the original link.....http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/confessions-of-a-google-junkie-or-privacy-what-privacy/3553
Summary: A lot has been made of Google’s new privacy policy and terms of use. I say bring it on.
There are very few aspects of my life that don’t somehow involve Google. My phone runs on Android, my favorite tablet just got an OTA update to Ice Cream Sandwich (!!!), I use Chrome across all of my computers, I develop AdWords campaigns, I use Analytics to develop metrics for the day job and dive into SEO, I handle many of the CBS Interactive Google webcasts, I use Google Docs almost exclusively for productivity, and my wife doesn’t know where I am half the time until she checks my Google Calendar (which, in fact, aggregate two other Google Calendars).
I’m increasingly turning to Google+ as my source of relevant information and opinions, a function previously reserved for Twitter, and I’ve even dispensed with bookmarks, instead using Google Sites to organize important pages and resources.
I live, eat, breathe, work, and play Google and there aren’t many people more aware of Google’s business model and the amount of data it collects than I. So is it just sheer stupidity and naiveté that has me utterly embracing the Google ecosystem and relatively unconcerned about newly announced privacy policies that have caused so much consternation this week? Before you jump down to the talkbacks to tell me how stupid I really am, read on for another couple paragraphs.
As Larry Dignan pointed out in his post about the new policies last night,
Google noted that it already has all that data, but it’s now integrating that information across products. It’s a change in how Google will use the data not what it collects. In other words, Google already knows more about you than your wife.
From my perspective, though, I can live with Google knowing a lot about me. It knows, for example, that I’ve recently developed an obsession with the electric guitar and have been researching inexpensive models that I might just be able to justify as a birthday present to myself. It doesn’t judge, it just shows me the best deals in display ads on the three models of guitar and 2 models of amps I’ve been reading about the most. My wife isn’t aware of this obsession and her take on it would be judgmental (God love her!): “When will you have time to play guitar? And we’re supposed to be saving money! And what’s wrong with your acoustic guitar?”
Taking this a step further, as Google’s new privacy policies and terms of use do, I should expect to start seeing guitar-related apps in my suggestions in the Google Market and the Chrome Marketplace. Guitarists on Google+ should start appearing in suggested people to add to my circles and Google Reader should offer to download Guitar Player Magazine feeds for me. And, more likely than not, I’ll start seeing more guitar-related ads as well.
Google’s goal, of course, is to sell advertising. That’s about 97% of their revenue. By pulling people like me into their increasingly unified ecosystem, they can demonstrate very high click-through rates to potential advertisers and charge a premium to reach highly targeted and yet incredibly vast audiences.
They need to give me something in return
For me to buy into this, they need to give me something in return. Something to make all things Google really sticky. Like a wide array of free tools from Google Docs to Google Music to Google Voice. And cheap tools that I buy for my business like Google Apps and AdWords. Their new policies are designed to be more transparent, but also to pave the way for these tools to talk to each other better, making them even stickier through a unified experience and more relevant services.
Back to the wife comparison that Larry brought up. My wife knows that every Friday night is pizza night in our house. So does Google, since every Friday around 4:30 I pull out my Android and use Google Voice Search to find the number of whatever pizza joint we decide to patronize that week. Fine. Google, however, can actually do something more useful with that information than my wife can (”Where should I order pizza, sweetheart?” “Wherever, just not that place down the road. Or that other place. And make sure they’re having a deal!”).
Come Friday morning, the ads I see on Gmail or Google search should start being pretty pizza-heavy: Dominos, Papa Johns, and a place or two that has an active Google Offer. As I’m driving home that evening, the GPS on my phone should set off an alert when I drive past a well-reviewed pizza place (assuming I’ve set location-based preferences to alert me to destinations with at least four-star average reviews). And the minute I type a P in my mobile browser, Google Instant should leap into action and display nearby pizza places and a news story about a new place to get pizza in the next town.
We’re not quite there yet, but this is the sort of integration and experience that Google is covering in its new policies and terms of use. I know that my privacy red flags should probably be going off. Google has gigabytes of information about me and is using that information to help its advertisers sell products. That’s bad, right?
Guess what, folks? This is the semantic web
And yet, I don’t think it is. Many of the same techies who cry foul over these new policies have also been pushing for the development of the semantic web to make it easier to find what we actually need in the trillions of web pages floating around the Internet. Guess what, folks? This is the semantic web. When our search engines know what we actually mean, when data on the web automagically becomes information we can use easily and quickly, we’ve arrived.
And the semantic web can’t exist without “the web” (whatever that is) knowing a lot about us. It takes data for a computer to understand our needs and process natural language efficiently. Some of those data will necessarily be fairly personal.
Now, if I start getting spam from pizza places or calls on my Google Voice number from Dominos because Google has sold my contact information and preferences to advertisers, we have a problem and I’ll be waving my privacy flag as high as anyone else. However, when I opt in by opening a Google account and staying logged in as I surf the web, I’m not only consenting to the collection and aggregation of data about me, I’m asking that it be done so that the web and related tools can be more useful to me. This sort of data mining lets me work faster, play easier, and find the best pizza in a 20-mile radius.
