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Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

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Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#251

Post by manigandham »

londons_explore wrote: post #237
manigandham wrote: post #162

https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/1044109898013765632 > My teammates made this change to prevent surprises in a shared device scenario. In the past, people would sometimes sign out of the content area and think that meant they were no longer signed into Chrome, which could cause problems on a shared device I can see why there is pushback against this, but the issue described above is also understandable. There are v…

I sort of want Google to go further with this change, and simply have a "Sign in to Chrome, Google Sites, Amazon, and everything else" button. In fact, it could also sign you in to local applications like Photoshop and Word. They could call it the 'logon screen'.

I'm assuming you're joking. But you can use Chromebooks if you want to remove the separate OS layer for simpler uses.

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#252

Post by tedivm »

magicalist wrote: post #230
tedivm wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the Privacy Policy (even after the changes from this weekend) this change gives Chrome permission to upload data. > The personal information that Chrome stores won't be sent to Google unless you choose to store that data in your Google Account by signing in to Chrome. If what you are saying is true- and will remain true for the future- why didn't they change that language to say something like- > The per…

FWIW, that's exactly what the updated [1] says. Maybe they missed that sentence. [1] https://www.google.com/chrome/privacy/#signed-in-chrome-mode

Yeah I directly quoted from the privacy statement and the line I quoted is still there.

Seriously though, searched for "signed in" (like, ctrl-f). There's an epic ton of things that they are allowed to do for signed in accounts versus normal browsing even with sync disabled. These are all directly quoted from the privacy policy and do not require syncing to be enabled-

* If you are signed in to a Google site or signed in to Chrome and Google is your default search engine, searches you perform using the address bar in Chrome are stored in your Google account.

* Payments. If you are signed in to the Chrome browser and you have credit cards stored in your Google Payments Account, then Chrome will offer you the option of filling those cards into web forms. In addition, if you enter a new credit card into a web form, Chrome will offer to save your credit card and related billing information to your Google Payments account.

* Language. In order to customize your browsing experience based on languages that you prefer to read, Chrome will keep a count of the most popular languages of the sites you visited. This language preference will be sent to Google to customize your experience in Chrome. If you are signed in to Chrome, this language profile will be associated with your Google Account and, if you include Chrome history in your Google Web & App Activity, may be used to personalize your experience in other Google products. View Activity Controls.

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#253

Post by briandear »

valarauca1 wrote: post #217
manigandham wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bad example. In technical progress, Chrome is the complete opposite of IE (which seems to be replaced by Safari these days) and way better than the rest in pushing forward new features. Also 99% of the time Firefox and Edge work just fine. EDIT: Yes, IE was great in the beginning, but then it stagnated and earned the wide reputation of being terrible obsolete anchor that it is now known for. It's with this l…

That's a bad example. In technical progress, Chrome is the complete opposite of IE When IE started to _gain_ internet share it was a paragon of technological development. It was far faster then navigator, more reactive and performant. Only little-by-little did Microsoft start adding in features no other browser supported. By the time the mid-late 00's roll around and Chrome was released. IE was this red-headed step c…

Code formatting quotes makes quotes very difficult to read on mobile. I wonder why we couldn’t just use quotation marks?

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#254

Post by nazri1 »

pvorb wrote: post #160
pg_bot wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shock and Denial is the first stage in the 7 stages of grief. The chrome team is clearly in the wrong here, and it will take some time for them to realize that they screwed up and that they need to fix it.

I think it's unlikely that the Chrome team will revert their decision. This will annoy people for a few days or even weeks, but people will eventually accept it. That's just how you make unpopular changes these days. Maybe the EU will do something about it, but this will take years.

Not unlike systemd, not too long ago...

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#255

Post by reificator »

throwawaymath wrote: post #127
reificator wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They may understand it on a superficial level, but do they understand it on a practical one? Everyone "understands" that Facebook collects user data. It's the contextual understanding that makes techies uneasy.

What you're saying is a pretty condescending way to treat other people's opinions. You're essentially questioning whether or not they really understand (complete with scare quotes) if they don't share your opinion. It's not the "contextual understanding" - or any kind of understanding - that makes some techies uneasy. It's their own opinions and personal comfortability with regard to data monetization. Many people un…

I get where you're coming from, but it applies to me equally in plenty of other domains.

