Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

shkspr.mobi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 138 posts

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#111

Post by UweSchmidt »

aniket_ray wrote: post #108
UweSchmidt wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the answer. I understand that times have changed and that revealing that you're from Google is not as fun as it used to be. The distinction you seem to be making between data that Google has and data that is "revealed to anyone" is misleading in my opinion. No matter who has the data, "privacy" is concerned. Also I need to call you out on your blanket statements that Google developers have no access to tha…

Thanks for understanding. The reference you point out was a one-off event from 2010 though, and a lot of our systems and checks have developed in the subsequent years to prevent a recurrence. I'll concede the point about my blanket statement especially when talking about NSA and Government espionage though. All I can say is Google does fight in courts against that. I wish I had a good way to stop spying completely. A…

Additionally, when the dust settles and people figure out what's really going on in all those data-collection companies, we need clear regulations what kind of data may be collected, how it is used and when it must be deleted.

The data, properly analyzed, represents an immense power and has to be transparent and under democratic control. In the EU the first steps go into this direction already.

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#112

Post by kbd »

oshineye wrote: post #109
raverbashing wrote: post #66

So the way to solve this is to create a note on my calendar with "Remind to complain about this to vic.gundotra@google.com larry.page@google.com" ?

Google doesn't care about any of this, otherwise it would have been fixed in 2010. But if you really want to add them their e-mail addresses are: vicg@google.com page@google.com The calendar is going to be replaced by Timely, the next generation version (more feature-rich then the current one) Bigtop will replace the GMail interface.

To clarify, Timely and Bigtop are code names for the next versions of Google Calendar and Gmail? I hadn't heard of these. Can you give any more info?

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#113

Post by genwin »

PythonicAlpha wrote: post #92

That is one of the problems I see more and more often the last days: Applications try to be extra-clever (more clever than their users) and think 2 steps further ... thus doing more than the users said. So in my opinion, it is not only a privacy problem, but a problem of our "computing-" era. Applications get more and more clever, but in the effect they become extra-stupid, not doing what the user really wants, but d…

> That's also the reason, I shiver when I think that the car industry wants cars that more and more take over control. That will become a big mess!

It's only a matter of time before any traffic infraction anywhere results in an automatic debit from your bank account, and then Google lets everyone know, with a sad-face icon next to your name.

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#114

Post by PythonicAlpha »

genwin wrote: post #113
PythonicAlpha wrote: post #92

That is one of the problems I see more and more often the last days: Applications try to be extra-clever (more clever than their users) and think 2 steps further ... thus doing more than the users said. So in my opinion, it is not only a privacy problem, but a problem of our "computing-" era. Applications get more and more clever, but in the effect they become extra-stupid, not doing what the user really wants, but d…

> That's also the reason, I shiver when I think that the car industry wants cars that more and more take over control. That will become a big mess! It's only a matter of time before any traffic infraction anywhere results in an automatic debit from your bank account, and then Google lets everyone know, with a sad-face icon next to your name.

Yes, and people that insist steering their car themselves will be punished by public opinion. They will be treated nearly the same way as Muslim looking people in US airports directly after 9/11.

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#115

Post by scott_karana »

cturhan wrote: post #110

My golden rule, never ever put any personal information on the web especially on google. If possible, don't even use your real name.

Is your last name Turhan, by any chance? ;)

(If you were being sarcastic, I rescind my comment)

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#116

Post by glennos »

djim wrote: post #83

this is a feature. it's actually pretty awesome for setting up quick meetings. It's a function of the "Quick add" feature that carries over into the title of the event: https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/36604?hl=en Edit: I am very familiar with Google's products, having helped many businesses move to Google Apps through the years. "Features" like this often surprise users and it is not unusual to get negativ…

My vote goes to 'feature' too. However, I didn't know about this behaviour, so perhaps Google should have a tooltip explaining what it parses.

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#117

Post by lstamour »

kbd wrote: post #112
oshineye wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google doesn't care about any of this, otherwise it would have been fixed in 2010. But if you really want to add them their e-mail addresses are: vicg@google.com page@google.com The calendar is going to be replaced by Timely, the next generation version (more feature-rich then the current one) Bigtop will replace the GMail interface.

To clarify, Timely and Bigtop are code names for the next versions of Google Calendar and Gmail? I hadn't heard of these. Can you give any more info?

Only mention I could verifiably find on the interwebs so far: https://code.google.com/p/j2objc/source/detail?r=9876b2bd107...

By the way, I'm adopting https://code.google.com/p/j2objc/ ASAP -- yesterday, if it were possible. I was just contemplating writing my own C++/jni bridge but I'll take what already works, especially if it's being battle-tested by Google. :)

Edit: And with bugs like https://code.google.com/p/j2objc/issues/detail?id=224 I'm considering changing my mind. My Java code isn't that great either, and a few classes with JNI might go a long way compared to hacking together ObjC from Java code. The hard part that neither directly addresses is how to integrate Gradle-powered flavours and build types with Xcode/iOS targets and simple macro keywords. Sharing language files, string/config values and some assets... all seem project-specific at this point and not very well generalized.

Re: Google Calendar Unexpectedly Leaks Private Information

#120

Post by username223 »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #105
username223 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. So you write "Tell Phil at example dot org he's a jerk," or "Tell phil, example, org he's a jerk," or something else that makes sense to humans but not machines.

That's terrible UX though. The point of using a computer is to make things easier - at least on the first try the program needs to ask you if you wish to enable automated invites (it could offer the option to "enable automated invites for only this address" too).

Indeed it's awful. I just thought it was ironic that email obfuscation, a tactic used against malicious address-harvesting programs, would also be useful against "helpful" obnoxiousness.
Post reply on HN