For its part, Google needs to remain the trusted broker of these data. No, I don’t like the idea that our government could brand me a terrorist and seize these gigabytes of data under the Patriot Act. The alternative, though, is an ever-growing morass of web sites and tools that I get to dig through manually.
And, by the way, even if I’m not logged in to my Google account as I’m doing it, my ISP knows the sites I’ve visited, too, and could just as easily (if not more so) be compelled to turn over this information to the real Big Brother in all of this.
Far more trust in Google than the Feds
Honestly, I have far more trust in Google than I do in the Feds. Google is motivated by money: they need my trust to keep collecting those data to keep making it easier for me to buy things from Google’s paying advertisers. If that trust is broken by inappropriate sharing of data, then my eyeballs go elsewhere and so do the advertisers who target me via AdWords and AdSense. Our government has no such financial motivation. Money talks.
The fact that the speech recognition on my phone kicks ass because I use Google Voice all the time and it’s learned how I talk might be a little creepy, but it’s far more important that I can do a Google search or send a text while I’m driving without taking my eyes off the road.
Welcome to 2012, folks. The semantic web has arrived. Use it well and let’s keep Google’s new policies in perspective. And Google? Don’t be evil. I have a lot of colleagues who will be pointing, laughing, and saying I told you so if you ever are.
Nice article.
I think the key for Google's continued success is to keep the advertising passive, suggestions when you're searching etc. aren't in your face but they work.
You see a lot of people complaining that they've been searching for something online and then all of the adverts on the websites they visit contain something pertaining to that, and they grumble that it's annoying. Personally, I'd much rather see an advert to something that's relevant to me rather than a cluttered webpage of irrelevant information.
By targeting adverts and increasing their relevance to the individual, they are far more likely to be successful. This means that the revenue per advert is going to improve and websites aren't going to need to cover their website in adverts (at the cost of the user experience) to make it profitable.
Plus given the huge amount of free stuff that google gives you, it's a bit rich for somebody to complain that they're trying to get something back off you.
I too would much rather see things directly targeted towards me then just random ads. And everyone is up in arms about google recording what you do. Well i think of it this way, i'm fine with them getting to know me and my behavior and what i do, as long as they keep providing FREE products for me.
Ahh the good old "If they are going to screw me without consent, I would much rather they knew my name, stroked my hair and whispered sweet nothings into my ear while they did it."
I prefer to treat my online habbits like the strange neighbour a few doors down. Say "hi" in passing, and realise that while they probrobly know more than I would want them to from when I've invited them over for coffee and from peeking in my windows as they walk past, know that I don't actually have to put up with their $#!+ if they become too creepy.
Thats why its important there are alternitives and competition, and that we as consumers don't put our eggs all in one basket and be prepared to protest or move on if they stretch the friendship too far.
I know privacy is impossible in this day and age but that doent mean you have to lie back and take it. "because you know it means well and it does give you nice gifts once in a while"
My suggestion is cut your reliance on any one brand and spread out the load.
hungry81 said:
My suggestion is cut your reliance on any one brand and spread out the load.
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I like the author am reliant on Google these days. I'd be happy to look at alternatives. Granted they work on the platforms I needs them to, Android 2.X and 3.2, Linux+chrome, windows XP + chrome, and windows 7 + firefox or chrome. The linux requirement cuts out a lot of things, iTunes/iCloud for example.
Have any suggestions who/where i could go for:
Music
Docs
G+
Gmail
Needs a slick webUI, and the searching ability of gmail
Calendar
I need delegation and the ability for my wife to add me to events and share calendars.
Reader
works on all my devices, and syncs between them
I would very much like my phone to know when I leave work. Now i could do this with some sort of timer, but I end up working somewhat flexible hours, and have a leaving time of anywhere within an hour and a half. I would like it to know that since I now have "buy bread, milk, and eggs" on my to-do list (thanks hun!), that it needs to remind me of that on the way home. Even better if it can just direct me to a store with a deal on one or all of those things.
I like that the first hit in Google I get for cookies is the wikipedia page for http cookies and the second is to pythons cookielib module. Where as I bet my grandmother gets, chocolate chip cookies. The ability for Google search to know that I have a particular artist in my collection, and show me the bind's page near the top of the results without me having to add "band" to my search terms.
Anyways, if and when Google starts selling my data to 3rd parties, I'll export my data and move. Google makes it fairly painless to do that.
tl;dr I'm new, I'm not a very knowledgeable developer, I have an idea that I want your opinion about.
Heyo Peoples,
I'm new and I like to think a lot about cool new stuff with mobile devices (web, software, hardware, etc). I've been thinking a lot recently about how people like to use mobile devices, and how we might use them in the near future--thinking past what's being done now, and into what comes next.
I've been wondering for a while why there isn't an existing piece of functionality on mobile devices that allows a user complete control of the device and every piece of information on it. Imagine a GUI except instead of graphics, it's like interacting with a person. (aside: first person to say Siri should be shunned like an Amish girl who went to a movie theater).
