees are complicit. On a more practical note, I live in apartment above a restaurant. My phone now asks me to review this restaurant every time I come home and wants me to post photos I take in my apartment to the restaurant's map page. Now that OSM data is as good as Google and Maps.Me is a good enough client, my next phone will be completely de-Goo…

Why did you purchase a phone with an OS provided by what you believe to be a deeply unethical company?

Lack of affordable options?

My banking app supports only two platforms, one of which is too expensive, and the other is made by Google.

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#108

Post by crag »

aiiane wrote: post #86
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if they were behind a configuration option and defaulted to on, most people would be fine turning it off and forgetting about it. This seems to be about lack of control. It's good for developers to think carefully before they ship products that do things with no way of being told not to. EDIT: Welp. Apparently these settings exist. I don't understand the point of the blog post then. Why is it so upsetting, if y…

Maps app -> Settings -> Notifications -> Your Contributions (and uncheck boxes as desired). The controls exist.

But does that mean Google stops collecting the data? Sure, no notifications, but will they still know what restaurant I just walked past?

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#109

Post by izacus »

kibwen wrote: post #32
laurent123456 wrote: post #13

What are these "Google" notifications? Is that a "Google" app generating them? If so, can't it be disabled or uninstalled? I don't have this on my Android phone but I've uninstalled or disabled everything Google related. And if you don't want to be tracked, you can also switch off Location History.

If you try to disable many Google-provided apps on Android, you're presented with a scary-looking screen warning you about system instability, and it's legit. If I attempt to disable Chrome on my phone, for instance, it causes every single app on my phone to crash upon any interaction whatsoever, including third-party apps like Signal. Funny how Chrome is more inseparable from Android than Internet Explorer was from…

Eh? I have Chrome disabled on several devices (Pixel, ASUS Zenpad, Nexus 7) and the OS works just fine. You need to have some default browser set to avoid apps crashing when they attempt to open links, but Firefox (or any other browser) will do.

Re: Google, You Creepy Sonofabitch

#110

Post by bognition »

Raphmedia wrote: post #100
saulrh wrote: post #42

I'm going to be completely honest here: If these things were behind a configuration option and defaulted to off, I'd have gone into my phone and turned that option on. I want to leave reviews for restaurants as I'm walking out of them - it serves the common good and doing it immediately is better for memory. I want to remember to download offline maps when I'm about to go somewhere where I won't have coverage. My mem…

> My memory is terrible enough that I can't do those things myself. One could argue that your memory is terrible because you know you can rely on those services.

Or maybe these services provide us augmented cognitive abilities beyond that of a disconnected human.
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