Google and Facebook are watching our every move online • Hacker News Board

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#51

Post by Daycrawler » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:22 PM UTC

trqx wrote: post #48

A common behavior I witness, is people using ad/tracker blockers such as ublock origin and/or umatrix and yet continue to consult websites that makes use of those trackers. Worse, they link those sites to other people that might not make use of those blockers. They don't think much of it, but ain't that evil? Most of the times they don't even notice anymore that trackers were blocked on the page they consult. Just lo…

Why stopping going to the sites? The point of blockers is specifically to make them harmless.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#52

Post by marten-de-vries » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

The article seems to argue for a GDPR[1]-like equivalent in the US. It'll be interesting to see how it is enforced in the EU. If applied as intended, it could offer a more realistic alternative to the only other privacy-preserving option at the moment: not using Google/Facebook/etc. 'noyb'[2] is planning to help that along. I just hope we don't get another cookie-law like debacle.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regula... [2]: https://noyb.eu/

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#53

Post by metalliqaz » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

trqx wrote: post #48

A common behavior I witness, is people using ad/tracker blockers such as ublock origin and/or umatrix and yet continue to consult websites that makes use of those trackers. Worse, they link those sites to other people that might not make use of those blockers. They don't think much of it, but ain't that evil? Most of the times they don't even notice anymore that trackers were blocked on the page they consult. Just lo…

I don't know what I would read all day if I had that extension installed. There'd be nothing left.

Classic quote, semi-relevant: "I'm pretty sure that if you took all the porn off the internet there would only be one site left and it would be called 'bring back the porn'" -Dr Cox

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#54

Post by trqx » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:27 PM UTC

Daycrawler wrote: post #51

trqx wrote: post #48

A common behavior I witness, is people using ad/tracker blockers such as ublock origin and/or umatrix and yet continue to consult websites that makes use of those trackers. Worse, they link those sites to other people that might not make use of those blockers. They don't think much of it, but ain't that evil? Most of the times they don't even notice anymore that trackers were blocked on the page they consult. Just lo…

Why stopping going to the sites? The point of blockers is specifically to make them harmless.

So they stop doing arm to others.

Once most websites understand it is not viable to attempt to mess with their own visitors, browsers could block the remaining ones by default?

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#55

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:28 PM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #46

>"Google and Facebook's hidden trackers across the Internet,..." Are these "hidden trackers" mentioned in the article just the normal beacons or are they referring to something new? Are these relevant if a person is not logged into neither FB or Google or if someone has uBlock Origin/Privacy Badger installed?

Facebook, at least, is quite happy to build your shadow profile regardless of whether you're logged in.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#56

Post by linsomniac » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:31 PM UTC

I feel like I'm in the minority, but I'm mostly ok with Google. I feel like they are good stewards of my data (encrypting even internal traffic, severe restrictions on who can get access to my data, doing useful things with that data). I believe Facebook has similar policies in place.

I think their biggest sins are just being big. It makes them a larger target (which probably necessitates them taking extreme protections, otherwise they WOULD be taken down). Others that are much more concerning don't get attacked simply because they are smaller. For example Lyft and Uber who have both been found to have all sorts of personally identifiable information available to random employees. Or various ISPs tracking of data flowing through it.

To me, the cost of being google's product, is outweighed by what they provide me with. Search, news, music, assistant functions, "remember this day", "here is your family growing up", e-mail, automation of e-mails into actionable widgets... These things all are powered by Google knowing kind of a lot about me.

I don't know of any alternative to Google for these services, that respects privacy.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#57

Post by morganvachon » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:32 PM UTC

PuffinBlue wrote: post #41

zevv wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ghostery blocked 24

ublock didn't block anything. Then I realised that this site allows auto-playing videos so at some point in the past I seem to have disabled JavaScript on this site. I wish it was easier to control JavaScript usage as the visitor. It's either very complex or just 'turn it all off and go somewhere else if nothing works'. Perhaps the second option is the 'correct' response though.

If you're using Firefox and you want to keep JavaScript enabled but stop auto-playing videos, you can go into about:config and set media.autoplay.enabled to false. I'm not sure if other browsers have a similar switch, but this works in any current version of Firefox. It only affects HTML5 video containers; Flash and Silverlight video containers may still auto-play.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#58

Post by danjc » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

Surely the bullet at the top should read "Google and Facebook's impact on our privacy cannot be overstated", not understated!

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#59

Post by resu_nimda » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

Google and Facebook also use your data as input for increasingly sophisticated AI algorithms that put you in a filter bubble — an alternate digital universe that controls what you see in their products, based on what their algorithms think you are most likely to click on. These echo chambers distort people's reality, creating a myriad of unintended consequences such as increasing societal polarization.

How is this any different from the pre- or sans-Google and Facebook world? People have always lived in bubbles, always been funneled down a particular path by their experiential influences. Without Google or Facebook, if you were a white supremacist, it’s probably because you were influenced by white supremacists and you would continue to surround yourself with them. If you were someone who really strived to expose yourself to different ideas and things outside your bubble, you can arguably do that easier than ever now.

This isn’t really to “exonerate” FB and Big G, but I think it’s worth asking what impact they’ve really had on this basic facet of life.

Re: Google and Facebook are watching our every move online

#60

Post by DaniFong » Wed, Jan 31, 2018, 6:35 PM UTC

These guys are selling data to "advertisers" that are actually trolls trying to subvert our democracy. They specifically target pain points and make things unbearable online for people. They use their data to alter the subliminal landscape. It made everyone at each other's throats.