Is it outrageous to say that you should be able to pick up your phone and have it find anything, from anytime in the past that you have done with or on it? I know that would take mountains of data, but is it silly? In it's most basic form, this would just be a search feature. In it's most eloquent form it could be an operating system. Imagine being able to ask your phone what you did last Wednesday, or maybe where you were. What if it could recall emails or documents based on date, time, location where you were when you wrote it, keyword, or contact, based on verbal interaction? What if it tracked data usage by application, or allowed you to measure and optimize system performance with a verbal command (ex. "Shut down all apps except for Google Maps" or "How much data am I using per minute").
Is it too early to start wishing for an interface like that computer on Paycheck (horrible movie with Ben Afleck) or Cortana in Halo? Is this type of interface impractical or implausible?
If you were to make something like this, would it have to be a new operating system built from the ground up, or could you develop an app to do this, or could you hack Android to do it? I welcome all of your feedback.
Lots of questions, and I have very few answers.
Jujubes said:
tl;dr I'm new, I'm not a very knowledgeable developer, I have an idea that I want your opinion about.
Heyo Peoples,
I'm new and I like to think a lot about cool new stuff with mobile devices (web, software, hardware, etc). I've been thinking a lot recently about how people like to use mobile devices, and how we might use them in the near future--thinking past what's being done now, and into what comes next.
I've been wondering for a while why there isn't an existing piece of functionality on mobile devices that allows a user complete control of the device and every piece of information on it. Imagine a GUI except instead of graphics, it's like interacting with a person. (aside: first person to say Siri should be shunned like an Amish girl who went to a movie theater).
Is it outrageous to say that you should be able to pick up your phone and have it find anything, from anytime in the past that you have done with or on it? I know that would take mountains of data, but is it silly? In it's most basic form, this would just be a search feature. In it's most eloquent form it could be an operating system. Imagine being able to ask your phone what you did last Wednesday, or maybe where you were. What if it could recall emails or documents based on date, time, location where you were when you wrote it, keyword, or contact, based on verbal interaction? What if it tracked data usage by application, or allowed you to measure and optimize system performance with a verbal command (ex. "Shut down all apps except for Google Maps" or "How much data am I using per minute").
Is it too early to start wishing for an interface like that computer on Paycheck (horrible movie with Ben Afleck) or Cortana in Halo? Is this type of interface impractical or implausible?
If you were to make something like this, would it have to be a new operating system built from the ground up, or could you develop an app to do this, or could you hack Android to do it? I welcome all of your feedback.
Lots of questions, and I have very few answers.
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Click to collapse
This is probably not as far off as it seems. The developers of "Utter" have come along way in the right direction. You should maybe approach them with your ideas. Not all of them of course . Save some for yourself.
One problem I see is semantics. "Shut down all apps except for Google Maps" sounds good - but do you really mean ALL apps ? The line that would be walked is one where the developer must train the program to not necessarily do what they ask, but do what they WANT. It gets trickier when you realise that some people who aren't your average users might want to test things and shut down an app (in this case) that an average user would never want shut, where they might mess up their phone beyond their ability to repair if they did.
I think speech is a great tool to interact, though I'm not going to be a person to use it. I don't think speech will ever become a default unless there are other technological advances that change how we interact with the world. It's annoying enough to hear someone gabbing loudly to another human on the phone, do we really want people gabbing AT their phones as a default interface ? I think privacy is a driving factor that will keep sound from being a major interface - perhaps it could work for in home applications, but out in public people may not want to announce to the world who they are calling, what they are looking for, or what site they're logging on to, et cetera. Until there's technology to make voice and sound less "public", I don't see this being the future of phones - it's more of a nice thing to have as an "extra" for when a person is comfortable using it.
But, hey, maybe we'll get used to wearing Google Glass and talking to ourselves all the time - or we'll get in-ear buds or implants where we can choose to hear the outside world or not. Just exploring the possibilities here.
I do think it's a big "outrageous" to have infinite backup. Just take a look at how much data companies like Amazon and Facebook acquire on a per-day basis. Think about how much data you use on a daily basis. I don't have the money or desire to be buying new HDDs every other week. Maybe in the future there will be a technological revolution that allows for mass amounts of data to be stored in even smaller spaces. But current technology in that regard is still very expensive and persnickety - read about high capacity SD cards and how fragile they can be and about data needing to be "refreshed" or they can become corrupt. There are lots of issues that make backing up everything you do impracticable.
And, again - privacy concerns. Do I really want my computer to know what I did last Wednesday and who I was with ? What if someone stole my computer or phone and had access to that information ? If we had the technology to do that, who's to say that current encryption would be "enough" - or that someone wouldn't go ahead and try to hack it anyway if they felt finding out basically everything about you was worth brute-forcing your phone or whatever they'd do in the future ? And have no password or a crappy one - even easier for them to know EVERYTHING about you, now.
Highly visual and talk-activated computers are absolutely great for games, movies, and TV. Why ? They function as narrative devices. They allow the actor to say or explain things they otherwise wouldn't have said out loud for personal, practical, or security reasons. They can become characters in their own right. People like those big screen computer displays where the characters are poking things all over and up and down - it looks cool. But not so cool is having your arms get tired from reaching up and around all the time. Not so cool is having to tell the computer out loud what kind of special images you want to search for when you have house-mates living in the next room over.
Just some thoughts. If you have other or counter ideas, go right on ahead.
