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maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

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Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#281

Post by CydeWeys »

vetinari wrote: post #197
Crosseye_Jack wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I presume they are talking about the DNS "leak". google.com/maps would result in a DNS request for google.com so anyone monitoring DNS would know they are connecting to a google service but wouldn't know which one. maps.google.com would result in a DNS request that show they are connecting to maps.google.com and could presume they want some maps. DoH (and ESNI on the server side) would fix it, but iirc Chrome (the mo…

Chrome uses DoT, if you have configured one of the well-known resolvers that do support DoT. Otherwise, it respects your local settings.

Even if you are using DoT, the DNS provider will still know you're using Maps if it resolved the subdomain, and the DNS provider itself might well be the biggest privacy threat here.

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#282

Post by r0m4n0 »

r0m4n0 wrote: post #183

On another note, I feel like EVERY day my iPhone asks me if I want to share my location with google. I’ll be searching something in Safari on google that’s obviously location based and I get a dialog that pops up. I have allowed it 100s of times. https://imgur.com/gallery/LleCkEo I hate this and don’t want to see it ever again. Allow always, allow never, I don’t care. This reminds me of the GDPR popups… I feel like o…

Just FYI. After this rant, looked it up and apparently you can set in OS settings to allow for all websites, or deny for all websites. No granular control though

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#283

Post by luckylion »

bogwog wrote: post #246
delroth wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The change does have the effect of Google gaining more permissions (and subsequently more data) There's a huge logic gap here. Obtaining more permissions doesn't at all imply obtaining more data when it's caused by an incidental change. Maybe the permissions aren't being used outside of the Maps context, or maybe it doesn't matter because the data was already be known.

It’s true that we can’t really know whether Google is exploiting these expanded permissions to collect more data unless we have some insider information. However, it’s generally very easy to predict what a company is going to do by observing their business model and incentive structure. In Google’s case, collecting as much data as possible is a major part of their business, so without more information, there’s no goo…

> It’s true that we can’t really know whether Google is exploiting these expanded permissions to collect more data unless we have some insider information.

You could track usage and see what pages on google.com are accessing these APIs.

I doubt that it's a lot. Google already has fairly good geo-localization based on IP, GPS-level accuracy isn't necessary for ads. They could've already connected your data from maps.google.com to www.google.com, because both are using consent.google.com and you're getting a .google.com unique cookie.

This is mostly just outrage because people don't understand how things work.

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#284

Post by froggit »

pifm_guy wrote: post #234
titzer wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is achievable with geolocation based on IP address, which is how it works on, e.g. a desktop web browser.

Less than half the population has decent geolocation by IP. Most people the IP address will only identify the country or even nothing at all. Not much use if you want to search bakery's.

Google is my ISP. My geolocated IP is accurate within a 15 mile radius. It doesn't matter if I have location services turned off or I'm using my desktop, searching "bakeries near me" finds them without issue.

I suspect that isn't all just one big coincidence.

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#288

Post by amluto »

nolok wrote: post #211
dpryden wrote: post #195

I recall from my time in Google Geo years ago that the idea of integrating Search and Maps was a big part of the "New Maps" release that happened around 2014. The rumor I heard was that someone (possibly even Larry himself) wanted to be able to have interactive maps directly on the search results page, so that the navigation from a search query to a map wouldn't involve even a page reload. So the big Maps frontend re…

This makes perfect sense product wise, if I'm searching "bakery" on my mobile phone I probably want the ones around me and not the generic location-agnostic google search of it, just like I would if I was searching on map. Matter of fact, this is actually something I do a couple times a month, search then clic the maps tab to see localized results then from them click the website result to find their webpage. As a te…

Somehow DuckDuckGo has taken this to absurd extremes. Almost any search that doesn’t get many natural hits shows branches of my local government toward the bottom of the first page of results.

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#289

Post by college_physics »

NavinF wrote: post #239
college_physics wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

osm and wikipedia are proof that an alternative, more desirable, digital universe is not utopically distant but begging to be born. imagine if the world would somehow muster to dedicate something more than token support to such projects / designs prediction: osm will eventually surpass wikipedia as the most successful crowdsourced effort because the more objective and simple nature of its data allows dramatic scaling…

Would you bet money on that? Google Maps is pretty entrenched. A competing 2.4 trillion dollar company that preinstalled their app on the most popular phone in the US couldn't dethrone Google Maps.

my prediction was careful to pitch osm against wikipedia (both of which I love) not against the well known elephant in the room :-)

but on your real point, yes its going to be a long slog...

Re: maps.google.com now redirects to google.com/maps

#290

Post by easrng »

luckylion wrote: post #223
nottorp wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worse problem is you give Maps location permissions and that can translate now to the 3 billion sites that use Analytics isn't it?

No, google-analytics.com is where analytics is being served from and sends tracking-requests to.

It also connects to https://stats.g.doubleclick.net/j/collect
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