6 ms·

Yes! Disable 3rd party cookies, delete your Google & Facebook accounts, and done. Easy peasy.

kuschku 9y ago
"Google says it has access to roughly 70% of U.S. credit and debit card transactions through partnerships with companies that track that data." "Google DeepMind's first deal with the NHS [...] gave the Google-owned artificial intelligence (AI) lab access to 1.6 million NHS patient records across three North London hospitals without patient's prior knowledge." "Google starts tracking offline shopping" Sure. Deleting the accounts surely is enough.
- gaius 9y ago
  Indeed. It will take legislative action including no-knock raids on DCs and offices to rein them in. Someone in the NHS needs to be held responsible too.
  - fixermark 9y ago
    It's interesting that you trust a government to execute a no-knock raid on a private company's datacenter (and extract only the information that is relevant without drag-netting unrelated private information) more than you trust that private company to secure your data (an exercise they have a vested economic interest in accomplishing). At the end of the day, all of these questions always come down to trust and just trust.
    - gaius 9y ago
      I don’t mean extracting it - I mean destroying it.
- ucaetano 9y ago
  Oh, none of those are exclusive or even new. Your credit rating company has far more info on you that you didn't sign up for. And AFAIK, and from what I heard from friends working at google, everything is linked to a google gaia account, if you don't have one, you don't exist for them. Have you deleted your Google and Fb account yet?
  - gaius 9y ago
    Your credit rating company has far more info They’re tracking my location and correlating that, ads seen, spending patterns, web activity, who I associate with, and all the rest? I call shenanigans. if you don't have one, you don't exist for them Except as a shadow profile.
    - ucaetano 9y ago
      > They’re tracking my location and correlating that, ads seen, spending patterns, web activity, who I associate with, and all the rest? But you agreed to that, didn't you? Do you remember agreeing to your credit rating agency collecting your info? > Except as a shadow profile. Interesting, source?
- Spooky23 9y ago
  Good point. This was used as a positive spin when there was the debate over whether Facebook is listening to your conversations. The conclusion was no, but they are gathering more data from third parties so as to make direct listening unproductive. I found that more disturbing that Facebook has real-time access to whatever they believe I am looking at on Amazon, as presumably other places.
rectang 9y ago
I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. I launch gmail in a site-specific browser process so that my login is isolated. This makes it so that in my main browser, I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. As a bonus, the "filter bubble" effect is diminished for my Google searches. That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience.
- ucaetano 9y ago
  > I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. Well, that's your choice, isn't it? > That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience. Non-techies can just go the good ol' way and pay for an ad-free, tracking-free email service, mapping service, storage service, etc.
  - baxtr 9y ago
    I’m not a google fan, but can you name one free service that is par? I think many people would en pay if there was an alternative
    - ibz 9y ago
      I am paying for FastMail for a few years now. It's a very good alternative, and it's really not expensive. Also, I know that my money goes into building an alternative with a viable business model. Plus, GMail isn't free. You pay for it with your data.
    - bgrohman 9y ago
      I switched to FastMail about 6 months ago, and I like it. I actually like FastMail’s webapp more than Gmail’s. There aren’t any features from Gmail that I miss, and FastMail offers a very easy option to migrate your emails from Gmail.
    - Jach 9y ago
      Two of the replies mention FastMail, which for all I know might be nice, but FastMail still seems to be in its infancy (though perhaps growing fast) when it comes to securing customers' data. See the recent https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15853477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15853477 I've been using Gmail for over a decade. I've been getting in the habit of using a purpose@mydomain email for as many signups as I can (that for now all forward to my gmail) so that the impact of a random Google mess up that disables my access to my account is lessened, but there's still no service I trust more for my email's security and privacy apart from Google's algo-eyes (that offer me some features I appreciate anyway). Maybe that trust is misplaced and we're only a few years away from a Yahoo-level incompetence reveal, but I doubt it. If there was a way to setup a local mailserver that can peer in a hierarchy with more trusted mailservers (so that I can send email with reasonable confidence it won't end up in a spam folder), and have encrypted buffers stored at those peers for when my local machine is offline and can't accept deliveries, I'd do that. Maybe it's possible with Urbit.
rapnie 9y ago
..and compile your own Android OS without the google parts, or wait for eelo.io to land :)
randomString1 9y ago
I wish that was enough. The articles that show up here on HN from time to time make me think they can cross-reference data and fingerprint you through many data sources and more advanced tracking (things that we discover from time to time like canvas, css). People that have you on their contact list, your e-mails that hit their servers even when you don't have a Gmail, DNS, CDN, cloud services, your phone unless you go full tin foil hat, data they acquire from other companies. I try to protect my privacy but I think it's all futile, they have too much power.
- amelius 9y ago
  How difficult would it be to defeat fingerprinting by injection of noise? I.e. your browser configuration/characteristics change every now and then by a tiny amount.
  - twistiti 9y ago
    If not mistaken, this is the approach taken by adnauseam.io (Chrome Extension) or in a simpler form makeinternetnoise.com .
    - amelius 9y ago
      Ok, interesting. Does it work? :)
  - johncarmichael3 9y ago
    Other than adnauseum which people have already mentioned, you might like User-Agent Switcher[1]. Not sure how useful it really is, but it is fun to see the differences between how a website designed to be browser specific renders in a incorrect browser. [1] https://useragentswitcher.org/ https://useragentswitcher.org/
  - mediaserf 9y ago
    I use an extension called Canvas Defender that does this. You can have it create a new "fingerprint" every so often. It also pops up an alert when a site requests a fingerprint. I believe Facebook uses the fingerprint as part of the browser profile to help combat fraudulent logins, as I get many more "new browser" emails from them with this extension than I did prior to installing it.

