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Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

forbes.com

131–140 of 156 posts

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With weirdly sticky behavior too once you’ve left that area. My google sign in prompt was in Italian for over a decade after logging in there once on a family vacation. Only with the latest login revamp did that setting finally get purged. Everything else was always english, profile set to english etc.

I’ve just had an issue where my google searches were stuck defaulting to Sydney, Australia after being there for one week.

I think that is a pretty safe assumption from Google. People die trying to leave Sydney.

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#132
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The largest browser is owned by a surveillance firm

Why anyone would use Chrome blows my mind a bit. Brave is a superior browser in every single aspect of a browser and as of rn - you do not see ads on the Internet. It's such a no brainer, I can't comprehend it.

Because Brave is just trying to build their own ad-network under the guise of being "privacy" oriented. It is a conflict of interest trying to get profitable selling user data while also claiming to block it. When first installed the their own ad and crypto stuff is enabled-by-default. Then throw in a few nefarious incidents, such as the affiliate link-hijacks a few years ago, and it is hard to trust them.

No browser is safe from capitalistic rot at this point.

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#133

A few weeks ago, I was using my mothers PC. Google was erroneously in French, and no language chooser available. So I checked. Firefox sent a HTTP header with a Dutch preference. She was logged in with her Google account, which had a Dutch language preference. Some geolocation providers put her in Dutch speaking cities of Belgium. Still, the Google Algorithm had decided she would speak French. Plenty of other sites m…

This is one of the main reasons why I use (and pay) for another search engine than Google. It just keeps translating everything it can to the country I’m connecting from. Even results from Reddit go to an automatically translated page. Google is really bad at handling multilingual users, or even just users that don’t want to use the language of the place they connect from. Now by default Youtube even translates the a…

You do realize that the fact of paying for any service makes your usage perfectly attributable to real identity, don't you. Something that Google needed to work hard to infer with some level of certainty you actually pay for. And I'd only have so much trust in promises of respecting your privacy given by any business. Everything that can be sold is for sale, event if this meant that it could not longer claim to "do no evil".

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why anyone would use Chrome blows my mind a bit. Brave is a superior browser in every single aspect of a browser and as of rn - you do not see ads on the Internet. It's such a no brainer, I can't comprehend it.

Because Brave is just trying to build their own ad-network under the guise of being "privacy" oriented. It is a conflict of interest trying to get profitable selling user data while also claiming to block it. When first installed the their own ad and crypto stuff is enabled-by-default. Then throw in a few nefarious incidents, such as the affiliate link-hijacks a few years ago, and it is hard to trust them. No browser…

Ads in and of themselves don't mean a browser isn't privacy-focused. In fact the most privacy focused one I can think of, Duckduckgo, is monetized by ads. All of Duckduckgo is. They're just not personalized.

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#136
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see this going in the opposite direction first - TPM-backed kernel level fingerprinting. Surely you have nothing to hide…

Fingerprinting or attestation?

Attestation of working fingerprinting.

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#137

I'm tired of the constant attacks on our privacy and sovereignty. Be it technical or political

And when shit really hits the fan, non- and "wrong"-usage of this stuff will make you a suspect. The Uighurs are a testing ground for total surveillance on- and offline already. Bad times...

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#138

A few weeks ago, I was using my mothers PC. Google was erroneously in French, and no language chooser available. So I checked. Firefox sent a HTTP header with a Dutch preference. She was logged in with her Google account, which had a Dutch language preference. Some geolocation providers put her in Dutch speaking cities of Belgium. Still, the Google Algorithm had decided she would speak French. Plenty of other sites m…

A while ago a LinkedIn request from a Chinese person hit my inbox. I reluctantly pressed Accept Connection (in the email) only to find out that my LinkedIn language setting had changed to Chinese. Now, I don't speak or read Chinese and couldn't immediately find a way to change the setting back to English. Could probably find it on the internet but .. Oh well, I don't really use LinkedIn so it's just stayed that way n…

That is some genius move by LinkedIn...

I can understand it if someone's sending out something like a Google Doc collaboration invite, especially to a non-GMail address, the email will be in the Google Docs UI language of the sender. But LinkedIn has your profile with all your preferences!

What next, a colleague shares the link to a location, you open it in your car, and your car UI turns into Chinese?

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#139
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I went the nuclear route with a Pihole. My devices can’t talk to Google.

Presumably you set your router to intercept all UDP/53 traffic, but remember the whole point of DoH is to prevent that and ensure nothing gets between the advertising surface and the advert source.

That’s why I also block all known DoH IPs. It’s a pretty long list, like 130 IPs. I have an allowlist for devices I don’t want to mess with, like my Pihole or guest devices.

It’s definitely not perfect, but it does de job for now.

Re: Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks

#140
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The largest browser is owned by a surveillance firm

Why anyone would use Chrome blows my mind a bit. Brave is a superior browser in every single aspect of a browser and as of rn - you do not see ads on the Internet. It's such a no brainer, I can't comprehend it.

I use Ungoogled Chromium (download from Github) that has all the tracking code removed. Only downside is updates are not automatic but otherwise runs flawlessly.
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