Hello guys, this is a small article cum question thread. After reading please give me your views.
When we buy a phone and we start with our gmail id.
They forcefully sync all data, even the gallery (picasa).
I mean why is Google entering in our life so much..
They have every single detail. Contact , location, whereabouts, preferences, taste, when we get up/ sleep...
Every single data is with Google.
Now Google glass... Its too much interference...
I feel like being spy by a person name Google. Prove me wrong, I will be glad.
Before Android, I had Nokia phone. I never felt being spy every time.
I have spend lots of money on my Android phone but im feeling insecured every moment.
Why Google force all to sync the data/ why Google wants to enter in everyon's life?
Are we purchasing Android phones for being monitored 24x7?
Let me know your views too..
Thank you.
Disclaimer:
I am not an apple fan. I have shared experience and beyond this I don't have intension to degrade the goodwill of gaint Google.
Supporting links for this thread
http://m.firstpost.com/tech/how-to-stop-googlefbspyingyou-220138.html?page=1
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=imbkac40t38&desktop_uri=/watch?v=imbkac40t38
Endless....
We've all heard about the "big brother". Before the TV reality shows there was only books and stories about it, there were wars for power and world dominance. May be my words are too strong, but think about it - there are strong arguments in DBZo07's post, don't you think?
Google may be one of the reasons for the next World War. I am sure that there will be one - all of the major civilizations before us have disappeared for various reasons, most of them connected with war and the will of dominance. We will wipe ourselfs too or will become "human androids".
I think that we should think about what will be the next kind of terrorism? I doubt it will be for petrol, gold, money... it will be about information, communication, privacy - and Google are getting even more and more into our life, as DBZo07 have observed. It was only 8 years ago when for most of us smartphones were a joke and look now - hybrids, phonepads, padphones, tablets, docking stations, virtual HDD's (cloud storage)... Now can you leave without Viber, skype, facebook, gmail? No, you can't and if you could you will be searching for better replacements.
When you put all of the things it really seems too much. What if someone uses the information we share virtually each day? What if someone wants more than just money to share or store our information or to communicate with each other? Now they want our money, but tomorrow?
May be someone will want more from us tomorrow... may be we will start to sync our dreams for more efficient sleep time.
Or probably my arguments are nonsense and no one will let these thing happen. I hope so and I believe so - you should believe too
Yes it is bad, but just do like everybody disliking this state, deactivate all you can that allow google to "follow" you.
At the end, androïd is not linux, androïd is "google is watching you OS", so make all you can to hide yourself.
Maybe one day, we'll have a "pure" linux system for smartphones.
@mutha88 : that's what , we are forced to believe Google like God. Turning off auto sync may ease our mind. But still who knows about which data is being snatched with our data plan on all times in the very owned OS of Google. I still can appreciate Microsoft Windows, which is carring on from years after years still there is sense of personal private life being secured.
No doubt Google is an award winning innovative company but why getting personal to the extent of choking privacy.
On other hand, consumers are least concern about privacy now a days. Very trusted Microsoft is trying hard to penetrate phones and data stealer Google is having large pie of market share. It is we who made Google survive and in return we have loss of privacy.
@BombinBasta : yeah, but for development of any OS needs finance. Linux is free open source, hardly people donate. And Microsoft has enough money to carry on their development. Apple already charges too high for thier devices. Whereas Google... makes money from phones, market, various products and who knows what they make from every details of their users.
Seriously, as i heard from childgood that evil ends when they cross thier limits... will there be end of Google anyways!!! I wonder.
May be I'm wrong but their are no proper justifications from Google for interference.
Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk HD
u cant be free of data collection by google...
even if u never sync ur data and use internet on ur android(even if it a vanila AOSP android ) there is code in that to give the data to google.
in todays age of information technology....information/data is everything...WHO HOLDS THE DATA...HOLDS THE POWER TO RULE THE WORLD...
DBZo07 said:
@mutha88 : that's what , we are forced to believe Google like God. Turning off auto sync may ease our mind. But still who knows about which data is being snatched with our data plan on all times in the very owned OS of Google. I still can appreciate Microsoft Windows, which is carring on from years after years still there is sense of personal private life being secured.
No doubt Google is an award winning innovative company but why getting personal to the extent of choking privacy.
On other hand, consumers are least concern about privacy now a days. Very trusted Microsoft is trying hard to penetrate phones and data stealer Google is having large pie of market share. It is we who made Google survive and in return we have loss of privacy.
@BombinBasta : yeah, but for development of any OS needs finance. Linux is free open source, hardly people donate. And Microsoft has enough money to carry on their development. Apple already charges too high for thier devices. Whereas Google... makes money from phones, market, various products and who knows what they make from every details of their users.
Seriously, as i heard from childgood that evil ends when they cross thier limits... will there be end of Google anyways!!! I wonder.
May be I'm wrong but their are no proper justifications from Google for interference.
Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk HD
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Click to collapse
You act like Microsoft doesnt do the same thing. When ever you use any of their programs it is the same. Privacy is a moot point if you use the internet for anything. You would be amazed how many times your personal info is used. Use a Shopping card to get discounts? Tracked. Use a CC for anything? Tracked. Buy anything on line? Tracked. Use any social networks? Yup tracked again.
