I have had to visit the #nixos channel in Freenode (IRC) lately on a computer with all tracking disabled and the Recaptcha that is usually just click and continue becomes a multi-minute endeavor finding street signs, cars and buses. You really get punished if you opt out of tracking.
New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
91–100 of 463 posts
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
iOS is becoming more attractive by the day.
Well, I just turn my location services off. I can't stand the Apple ecosystem even if I have to give them a huge props that they take integrity way more seriously than Google. Maybe I should invest in a dumb phone.
If you're really willing to go to a dumbphone... just get an iPhone and don't install any apps. That way, at the very least, you still have a killer camera.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I just turn my location services off. I can't stand the Apple ecosystem even if I have to give them a huge props that they take integrity way more seriously than Google. Maybe I should invest in a dumb phone.
If you're really willing to go to a dumbphone... just get an iPhone and don't install any apps. That way, at the very least, you still have a killer camera.
I have an iPhone 8 actually, but the screen is broken. Recently switched to an Samsung, which I now kind of regret.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/ A good read on Google and Eric Schmidt's relationship with the State Department and federal government in general "There was nothing politically hapless about Eric Schmidt. I had been too eager to see a politically unambitious Silicon Valley engineer, a relic of the good old days of computer science graduate culture on the West Coast"
I am not sure that is really a trustworthy source at this point. Particularly since it seems to focus a lot on involving Hillary.
That is a poor reason for casting doubt...that the facts are inconvenient to your politics.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#95This dark pattern seems to be spreading. Amazon recently pushed out an update to their (beta last I knew) web app that allows you to use their smile.amazon.com charity donation through the app. But in order to turn that on, you have to turn on all the notifications the app has, including their rather constant pushes of "deals I may be interested in". They're holding you hostage to their notifications because "it's fo…
Huh? Are you talking about adding a shortcut to smile.amazon.com to your homepage or do you mean the actual native app? I can add a shortcut (on iOS) to smile.amazon.com but I don’t see why that would ever send me a notification. The native iOS shopping app has no option I can find to default or even select smile. Am I missing something? Also what does Amazon have to do with SV?
It's the native app, albeit in beta, so you may not have it yet. You can turn on smile functionality in the app, but you must turn on all notifications.
"Also what does Amazon have to do with SV?"
Amazon is part of metaphorical Silicon Valley. So's Microsoft, for instance. Metaphorical Silicon Valley is too large to fit in literal Silicon Valley.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#96This dark pattern seems to be spreading. Amazon recently pushed out an update to their (beta last I knew) web app that allows you to use their smile.amazon.com charity donation through the app. But in order to turn that on, you have to turn on all the notifications the app has, including their rather constant pushes of "deals I may be interested in". They're holding you hostage to their notifications because "it's fo…
I think the ad-tech industry has tapped into what can only be called -- and no offense to anyone here -- "virtue signalling." There's no doubt studies done on this, hence the new "controversial" sort of nature of some of the advertising. Who knew that Gillette and Nike were so interested in social issues, and not a bottom line PNL result. In the same way, perhaps, Amazon marketing teams found some research to suggest…
It is not a very conspicuous signal. I don't know which one of my friends use Amazon Smile. I don't think the dark pattern would work well if Amazon Smile was only social signalling. Seems to me it relies much more upon the fact that actual money is given to charities. Pretty gross of Amazon to add unrelated self serving conditions to such giving.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
This happens to me too, various opt-in nags on both desktop and mobile. Using google maps has become a chore for me. I used to like going to the site or the app and browsing around for fun to learn about a new place. Now I only use it when I absolutely need to.
I'm now trying to use OSMAnd wherever possible. If there's a location I can't use it to find, I'll revert to Google Maps (and click 'no' to the opt in nag). When home, I'll make sure to update OpenStreetMap to make their map more useful. I'm convinced that open data is the better option. Certainly, I'm happy to volunteer my time and effort to contribute to things like OSM (and Wikipedia), but I'm loathe to part with…
OSMAnd sucks in the states. Can't find any standard address that all other GPS apps can. Its sad since I would use it more.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#98Honestly tired of Europe pretending like they are so high and mighty for flagging tech companies for "privacy violations." Frankly it's insulting to say that adults cannot decide for themselves how they want their data used. At this point, users know if you turn on Google tracks you. It is worth it to many for the convenience of quality results Google delivers. If it isn't turn it off. But to say it is Google's fault…
This is comical. I try really hard to keep Google from tracking me. I use DDG, FastMail, iOS, have pseudonymous accounts for logging into Youtube. But I know Google still has a pile of information on me through reCaptcha, trackers on various web sites (Google analytics for starters) and services that use the Google Maps API. So I'm left with the nagging sense that I'm still being tracked by Google, no matter what I d…
It doesn't even matter anymore if they can tie your actions to your identity, so long as they can tie your actions to the information that they choose to let you consume.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#99"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Eric Schmidt, 2009
This attitude makes me so off the charts angry, I struggle to put it into words. I think Jews in Germany in the 1920s didn't think they were doing anything wrong, or feel a need to actively hide it.
Eric Schmidt is a horrible human being. Nothing surprises me coming from him.
Re: New study: Google manipulates users into constant tracking
#100"If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Eric Schmidt, 2009
Beyond the obvious implications of this statement, it makes me consider Fredric Jameson's argument that the separation between modernism and postmodernism is that postmodernism replaces temporarily with spatiality. How this connects to Schmidt's statement is that it, too, denies the temporal dimension, in that an individual might have something they don't care is known, but that when is of prime importance, whether that be in in regards to what might be called more intense circumstances, or simply that, say, and author typically does not want the first draft of a book out there.