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Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

theguardian.com

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Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#71

Post by efdee »

danarmak wrote: post #24

This is nonsensical: > The data Google has on you can fill millions of Word documents. > Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you. I’ve requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB big, which is roughly 3m Word documents. This link [Google Takeout] includes your bookmarks, emails, contacts, your Google Drive files, all of the above information, your YouTube videos, the photos you’ve t…

The Activity one is a bit scary though. How many Android users are aware that Android tracks their app use and whatnot in this fashion?

I think that's a point to take home. Users know that Google looks at their "location information". In their minds, it's to provide relevant weather info and whatnot. Seeing it aggregated in this way makes you realise that you actually are sending your entire life to Google servers.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#72

Post by gowld »

ballenf wrote: post #33
danarmak wrote: post #24

This is nonsensical: > The data Google has on you can fill millions of Word documents. > Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you. I’ve requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB big, which is roughly 3m Word documents. This link [Google Takeout] includes your bookmarks, emails, contacts, your Google Drive files, all of the above information, your YouTube videos, the photos you’ve t…

Agree mostly, but was surprised that the archive includes long-deleted emails and Drive files. Unless the author was mistake -- haven't tested myself.

Considering the author showed fundamental misunderstanding wrong right at the start, why would you assume they got the rest right?

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/65213-briefly-stated-the-ge...

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#73

Post by efdee »

halayli wrote: post #68

This is where a legit issue start to turn into clickbait weak journalism.

I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it as clickbait. Do you really think non-tech people are aware of the amount of aggregated data these companies have on them?

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#75

Post by gowld »

acobster wrote: post #63

This person stored their PGP private key on Google Drive, which they use "to encrypt" emails. I'm glad the author is security-conscious enough to know what PGP is, I guess. And that they deleted it from Drive (didn't say why, hopefully they came to their senses about the more-than-usual amount of trust they were placing in Google). Is there a valid use case for "encrypting" email with a private key? I guess signing a…

One of PGP's functions is to encrypt email. Why would you expect someone be savvy enough to understand how PGP works but not be savvy enough to use its main function?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#76

Post by pttrn »

Both of those services are free of charge. What did people think was going to happen? I really don't get the huge amount of paranoia these stories have been generating recently. You're using an SaaS platform, so yes, they have your data. "Your data" is literally their business model.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#77

Post by mda »

ForHackernews wrote: post #67
dwighttk wrote: post #47

I was actually surprised going down the list at how little Google has on me. I mean, I've used Duckduckgo for a long time and never used Android, but forgot I had turned off ad personalization and deleted youtube and search history. I'm surprised they didn't have anything in search or youtube because I deleted the history long enough ago that I didn't remember doing it, so I've successfully stayed away from using the…

Do you think they actually delete your history when you turn those features off? I assumed they just stopped displaying it to you.

They actually completely wipe out. This was discussed before by Google Sres.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#78

Post by gowld »

DarkCrusader2 wrote: post #34
supermdguy wrote: post #18

My google activity history, youtube search/watch history, and location history are all completely empty because I've disabled all of it. I would recommend going through the privacy checkup[0] to control what does and doesn't get saved. [0] https://myaccount.google.com/privacycheckup

I also did it some time ago, but I have a feeling, with nothing to backup my claim, that they still log, store and analyse all my activity but just don't show it in the dashboard. I don't know how targeted ads are (because of ad block) but youtube doesn't suggest me anything based on watch history so I guess I might be wrong here.

Have you considered filing a lawsuit? That would be a great way to punish someone for violating their privacy policy and EU obligations.
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