Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data • Hacker News Board

Re: Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data

#111

Post by madez » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

justinclift wrote: post #103

fyfy18 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is the sort of thing GDPR is meant to prevent. Unless you explicitly allow it (and a popup checked by default doesn't count), Google cannot use that data for purposes other than providing you with positioning information.

> And this is the sort of thing GDPR is meant to prevent. Sure. But Google being the immoral company it is has instead chosen to lawyer up, tell people it's compliant with the GDPR, and keep on collecting everything it can get its hands on anyway.

Even if Google didn't touch by a ten-foot pole the data that it logs and collects for services like faster location finding for Android devices, which I think is unreasonable to assume, it is still accessible to the government under the 'national security' excuse.

Re: Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data

#112

Post by colemickens » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 4:08 PM UTC

d1zzy wrote: post #47

colemickens wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this argument come up every time? If I can't have absolute privacy, I should just give up? The same way I'd love to give up every last bit of dependence on Google, I'd love to get decentralized fintech. But the popular one is a bad word that starts with B and I fear has spoiled the well. (Though it's been interesting traveling through Europe and seeing Bitcoin signs all over Prague, the ticket machine offeri…

No but there's a good argument there in terms of priorities. What is more likely to impact you negatively: Google building an internal profile based on your information and targeting ads based on it or your card information being stolen from insecure smaller vendors? Obviously those 2 choices are picked arbitrarily but they may explain why the OP chose to prefer the former over the latter. I would think every time we…

I mean, "my card information being stolen" is literally only an issue because credit card companies won't force US retailers to accept proper chip and pin. It just is not an issue everywhere I've been in Europe because it is categorically impossible for them to steal my card information with contactless payments.

As for the magnitude of privacy invasion regarding financial transactions, I feel very safe in saying the data Google has about/from me is far more revealing than relatively opaque transaction logs.

Re: Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data

#113

Post by amaccuish » Wed, Jul 24, 2019, 5:37 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #92

amaccuish wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMAP doesn't support push :(

Sure it does. Since 2009.[1] [1] https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5550

I was refering specifically to IMAP and the Android default mail client.

Re: Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data

#114

Post by justinclift » Thu, Jul 25, 2019, 3:30 AM UTC

madez wrote: post #111

justinclift wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And this is the sort of thing GDPR is meant to prevent. Sure. But Google being the immoral company it is has instead chosen to lawyer up, tell people it's compliant with the GDPR, and keep on collecting everything it can get its hands on anyway.

Even if Google didn't touch by a ten-foot pole the data that it logs and collects for services like faster location finding for Android devices, which I think is unreasonable to assume, it is still accessible to the government under the 'national security' excuse.

Good point. :)

Re: Never-Googlers: Web users take the ultimate step to guard their data

#115

Post by vetinari » Thu, Aug 01, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

madez wrote: post #110

southerntofu wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what motivation is there for Samsung, Sony or Huawei to help Google to get user data? I'm not sure about their motivation, but several vendors are famously known for bundling spyware with their phones. Usually within the keyboard app or some telemetry system. > bring your device to AOSP-like state That's a solution but is impossible without having a clean ROM at your disposal. Google's spyware is contained within G…

When one wants an AOSP-like state, they can install LineageOS. That doesn't include Google Play Services, so it isn't difficult to get rid of it.

Jumping to LineageOS is order of magnitude bigger change, than `adb pm disable` packages. LineageOS has to support your device in the first place, and then you have root your device (and lose some capabilities in the process, like camera processing on Xperias).

Yes, you will get better control over software that runs on your device. You will pay for it by going through more demanding process and the risk of having instabilities, that nobody except you cares about.