"Google says it has access to roughly 70% of U.S. credit and debit card transactions through partnerships with companies that track that data." "Google DeepMind's first deal with the NHS [...] gave the Google-owned artificial intelligence (AI) lab access to 1.6 million NHS patient records across three North London hospitals without patient's prior knowledge." "Google starts tracking offline shopping" Sure. Deleting the accounts surely is enough.

gaius 9y ago
Indeed. It will take legislative action including no-knock raids on DCs and offices to rein them in. Someone in the NHS needs to be held responsible too.
- fixermark 9y ago
  It's interesting that you trust a government to execute a no-knock raid on a private company's datacenter (and extract only the information that is relevant without drag-netting unrelated private information) more than you trust that private company to secure your data (an exercise they have a vested economic interest in accomplishing). At the end of the day, all of these questions always come down to trust and just trust.
  - gaius 9y ago
    I don’t mean extracting it - I mean destroying it.
ucaetano 9y ago
Oh, none of those are exclusive or even new. Your credit rating company has far more info on you that you didn't sign up for. And AFAIK, and from what I heard from friends working at google, everything is linked to a google gaia account, if you don't have one, you don't exist for them. Have you deleted your Google and Fb account yet?
- gaius 9y ago
  Your credit rating company has far more info They’re tracking my location and correlating that, ads seen, spending patterns, web activity, who I associate with, and all the rest? I call shenanigans. if you don't have one, you don't exist for them Except as a shadow profile.
  - ucaetano 9y ago
    > They’re tracking my location and correlating that, ads seen, spending patterns, web activity, who I associate with, and all the rest? But you agreed to that, didn't you? Do you remember agreeing to your credit rating agency collecting your info? > Except as a shadow profile. Interesting, source?
Spooky23 9y ago
Good point. This was used as a positive spin when there was the debate over whether Facebook is listening to your conversations. The conclusion was no, but they are gathering more data from third parties so as to make direct listening unproductive. I found that more disturbing that Facebook has real-time access to whatever they believe I am looking at on Amazon, as presumably other places.

rectang 9y ago

I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. I launch gmail in a site-specific browser process so that my login is isolated. This makes it so that in my main browser, I'm not logged into my Google account and they don't see where I go. As a bonus, the "filter bubble" effect is diminished for my Google searches. That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience.

ucaetano 9y ago
> I use gmail and don't wish to give it up for now. Well, that's your choice, isn't it? > That's not a reasonable approach for non-techies, but I thought it might interest the HN audience. Non-techies can just go the good ol' way and pay for an ad-free, tracking-free email service, mapping service, storage service, etc.
- baxtr 9y ago
  I’m not a google fan, but can you name one free service that is par? I think many people would en pay if there was an alternative
  - ibz 9y ago
    I am paying for FastMail for a few years now. It's a very good alternative, and it's really not expensive. Also, I know that my money goes into building an alternative with a viable business model. Plus, GMail isn't free. You pay for it with your data.
  - bgrohman 9y ago
    I switched to FastMail about 6 months ago, and I like it. I actually like FastMail’s webapp more than Gmail’s. There aren’t any features from Gmail that I miss, and FastMail offers a very easy option to migrate your emails from Gmail.
  - Jach 9y ago
    Two of the replies mention FastMail, which for all I know might be nice, but FastMail still seems to be in its infancy (though perhaps growing fast) when it comes to securing customers' data. See the recent https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15853477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15853477 I've been using Gmail for over a decade. I've been getting in the habit of using a purpose@mydomain email for as many signups as I can (that for now all forward to my gmail) so that the impact of a random Google mess up that disables my access to my account is lessened, but there's still no service I trust more for my email's security and privacy apart from Google's algo-eyes (that offer me some features I appreciate anyway). Maybe that trust is misplaced and we're only a few years away from a Yahoo-level incompetence reveal, but I doubt it. If there was a way to setup a local mailserver that can peer in a hierarchy with more trusted mailservers (so that I can send email with reasonable confidence it won't end up in a spam folder), and have encrypted buffers stored at those peers for when my local machine is offline and can't accept deliveries, I'd do that. Maybe it's possible with Urbit.

rapnie 9y ago

..and compile your own Android OS without the google parts, or wait for eelo.io to land :)

randomString1 9y ago

I wish that was enough. The articles that show up here on HN from time to time make me think they can cross-reference data and fingerprint you through many data sources and more advanced tracking (things that we discover from time to time like canvas, css). People that have you on their contact list, your e-mails that hit their servers even when you don't have a Gmail, DNS, CDN, cloud services, your phone unless you go full tin foil hat, data they acquire from other companies. I try to protect my privacy but I think it's all futile, they have too much power.

amelius 9y ago
How difficult would it be to defeat fingerprinting by injection of noise? I.e. your browser configuration/characteristics change every now and then by a tiny amount.
- twistiti 9y ago
  If not mistaken, this is the approach taken by adnauseam.io (Chrome Extension) or in a simpler form makeinternetnoise.com .
  - amelius 9y ago
    Ok, interesting. Does it work? :)
- johncarmichael3 9y ago
  Other than adnauseum which people have already mentioned, you might like User-Agent Switcher[1]. Not sure how useful it really is, but it is fun to see the differences between how a website designed to be browser specific renders in a incorrect browser. [1] https://useragentswitcher.org/ https://useragentswitcher.org/
- mediaserf 9y ago
  I use an extension called Canvas Defender that does this. You can have it create a new "fingerprint" every so often. It also pops up an alert when a site requests a fingerprint. I believe Facebook uses the fingerprint as part of the browser profile to help combat fraudulent logins, as I get many more "new browser" emails from them with this extension than I did prior to installing it.