It is not just Google. If you trust MS so much then why not get a WP?
k2wl said:
u cant be free of data collection by google...
even if u never sync ur data and use internet on ur android(even if it a vanila AOSP android ) there is code in that to give the data to google.
in todays age of information technology....information/data is everything...WHO HOLDS THE DATA...HOLDS THE POWER TO RULE THE WORLD...
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Click to collapse
This information again shocking.. will there be a respect for privacy is a big question..
Is there any way that code being blocked ...
zelendel said:
You act like Microsoft doesnt do the same thing. When ever you use any of their programs it is the same. Privacy is a moot point if you use the internet for anything. You would be amazed how many times your personal info is used. Use a Shopping card to get discounts? Tracked. Use a CC for anything? Tracked. Buy anything on line? Tracked. Use any social networks? Yup tracked again.
It is not just Google. If you trust MS so much then why not get a WP?
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My bad.. Microsoft still a good sided. I'm not promoting Microsoft but everybody have used Windows and this hunger for data wasn't found, maybe Microsoft is too smart to do silently but there is a chance that it may or may not be true. Google openly does all stealing I mean who is going to held them!! We the users are just watching being used all time.
When I took Android , i wasn't aware of Google's hunger for information..
In the end, everyone is happy without Google's justifications...
Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk HD
I would like to point out that you are under no compulsion to connect an android phone to a Google account. You only need to connect your account if you want to avail of their services such as Play Store, syncing contacts, etc. If you can do without them, then by all means you can disconnect your Google account.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
sidthegreatest said:
I would like to point out that you are under no compulsion to connect an android phone to a Google account. You only need to connect your account if you want to avail of their services such as Play Store, syncing contacts, etc. If you can do without them, then by all means you can disconnect your Google account.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
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I completely agree...
As for me I don't like Google's spying so I uninstalled all their apps, including network location and Google framework service, and I use alternative apps for gtalk or Google play. And recently I even made a new email at Yahoo's. I know Yahoo spies as well, but since android is Google at least I don't put all my eggs in the same basket.
If like me you are very privacy concerned there are ways to cut the abusive permissions most apps use.
You need to be rooted, and then use apps like appsettings (in conjunction with xposer app), permissions denied, rom toolbox, greenify, privacy blocker, and the best (but unfortunately not available for all roms) : pdroid and its variants like open pdroid and the like.
For example, recently I downloaded the Yahoo app. Before to start using it I put it through privacy blocker and then changed the imei value and other nosy informations with fake values (thank you privacy blocker and respect to xeudoxus its developer). Then I opened appsettings and blocked other unwanted permissions (thank you rovo and tungstwenty, respect). Finally I started to use it, and when I'm done checking my mails I greenify (thank you oasisfeng and respect) the app to avoid background usage.
Of course when one does such things one doesn't get notifications as soon as a new message arrives, but as for me I don't care since I don't need, and don't want, to be connected and hence spied, 24 hours a day.
It's relatively easy to get rid of the spying, but of course you will loose 2-3 features.
It's up to you...
I did the same with my browsers (opera mini and dolphin), privacy blocker+ appsettings+greenify, and with Mozilla I use an add-on called self destructing cookies.
Another thing is that not only Google spies on us, actually everyone does.
Just have a look at the permissions used by your system (default) applications, it's insane moreover that when one blocks those abusive permissions the apps still work. Don't think that it would be any better with a custom room, it's exactly the same story with cyanogen mode or aosp or pa etc.
What I do is that I remove most system apps (keeping like 10 for my tab, and 20 something on my phone, which means that I uninstall over 100 system apps, exactly 160 on my tab's recent jb upgrade) and replace them with third party apps that are easier to control and whose permissions are easier to block. And of course I block everything I can, system and user apps alike.
One of these days when I have time I'll write a more precise guide on these matters...
unclefab said:
I completely agree...
As for me I don't like Google's spying so I uninstalled all their apps, including network location and Google framework service, and I use alternative apps for gtalk or Google play. And recently I even made a new email at Yahoo's. I know Yahoo spies as well, but since android is Google at least I don't put all my eggs in the same basket.
If like me you are very privacy concerned there are ways to cut the abusive permissions most apps use.
...........
One of these days when I have time I'll write a more precise guide on these matters...
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Sir, this is what I wanted to know. Thank you very much for your valuable time and experience shared here. I know this is serious concern and people like us need a way to be have a sound sleep without virtual spies.
About permissions, Google chrome takes permission to use camera and mic without and command by user.. I mean why Google needs it...again another why...
Your reply was very helpful, thank you...
keep updated me here when you can...
Stay blessed..
DBZo07 said:
Sir, this is what I wanted to know. Thank you very much for your valuable time and experience shared here. I know this is serious concern and people like us need a way to be have a sound sleep without virtual spies.
About permissions, Google chrome takes permission to use camera and mic without and command by user.. I mean why Google needs it...again another why...
Your reply was very helpful, thank you...
keep updated me here when you can...
Stay blessed..
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Click to collapse
My pleasure, I'm happy if I could help you...
