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After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

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Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#91

Post by ihm »

AJ007 wrote: post #44
justinzollars wrote: post #35

Concerned that google has so much info ( https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity ) I visited https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols to turn off Web & App Activity, but left Voice & Audio Activity on. This breaks my google home. I do not want Google to save 20 years of search history so I can use a stupid google home. For the first time I'm considering Apple's device. This is a dark pattern Google

I’m waiting for an answer to this: will the least invasive platforms end up the least intelligent?

Eventually, once various forms of fully homomorphic encryption become practical, we can have the best of both worlds.

That being said, using cryptography to protect information will probably always have some (albeit constant) overhead over unprotected computation, so it may be true that these platforms will still be the "least intelligent" even though they are intelligent enough.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#92

Post by Mononokay »

notacoward wrote: post #75
Mononokay wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which is also what's behind journalists, bloggers, etc. all hating on Facebook too, but nobody ever wants to hear that. Yeah, no. Generalisations are stupid. Doctorow's a perfect example of why what you're saying isn't true, for example.

One counterexample doesn't prove anything, and Doctorow is barely even a relevant example. It's journalists who feel most threatened by Facebook, as they see their subscriber base - and thus their own income opportunities - dwindling. Pseudo-journalist commentators even more so. Once they might have looked to Facebook as a possible ally, a channel through which they could ply their profession, but increasingly (to an…

He said "All"

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#93

Post by jacksmith21006 »

rlv-dan wrote: post #26
aphextron wrote: post #16

I trust Google, but it's only because I have to. Their tools are 10x better than anything else for many cases, so you're simply doing yourself a disservice to not use them. It's not like Facebook where I can just email my friends or whatever. Google search is a fundamentally life changing technology that is untouched by any competitor.

Google may be better than everyone else. The question is though, do you really need all that "betterness"? Because if you don't, there are actually plenty of alternatives to choose from. They may not be as good as Google, but they do their job pretty well. Giving up some of the (perceived) "Google awesomeness" in favor for say privacy, may be worth considering. Just a thought.

I do and why I use Google. But live in the US which is a free country to use whatever you want and just want to be left alone so I can.

I am fine with you using whatever you want.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#94

Post by jacksmith21006 »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #22
aphextron wrote: post #16

I trust Google, but it's only because I have to. Their tools are 10x better than anything else for many cases, so you're simply doing yourself a disservice to not use them. It's not like Facebook where I can just email my friends or whatever. Google search is a fundamentally life changing technology that is untouched by any competitor.

>Their tools are 10x better than anything else for many cases, so you're simply doing yourself a disservice to not use them. I think that at this point that's basically only true for mapping, and they are losing ground on that, slowly. You've got stockholm syndrome.

Google maps

https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ Google Maps's Moat - Justin O'Beirne

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#95

Post by icebraining »

pjc50 wrote: post #69
icebraining wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do these appear? If it's in the Recommendations, you can delete them, then a link appears called "Tell Us Why", and in that dialog you can see which video in your history influenced that recommendation (and tell it to stop recommending stuff based on it). It's always worked quite well for me. I have zero crap in my recommendations.

The problem isn't just my reccomendations, it's those of my fellow citizens, voters, and potential lynch mobs. (Also, I don't get the information on why a video is reccomended to me - is it country-specific? I was googling for how to find it and ironically came across a huge thread of complaints: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/youtube/7Sf7E... )

The problem isn't just my reccomendations, it's those of my fellow citizens, voters, and potential lynch mobs.

No argument there.

Also, I don't get the information on why a video is reccomended to me - is it country-specific?

I don't know; it worked in all European countries I've used it in. You mouse over the video, it shows the three-dots menu (⋮), then you choose "Not Interested", then the thumbnail is replaced by text saying "Video Removed" and "Tell Us Why".

Example: https://imgur.com/a/zlUtCfc

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#96

Post by jacksmith21006 »

Zhenya wrote: post #28
Sir_Substance wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Their tools are 10x better than anything else for many cases, so you're simply doing yourself a disservice to not use them. I think that at this point that's basically only true for mapping, and they are losing ground on that, slowly. You've got stockholm syndrome.

I'll bite. What's actually better than: * Gmail * Search * Docs And all of the Integration that works cross platform for all of those.

Won't get an answer as there is nothing better. But people just use whatever you want and let me do the same.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#97

Post by icebraining »

wybiral wrote: post #54
icebraining wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do these appear? If it's in the Recommendations, you can delete them, then a link appears called "Tell Us Why", and in that dialog you can see which video in your history influenced that recommendation (and tell it to stop recommending stuff based on it). It's always worked quite well for me. I have zero crap in my recommendations.

Usually the "Up next" queue where it supposedly suggests related videos. I don't pay much attention to the recommendations on the main page or anything. And some have been ads. One that sticks out was selling some crazy deep state book, but the ads was mostly just selling a conspiracy theory about the FBI.

Oh, the related videos. Yeah, I don't know if those can be influenced. I keep the autoplay disabled.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#98

Post by lozenge »

product50 wrote: post #81
justinzollars wrote: post #35

Concerned that google has so much info ( https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity ) I visited https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols to turn off Web & App Activity, but left Voice & Audio Activity on. This breaks my google home. I do not want Google to save 20 years of search history so I can use a stupid google home. For the first time I'm considering Apple's device. This is a dark pattern Google

Yeah - you want to make use of Google services (search, maps, youtube, Photos etc.) for free and don't want to give anything in return. #entitlement Also, most likely you turning off tracking will impact your Google experience. Google is different than Facebook in that they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web. Just count how many times you rely on a Google service in a day. The…

I just want to set my alarms and do some searches by voice. Why does this require my web browsing history?

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#99

Post by sfotm »

product50 wrote: post #81
justinzollars wrote: post #35

Concerned that google has so much info ( https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity ) I visited https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols to turn off Web & App Activity, but left Voice & Audio Activity on. This breaks my google home. I do not want Google to save 20 years of search history so I can use a stupid google home. For the first time I'm considering Apple's device. This is a dark pattern Google

Yeah - you want to make use of Google services (search, maps, youtube, Photos etc.) for free and don't want to give anything in return. #entitlement Also, most likely you turning off tracking will impact your Google experience. Google is different than Facebook in that they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web. Just count how many times you rely on a Google service in a day. The…

"they offer real value services without which you can't survive a day on the web"

This is just not true.

There are viable competitors in about every space that Google is in. Use local documents and sync via a different storage provider. Alternate email providers exist. The only place where they have a distinct advantage is search, and even then, DuckDuckGo is usually enough (and if it's not, just pass a !g flag).

YouTube is also a thing, but I've never felt that having an account really gave me anything over just bookmarking channels.

Re: After Facebook scrutiny, is Google next?

#100

Post by scottie_m »

jacksmith21006 wrote: post #93
rlv-dan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google may be better than everyone else. The question is though, do you really need all that "betterness"? Because if you don't, there are actually plenty of alternatives to choose from. They may not be as good as Google, but they do their job pretty well. Giving up some of the (perceived) "Google awesomeness" in favor for say privacy, may be worth considering. Just a thought.

I do and why I use Google. But live in the US which is a free country to use whatever you want and just want to be left alone so I can. I am fine with you using whatever you want.

Use whichever search engine maybe, but not “use whatever you want” in general. The US is hardly “do what you want” in the general case. Is also the home of, “you have a duopoly, but you’re free to pick between the two,” trying to lock your mobile down. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doj-at-t/u-s-said-to-inve...
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