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Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

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Re: Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

#471

Post by dredmorbius »

joshuamorton wrote: post #460
dredmorbius wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...for many users... What numbers, precisely, do you have on this? Because it sounds to me as if you're arguing from a position of ignorance. There might be some benefit to the small number of users who 1) have multiple devices and 2) share one or more of those amongst several other people in the same account in ways that this Chrome feature ... might address. But this doesn't strike me as some overwhelmingly large u…

I don't have that data on hand, but the chrome team apparently does. Certainly, for you or I, user accounts (and incognito windows) solve most of the problems that this change fixed. But most users aren't you or I.

Google's claimed usage data has stood up poorly to my investigations in the past.

Re: Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

#472

Post by ThePhysicist »

joshuamorton wrote: post #468
ThePhysicist wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, it doesn't change the fact that it's not privacy by default, because that would require having the user explicitly opt in to the syncing of the two sessions. That has nothing to do with wether they actually collect or transmit any data.

>Maybe, it doesn't change the fact that it's not privacy by default Why? If this change doesn't impact privacy, why is having it opt out not privacy by default? How is a no-op from a privacy perspective privacy-anything?

Is it a no-op though? From my understanding of the privacy policy, Chrome will send e.g. search queries along with other metrics to Google even when the syncing is turned off. As these things are turned on by default it means they would get associated (or at least would be associable) to the logged in user. Is that not the case?

Also, privacy by default means that no unnecessary data is created or shared between systems without asking the user first, regardless of what the purpose of this data sharing is. The Chrome browser and the Google web services are two different things, and most users will not expect that the two accounts are automatically tied together. The nice thing to do here would be to simply ask the user before syncing the logins. I suspect that the long-term goal here is to tie the browser history and search queries of more users to their Google accounts, because that information is very valuable (but also highly sensitive).

Re: Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

#473

Post by acct1771 »

r3bl wrote: post #311
TekMol wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are genuine benefits when you're working with laptops, desktops, phones and tablets. I work with all of these devices. Yet I don't want any of that syncing. The thought that Google wants to send my 'recently opened tabs' to their servers makes me shudder. So they get the whole browsing history of every one of their users? Of all the pages that have nothing to do with them? Same with passwords. So they have a gi…

One advantage that wasn't mentioned is the ability to send a tab between devices. I'm looking at something on my desktop, have to go somewhere, so I just send the tabs to my phone and continue consuming. If I forget to do so, I can also use the url bar to search through common history, so that I could enter a few words from the title and go back to that article. That being said, I personally wouldn't trust Google to…

Your use of the word "consuming" definitely solidified the idea that I'm all set without these features, I don't miss them that much.

Re: Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

#474

Post by lern_too_spel »

ascorbic wrote: post #222
lern_too_spel wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try being a cell phone OEM who wants to use Android but without Google integration. Impossible. Tell that to Vivo, Oppo, Honor, Huawei, Xiaomi, Meizu, OnePlus, Lenovo, Qiku, Smartisan, Amazon, etc.

OK, try being and OEM who wants to use Android but without Google integration in a country where Google is legal . I think Amazon backs up that point, not yours.

Now that you've extended it beyond phones, tell that to Comcast, Samsung, Nikon, etc.

Re: Product Updates Based on Your Feedback

#475

Post by feanaro »

Gaelan wrote: post #411
feanaro wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree the sync thing was overblown. A website's cookies and the internal functionality of the browser are conceptually very different and (up to now) well differentiated concepts. Mixing them up and blurring the lines between them is just a portal to confusion of the average user, who is already confused enough. I fear that changes like this will eventually make it impossible to effectively explain to an average…

Google's claim (which I'm inclined to believe) is that the previous state is more confusing to the average user. While we think in terms of "content" vs "browser", apparently the average user does not, and finds it confusing that part of the browser is signed into Google, but part isn't.

That may be, but that doesn't mean the concept should be abandoned and the browser married to the content in inexplicable ways. At least the way things are now, I am able to understand what is going on and teach it to my parents. If the non-average users also stop understanding what is happening behind the covers, is there any hope left for the open web?
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