Google chrome is one of the worst browser when it comes to privacy. If you want to keep on using it try to block the unwanted permissions like camera and mike with appsettings. The problem is that sometimes apps crash after having their perms blocked, and in this case what I do is just uninstalling and looking for another one that does the same job, fortunately there is no shortage of apps on the web
If you can't manage to tame Google chrome just use Mozilla. It has some abusive perms as well but they can be disabled for sure (I use it). Not with appsettings though but with permissions denied (another privacy app, quite powerful but one has to use it with care).
Just get the apps I recommended in my first post (some are paid but they are well worth the money) and start playing with them, in no time you will regain your privacy.
And uninstall as many system apps as you can...
Good luck!
Oh, I nearly forgot! Read my post in the following link, it tells which apps are safe to remove for the galaxy grand:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39395506
They anonymize all of the usage data as much as possible. If you don't like using Google services but still want to be able to download apps from the Play Store, go into Settings -> Accounts -> your Google account(s) -> uncheck all of the boxes for syncing various services.
Every company collects information on usage in order to better their products and find out how people are using them. They're not reading all of your emails (yes, their computers scan them to show you relevant text ads, but that's all) or coming to your house to film you while you're in the shower. You guys are overreacting. There is not one company who doesn't collect usage data. And if they don't, then they're doing it wrong, because they're developing their products and services blindly. Google is pretty clear about their data collection policies.
unclefab said:
My pleasure, I'm happy if I could help you...
Google chrome is one of the worst browser when it comes to privacy. If you want to keep on using it try to block the unwanted permissions like camera and mike with appsettings. The problem is that sometimes apps crash after having their perms blocked, and in this case what I do is just uninstalling and looking for another one that does the same job, fortunately there is no shortage of apps on the web
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You do realize that Chrome has the Microphone permission so that it can hear you when you use voice search, among other things, right? Your computer browser can also access your webcam and microphone...
I care about privacy as well, but you guys are wearing tinfoil hats. Google does not care about you. They just want to know how to further develop their products.
Product F(RED) said:
You do realize that Chrome has the Microphone permission so that it can hear you when you use voice search, among other things, right? Your computer browser can also access your webcam and microphone...
I care about privacy as well, but you guys are wearing tinfoil hats. Google does not care about you. They just want to know how to further develop their products.
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Of course I know that this perm is for the voice search, an app that I don't use either.
And I know that in 2013 it's not such a big deal if those big companies collect data about us, apart from spamming us with advs.
But I don't know how it will be in 10 our 20 years, and when I see the way our "democracies" go I rather understand now how to make myself invisible, better to prevent than to cure.
Imagine if Hitler had had this technology...
Those days are gone? I don't think so, the Yankees had Bush for eight years, the French had Sarkozy for five years, they were not modern Hitler but they were going in the same direction, cutting rough in the people's freedom.
They didn't go as far as Hitler but who knows what will happen in the next decades. I'm 44 and since the 90 ies I've seen a worrying drift towards less and less freedom, and it won't get any better for sure, it will only get worse.
Anyway, it's not only about this, it's about those apps using my data plan without asking, depleting my phone's battery and slowing my ram. If Google wants infos he has to pay for it, and I have to agree to sell him those infos.
Cuz my phone didn't come for free, I had to pay for it and I don't see why I should use my data plan to help big Google and co...
unclefab said:
Of course I know that this perm is for the voice search, an app that I don't use either.
And I know that in 2013 it's not such a big deal if those big companies collect data about us, apart from spamming us with advs.
But I don't know how it will be in 10 our 20 years, and when I see the way our "democracies" go I rather understand now how to make myself invisible, better to prevent than to cure.
Imagine if Hitler had had this technology...
Those days are gone? I don't think so, the Yankees had Bush for eight years, the French had Sarkozy for five years, they were not modern Hitler but they were going in the same direction, cutting rough in the people's freedom.
They didn't go as far as Hitler but who knows what will happen in the next decades. I'm 44 and since the 90 ies I've seen a worrying drift towards less and less freedom, and it won't get any better for sure, it will only get worse.
Anyway, it's not only about this, it's about those apps using my data plan without asking, depleting my phone's battery and slowing my ram. If Google wants infos he has to pay for it, and I have to agree to sell him those infos.
Cuz my phone didn't come for free, I had to pay for it and I don't see why I should use my data plan to help big Google and co...
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It's more like, "by using the software on this phone, you agree to Google's data collection policies." Either create your own ROM that doesn't include the code, or don't use the phone. You could go to Apple and use an iPhone, but they do the same thing. Microsoft does the same thing with Windows Phone. Palm did the same with WebOS. Seriously, there's nowhere you can go where anonymous data isn't collected to develop products.
I am glad that there are few more people who take their privacy seriously and knowledgeable enough to know what happening inside phones.
I strongly believe that this topic needs mass exposure. Millions of innocent people don't know what's happening and the risks. Take this topic to social networks and spread. For my part I will post this thread link on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
I would also wish that some of our great developers would come forward and help in this matter.
Thanks for starting this thread.
I knew people will feel thus topic as paranoid. But that's preference.
No problem, speak against topic or support this topic, you will help other members have clear picture of what I want to say. After all critics have role to play too. So thanks to all.
