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

The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 189 posts

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#21

Post by crankylinuxuser »

revscat wrote: post #14
caymanjim wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of these things is not like the other. DuckDuckGo and Proton were founded on the basis of protecting privacy and not sharing personal data. The other is part of the cabal.

What makes you believe Apple sells their customer’s data?

Closed source, with many anti-user mechanisms. It's extraordinarily hard to investigate what your mobile device is doing at any time. One would require a Stingray and networking analysis gear to determine whom the packets are meant for - and even that is defeated with Pinned certs.

Primarily, the onus is on them to show that they do not have contractual allowances to sell data to internal or 3rd parties.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#22

Post by lern_too_spel »

lucideer wrote: post #5
dannyw wrote: post #4

I think Google is a lot less creepy than Facebook. Yes, they vacuum a lot of data, but I do get directly related benefits from it, as well as controls that I trust. Example: Location history. It is turned off by default. I chose to turn it on, so I can know places I’ve been to previously (if I forget the name). It’s like a journal that writes itself. Google has its privacy issues, but on a whole I voluntarily choose…

> controls that I trust. I think this trust might be misplaced. > Example: Location history. It is turned off by default. Displaying your location history to you is turned off by default. Google's own recording of your location, for their purposes, cannot be turned off.

> Google's own recording of your location, for their purposes, cannot be turned off.

Citation needed. Android even lets you turn off AGPS, which collects anonymous location data to update itself. As far as I know, this is not even possible on iOS.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#23

Post by amelius »

krizzo wrote: post #12
dwighttk wrote: post #2

https://duckduckgo.com https://protonmail.com https://apple.com

The mail is only as secure as who you send it too. If you email a Yahoo or Gmail account the email may be secure on your proton server but open to the others. The thing about security is everyone else has to do it or it breaks down. Gmail and other free email providers make it so easy people don't want to change.

You could send a link to a secure pastebin instead of the actual message.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#24

Post by sharcerer »

dannyw wrote: post #4

I think Google is a lot less creepy than Facebook. Yes, they vacuum a lot of data, but I do get directly related benefits from it, as well as controls that I trust. Example: Location history. It is turned off by default. I chose to turn it on, so I can know places I’ve been to previously (if I forget the name). It’s like a journal that writes itself. Google has its privacy issues, but on a whole I voluntarily choose…

Yeah. Basically there are 2 issues : security,privacy. With any data vased company privacy eill always be a concern so they should try to assure users by giving them top notch security. Google does that. Their security is great. Facebook: a big NO. Just a question. Does google listen through the microphone? Some people show demos on youtube that they talk on phone about something or even say something out loud and then see ads about it.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#25

Post by dqpb »

thisisit wrote: post #15

This is disappointing from WSJ. Google's data collection is a good story but pulling Facebook in and then devolving into what-about-ism is not. This is toeing the what-about-Google/twitter stance Facebook took in it's release. > Google gathers more personal data than Facebook does, by almost every measure—so why aren’t we talking about it? Because one problem at a time. If we are going down this path, how about, > Ma…

I think your getting the "what-about-ism" argument backwards. This isn't avoiding talking about Google by saying "What about Facebook". This is comparing the two to highlight it's point about Google, the subject of the article.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#26

Post by kodablah »

Didn't read the article, but does anyone see some media narrative happening here? One part of me would like to think that they are just publishing what readers want. But another part says there is an underlying narrative. I can almost predict the news cycle wrt tech, data collection, privacy, etc. Does anyone stop to think, why now? I fear this is a rolling snowball started during the election and it won't end until those with pitchforks get the laws the rest who are quieter may not want. This media-built furor, while it may have legitimate roots, has me seeing deja vu. I fear the internet equivalent of the patriot act.

Just know when we get things like the cloud act, the next sopa, or the next government-over-tech bill, we asked for it by building this furor. Seems quite unbalanced to me. I wonder how I or others can stop feeding this growing furor.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#27

Post by thisisit »

dqpb wrote: post #25
thisisit wrote: post #15

This is disappointing from WSJ. Google's data collection is a good story but pulling Facebook in and then devolving into what-about-ism is not. This is toeing the what-about-Google/twitter stance Facebook took in it's release. > Google gathers more personal data than Facebook does, by almost every measure—so why aren’t we talking about it? Because one problem at a time. If we are going down this path, how about, > Ma…

I think your getting the "what-about-ism" argument backwards. This isn't avoiding talking about Google by saying "What about Facebook". This is comparing the two to highlight it's point about Google, the subject of the article.

Maybe I have it wrong but what-about-ism isn't only about avoidance. It is also about drawing an equivalence saying - "Yes, X is bad but what about Y?" The idea being if everyone does it then X hasn't done anything wrong.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#28

Post by 908087 »

thisisit wrote: post #15

This is disappointing from WSJ. Google's data collection is a good story but pulling Facebook in and then devolving into what-about-ism is not. This is toeing the what-about-Google/twitter stance Facebook took in it's release. > Google gathers more personal data than Facebook does, by almost every measure—so why aren’t we talking about it? Because one problem at a time. If we are going down this path, how about, > Ma…

> Because one problem at a time

This is dealing with one problem at a time. The problem is unchecked commercialized mass surveillance, and any laws that come out of this should apply to Google, Facebook, and every other company that has been engaging in these practices.

Your attempt to spin these as unrelated with that last line doesn't even make sense.

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#29

Post by ucaetano »

kodablah wrote: post #26

Didn't read the article, but does anyone see some media narrative happening here? One part of me would like to think that they are just publishing what readers want. But another part says there is an underlying narrative. I can almost predict the news cycle wrt tech, data collection, privacy, etc. Does anyone stop to think, why now? I fear this is a rolling snowball started during the election and it won't end until…

> but does anyone see some media narrative happening here?

WSJ is owned by Murdoch's News Corp. He has been in a anti-Google crusade for a while.

2009: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2009/11/murdoch_vs_google...

2014: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/18/rupert_murdoch_says...

Re: The Many Ways Google Harvests Data

#30

Post by 40acres »

lamename wrote: post #13

On one hand, I'm glad to see popular concern for (or at least media coverage of) personal data privacy issues. On the other hand, I can't imagine this is news to anyone at HN, or anyone who's been following such issues for years. Ok ok, maybe the mass public is finally becoming more aware of these issues, but they're also even more heavily invested in the services Google/FB provide than when these revelations were fi…

I'm of an opposite mind. The tech world has known about these issues for years and nothing has happened. When the Verge or Wired write about these privacy issues the outside world really is not of much concern. But when the NYT and WaPo write about it, and when there are Congressional hearings about it changes is much more likely to occur.
Post reply on HN