There are countless things I understand the basics of but am not an expert in. That's why we specialize, because we can't be experts in everything all the time.

I don't mean it to be condescending, I mean to express that I can know that stars are powered by nuclear reactions and yet not have a firm grasp of what that really entails.

Most people, including myself, have a shallow understanding of a lot of things, and a deep understanding of very few things relatively speaking.

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#256

Post by manigandham »

kerng wrote: post #164
SippinLean wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari is the new IE, Chrome has been responsible for a huge number of positive changes in the browser landscape. I develop in Chrome because that's where the majority of our conversions come from. I (my QA team) also tests Safari, Firefox and other browsers where a significant number of conversions come from. I never heard "just use chrome" in any professional environment.

Same was true for IE, IE for instance pioneered asynchronous requests (which is pretty much the norm these days) and things like that - still was a bad browser though.

It became bad when it stopped making progress, because the team was largely disbanded and the product stagnated in maintenance mode.

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#257

Post by briandear »

lrem wrote: post #126

As a Googler with no connection to the Chrome team: I'm pretty sure they made this change in good faith and are shocked people don't like it. Just imagine yourself in their shoes: wouldn't your first instinct be to explain yourself?

Does the Chrome team actually pay attention? Privacy is a thing now.

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#258

Post by justtopost »

ngngngng wrote: post #172
LiterallyDoge wrote: post #116

It's just about respect. If you don't give your users a heads-up when you go to collect significant information about them, and then when they try to opt out, you cripple their browser, you do not respect them. I'm done with Google products.

I want to be done with Google products. But some of them are just so damn good. (Typed on my Pixel 2 XL)

Yeah, I hate cancer, but these ciggerettes are delicious!

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#259

Post by kryogen1c »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #155
kryogen1c wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm typically out of touch with normal people so I'm probably proving your point, but this has pushed me off chrome and Google. Ive always loved google. Installed chrome when it was released. I'm writing this from a pixel 2 XL because I broke my pixel 1 XL. I've had a Gmail account almost since it's been possible (I have my firstnamelastname@gmail.com). I now use firefox. I don't know what mail I'll switch to, and I…

I respect your feelings, but with respect to one of the factual details you listed: the "don't be evil" slogan never got removed from Google's Code of Conduct. That document has been reworded and the slogan is now at the end, but it's been there continuously. While I agree it's more of a passing mention than in the old wording, the end is one of the most prominent placements possible for such a statement other than t…

Oh thank you!

I'm thoroughly embarrassed to have regurgitated internet gossip without reading the source material.

However, as you mentioned, I stand by my sentiment. Google has clearly telegraphed their desire to put making money over users privacy and security (my definition of security being safe from Google, whereas Google's is safe from everyone BUT google)

To attack this issue from Google's side, the targeted ads I receive are straight garbage. The ads I get on my Google YouTube account from my signed in chrome Google account on my signed in Google phone are not in the least bit relevant to me or my interests. I don't use ad blockers of any kind. If I have to watch the ad about Dr. Gunter zolof solving Carmichael's toshent conjecture one more time, my phone might suffer an "accident" and I will take that opportunity to switch to a different provider (ANGRY SIDE RANT: I haven't watched that ad to completion or clicked on it a _single_ time. Stop showing it to me. 50 times. Consecutively)

Re: Am I logged in or not? GDPR case study on the example of Chrome browser change

#260

Post by xg15 »

cm2012 wrote: post #12
TekMol wrote: post #6

I think that currently pretty much every service, device and website violates the GDPR. The GDPR requires consent or some other legitimate reason to store data about a person. I see dark patterns everywhere. I never give consent. But I get tracked to death everywhere all the time. Even before I touch anything on a website, it plants dozens of cookies on my machine. But cookies are not even the problem. Fingerprinting…

The user has the option to not get through the "pile of nonsense" and just close the website. The fact that the user does not should tell you something. Unless you think every website should force the user to go through a 15 minute webinar to help them specifically understand privacy policies before letting them browse the website?

Except, in today's internet that would mean pretty much not using the internet at all. Which - in today's society - would mean a greatly handicapped social life at least and would be plain impossible for many people who need to use those sites to do their job.

So yes, technically you're right. As Discworld's Vetinari said, you always have a choice, even if that choice is between agreeing to the deal or being thrown into a spiked pit.

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