@unclefab thank you for your comment which helped me get my words meaningful.
@silentvisitor that's what I had planned to get the topic wide exposure. Hope, there will be respect for privacy oneday.
Revolutionary changes are required and that can be just hoped.
The only hope I can see is that when the country itself recognises this as an issue than it can impact on world... more and more country joins the cause the stronger will be the impact.
These are just hopes and how future will play that God knows.
Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk HD
Product F(RED) said:
It's more like, "by using the software on this phone, you agree to Google's data collection policies." Either create your own ROM that doesn't include the code, or don't use the phone. You could go to Apple and use an iPhone, but they do the same thing. Microsoft does the same thing with Windows Phone. Palm did the same with WebOS. Seriously, there's nowhere you can go where anonymous data isn't collected to develop products.
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Yep, true, and actually Apple is worse.
What I don't like, beside the fact that they hijack my connection, my battery and my ram (and I mean, not only Google but most apps), is that they create files about us. It's ok as long as we have a democracy but as I previously said I'm not very optimistic about democracy in the future, remember the infamous patriot act in the States...
For example, Google knows that mister uncle fab has a gmail account. It knows as well that uncle fab goes on this and that website and reads this or that page, buys this and that online, has this and that app on his phone, goes here or there (thank you GPS and Google now) and stops here or there, listens to this or that kind of music, watches this or that movie, takes this and that picture and so on.
Eventually they have a file about uncle fab, and know a lot about his life and his taste.
Suppose now that uncle fab is a commie and someone who disagrees with the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that he's a muslim who has traveled to some of the so called axe of evil countries (which I did by the way, that's why I take this example, but fear not for I'm no terrorist )
What would happen? If uncle fab lives in the States he may be in serious trouble and get invited to a nice all included stay in Guantanamo, eventhough he's not a terrorist.
Well that's just an example but seriously, what happens with all those files they gather about people? Not to mention facebook, you know what I mean, their data base is huge and includes pictures.
What will they do with those files in the event of the government turning fascist or half fascist?
I'm not a terrorist but I have some convictions and some ideas that would make me a bad guy for a fascist regime and that would bring me to jail.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad guy
But, amongst others, I seriously dislike the State's foreign policy and sincerely think that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are crimes against mankind that should bring their authors (Bush and his friends) in front of the international court. I do think as well that endeavors like wikileaks are very good ones and that their informants shouldn't be trialled.
I do think other things as well, it's my right, but under the Bush administration I would have been called a bad American and if they had caught me I would have won a free stay in Guantanamo.
During the Mac Carthy area I would have been called a commie because of my anti capitalistic ideas and would have been sent to jail.
Etc, etc...
So eventhough I'm not a bad guy I rather stay as invisible as I can, no-one knows what will happen in the future but from my point of view it looks pretty grim to say the last.
Regarding your remark about building my own Rom I agree, it's on my list of to do things.
But let's see first how the Mozilla os goes, and if the devs behind the Linux on android project manage to make it work properly for a daily use.
At the end of the day it's a matter of choice as you said, if someone doesn't like Google one can uninstall its apps.
You know, I spent hours playing with the apps I mentioned in my previous posts and I can say that no app knows my imei or my location, and that the only apps I allowed to connect with the internet are my browsers and the Yahoo app whose abusive perms I blocked.
Of course the browsers know my ip but that's all they know and I don't care about it, and if one day I did then I would use a vpn app or tor/orbot.
So I don't see how anyone could squeeze any data from me...
Oh, I just found this on the forum, give it a read:
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/say-sayonara-to-the-play-store-part-1/
If you want privacy, go move to a rainforest in South America or something. Get rid of your phone, computer, internet connection, etc. What you guys are asking for is ridiculous. You want free products handed to you on a silver platter. These companies need something in return. At the very least, they need the information they collect to understand their userbase. I'm a marketing major and computer science minor. Really, I understand that privacy is pivotal to you guys, but you're demanding something pretty ridiculous. This is ANONYMOUS usage data.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
Product F(RED) said:
If you want privacy, go move to a rainforest in South America or something. Get rid of your phone, computer, internet connection, etc. What you guys are asking for is ridiculous. You want free products handed to you on a silver platter. These companies need something in return. At the very least, they need the information they collect to understand their userbase. I'm a marketing major and computer science minor. Really, I understand that privacy is pivotal to you guys, but you're demanding something pretty ridiculous. This is ANONYMOUS usage data.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
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You sound very straight forward. Your comments are brainwashing. You have better way of critical thinking, its appreciable. As a marketing guy you know user have different preferences and taste.
Rarely people are concern about privacy which is not letting this being called as an issue.
Data is used anonymously, is this justified?
Even Facebook says this, than why it has photos and name in their database?
How come Facebook/Google recognize face with exact name if data is anonymous..
Can any of data stealers come forward and give just a short justification and proof about how data is being used?
Sent from my GT-I9082 using Tapatalk HD
As Fred as stated, everything you do is tracked and monitored. This is nothing new really, been going on for years. There is only one way around it. That is to remove yourself from all things as stated above. You would be amazed how many times your personal info changes hands on a daily basis. Even utility companies track your usage. Your cell carrier does the same thing. Now I understand wanting privacy but total privacy is a myth that in this day and age is not an option. Now I dont trust the Gov in any way shape or form, to the point of not buying any device that has the fema chip installed. Which is 99% of the devices in the US.
