Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome • Hacker News Board

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#141

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:53 PM UTC

specialist wrote: post #130

danShumway wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is kind of deceptive. Approving location data to be saved or used during a web search is not the same thing as approving location data to be used for advertising and product personalization. Same with contact information, same with browser history, same with search history and unique IDs. Also, none of that data is harmless. > I think DDG is exaggerating here Google shouldn't be basing advertising off of individ…

> location data to be saved or used during a web search Does location data even help with relevance? During road trips in 2018, location relevant results were turrible. Too many times I'd have to manually add my current location. eg "dog parks albuquerque nm" Sorry, no, I don't care about Dog Park Pub and Office Supplies in Duluth MN. Absolutely enraging.

It seems to work with chains, at least.

e.g. a search for "home depot" turning up the close ones with location turned on.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#142

Post by EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #122

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #91

Why use DDG when you can use Bing directly?

Compare their privacy policies. Otherwise you are right and it's better to use https://yacy.net and SearX.

yacy is interesting, thanks!

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#143

Post by ur-whale » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

raspasov wrote: post #119

I use Safari. It's the best browser for Mac.

> I use Safari.

So, instead of handing all of your info to Google, you hand it over to Apple.

Nothing to write home about.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#144

Post by fsflover » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:55 PM UTC

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #140

fsflover wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compare their privacy policies. Otherwise you are right and it's better to use https://yacy.net and SearX.

1) I use VPN anyway, so Bing doesn't know who I am. 2) Bing belongs to Microsoft whose primary business is to sell software, not ads, so they are less dependent on collecting user information. 3) If I wanted a search aggregator, I would use a non-US company, for example, Qwant.

> Microsoft whose primary business is to sell software, not ads, so they are less dependent on collecting user information.

If it was true they would not collect every keystroke on their OS.

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#145

Post by stonesweep » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

tobasq wrote: post #86

loveistheanswer wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do we know if turning off that setting actually does stop location tracking, considering what we know about Google's past history? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/13/google-lo...

I have long ago turned all of Google's activity tracking preferences off and erased the existing activity, yet once in a while some Google service reveals to me that it knows something it shouldn't.

Google Takeout is a good way to find out all the things you thought you deleted, but are still hanging around on their servers. Even stupid banner photos from PicasaWeb and G+ 8 years ago were buried in my Takeout that I had zero access to see or delete, but they were there (and probably still are).

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#146

Post by simonh » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 6:58 PM UTC

matheusmoreira wrote: post #112

jkaplowitz wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet, people inside the walled garden want to interact with people outside the walled garden.

And when they can't get full compatibility, it literally causes the exclusion of those outside the walled garden: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23411931

I don’t follow you. How would breaking the walled garden change that?

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#147

Post by yourad_io » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 7:07 PM UTC

Hani1337 wrote: post #111

My biggest privacy concern with Google is how search result URLs contain user identifiers.

Do you have an example of this?

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#148

Post by redm » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

ricardbejarano wrote: post #11

Controversial opinion: Half the data Chrome collects is harmless, and the other half is up to the user to give up: - Location data: you are asked and must approve for Chrome to use (at least on macOS) - Financial data: you must enter it manually and click "save for future use". Could it be better? Sure! But I think DDG is exaggerating here. We're not _that_ bad.

I agree. The word "spying" is thrown around a bit loosely. I suspect most users are oblivious, but the information is there to see; the choices are there to make.

That said, I have to make a conscious choice to avoid Google data collection wherever I can, but I still end up using many Google products. I was more accepting when data collected was silo'ed in individual Google services. Now that those barriers are down [1], it will probably take government intervention to re-isolate key platforms (like Chrome, Android, Youtube, Search, Ads, Maps, etc.)

[1] https://slate.com/technology/2016/10/google-changed-a-major-...

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#149

Post by raspasov » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 7:08 PM UTC

ur-whale wrote: post #143

raspasov wrote: post #119

I use Safari. It's the best browser for Mac.

> I use Safari. So, instead of handing all of your info to Google, you hand it over to Apple. Nothing to write home about.

What do you use?

PS Also, I'd rather share *some* data with a company that proactively (1,2) teaches users how to minimize data sharing and is moving to an opt-in model rather than opt-out. I realize that this is a marketing strategy also. But at least it's not disingenuous.

(1) https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/A_Day_in_the_Life_of_Your...

(2) https://www.apple.com/safari/docs/Safari_White_Paper_Nov_201...

Re: Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome

#150

Post by danShumway » Tue, Mar 16, 2021, 7:10 PM UTC

obviouslynotme wrote: post #132

I am going to make the real controversial opinion: Who is surprised here? Google makes money by spying on people. Everything they make is designed to make money. Search history gathers what you are interested in. Android and Chrome vacuum your physical data and more. YouTube both gathers your interests and might become a serious advertising platform someday. Gmail vacuums up what Android messaging misses. Google Ads,…

I don't think many people here are surprised, but putting this information front-and-center for ordinary people is an important step in raising the general awareness of privacy issues in nontechnical communities.

I think that the average person on the street might jokingly say that Google knows everything, but seeing the extent of that data collection right in front of them might have a different emotional impact.