Mozilla has lost its way. Technically it's not even a non-profit any longer, and it no longer behaves like it. Capriciousness and indifference to developer concerns is rampant.
For me, the change in the nature of the file browser is the straw which broke the camel's back. The file name now spills uncontrollably over the page, disfiguring any layout which surrounds it. Just as it does in Google's browser.
The direction Google is forcing the web into is contrary to the original vision of it as designed by Tim Berners-Lee. In response to user ire, the Mozilla team again and again blames Google, alleging that Google's design is "ultracompetitive" and that they "have to catch up" to them. Yet if you read their blogs they make no secret that the new standards and design choices are being made in collaboration with Google (HTML 5 is apparently the brainchild of a pair hailing from Google and Mozilla, respectively... or at least that's what they want you to think).
For me, the burden that the file browser now imposes is something that's just not practical from an implementation standpoint. With this change, web browser form design no longer even competitive to XWindow. The whole thing seems like it was dreamed up by one of the jerks on a reality talent contest... and a takeover by one of those very jerks seems to be the most probable cause of this particular miscarriage of philosophy, just as happened at Microsoft with XBox One last month. But I'm not about to clamor for a figurehead's head: just as at MS, something is rotten at Mozilla. We need a new seed to sprout that can take us into the future. A seed that will respect the intelligence of the people who have to now placed their faith in Mozilla, only to be told by the organization they exalted that they aren't as smart as it. This new organization, if it is not to suffer the same fate which hangs over Mozilla, will do right what Mozilla heedlessly does wrong, including:
respect for user freedom and competence.
avoids placing undue burdens on the designer
avoids obfusticating its code with impenetrable, bug-ridden COMs.
is open source.
In short, it'll be friendly and it'll actually listen to people who aren't ready to fork over their whole lives to an endless reinvention of the wheel like we are seeing at Mozilla.
Free browsers are nice and all, but they just aren't working out. We're getting what we deserve for letting Google take everything over and letting Mozilla get by without relying exclusively on user donations. The result is a corrupted organization and now, a faulty product. I'm prepared to pay a little for a good browser that respects common sense design practicalities. What about the rest of you, will you sacrifice the price of a couple large pizzas for a decent web browser minus the drama?
I've done my bit to try to change Mozilla's downward trajectory. I went on their forums and their chats and told them, this stuff doesn't work. They're making things hard. Their response was that they didn't really give two cents for the opinion of anyone who wasn't down in the trenches with them writing code in their incredibly complicated wrapper context. Like you, I've got other priorities. There are people out there with more experience and, quite frankly, better math skill that can do this job and get a lot more out of it. I want to give them the chance to do just that. Tired of the betrayals, just want to download my browser updates and be done with it... is that too much to ask? I don't think it is, and I hope you don't, either.
I've never tried to write code for a browser before, never even researched it. I'd be happy to help, but I'd like to see a mock GUI first to see how clean of a browser you're shooting for. Mock one up?
t3hcurs3 said:
I've never tried to write code for a browser before, never even researched it. I'd be happy to help, but I'd like to see a mock GUI first to see how clean of a browser you're shooting for. Mock one up?
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Actually I was looking around and it seems like there is this browser called NetSurf which may be doing everything right. There's no build for Windows or for mobile, which is an issue, but its libraries are in C which offers little room for obfustication a la C++. Should be portable to Java... I think if there was a windows build this browser could take off.
Although I don't really need Windows anymore. I'd just as well settle for a mobile version. There's also Amaya, but it has a reputation for poor ease of use and excessive minimalism. And there's Dillo which is stuck in a timewarp.
There is a question of where they're getting their funding from. However, they seem to be far enough along that if they did start to pull crap it would be easy enough to fork, and really I don't think the web needs much more technology beyond what it already has at this point. I need more information though. What do you think?
Sewrizer said:
This is the best advice I can give as a humble user, and the point stated above makes me believe that this is how things should be created from the beginning. A new browser has the advantage of being based on the present ideas, and since the devs have nothing to lose they can introduce off the wall features, original ideas which others didn't dare to add for fear of losing users.
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Yeah I agree with this. I asked Moz's JS engine people why they didn't program Firefox to use webworker technology to manage events, so as not to tie up the browser when waiting for file access, and they said it "wasn't in the spec" and "wasn't a priority". And when I requested that they program the canvas API to access multiple cores, they told me to take it up with W3C. Thinking like is not gonna move anybody forward.
I have no issues with Firefox's UI... it's its API which kills me.
EDIT: OK Netsurf is definitely not ready for prime time, but it certainly has potential. I think if it were combined with Mozilla's SpiderMonkey it would be able to handle Javascript alright... I don't really care it's slower than Chrome from the outset... could always be improved. Really dynamic recompilation is the state of the art. I like that it's written in C, and uses GTK and SDL. Gonna look into this...
Here's some evidence of how bad Mozilla has become.
Nevermind... due to new poster restrictions I can't post my links.