4 ms·

Why is this story not bigger news? Grammarly is excreting ads into my eyes before nearly every YouTube video I watch, yet I don't see any mainstream sites cover

Why is this story not bigger news? Grammarly is excreting ads into my eyes before nearly every YouTube video I watch, yet I don't see any mainstream sites covering this.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
Mostly because cloud-connected keyloggers are mainstream. As I mentioned, Windows does it if you have their "inking and typing" setting enabled. A lot of mobile keyboard apps do it, especially if they say they use the cloud to help correct your typing. Of course, in the case of Microsoft or Google, you presumably either have disabled the setting or you place your trust in their security practices that it is okay, because they are top tier companies, and most people send them all their private data anyways. There are a LOT of things out there that collect everything you type these days, and rarely to people want to define them as keyloggers.
- Feniks 9y ago
  If it acts like a keylogger its a keylogger. When people want privacy they will inevitably have to give up usability. I ditched Swiftkey for an open source Android keyboard that doesn't connect online or asks for any permissions. Its CRAP but it doesn't leak.
  - rhizome 9y ago
    Ooh, what keyboard? Does it have gesture typing, and is it better than gboard (Google's own), which is the worst I've ever used?
    - lcampbell 9y ago
      I can't speak for GP, but I switched to Hacker's Keyboard[1] which doesn't support gesture typing. I'm pretty happy with it, though it's pretty barebones (it doesn't even turn on the phone's radio). Took a bit getting used to -- the recommendations are different and it felt like the key hitboxes weren't the same as gboard, but it felt pretty familiar after a couple of weeks. [1] https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard
      - alexanderdmitri 9y ago
        Thanks for this, exactly what I've been looking for
    - teddythetwig 9y ago
      You should check out MessagEase keyboard. It is so accurate for me that I don't even need corrections. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's super fast.
- z3t4 9y ago
  top tier doesn't necessary mean better security. Your data being accessible from the cloud is a security risk by itself and these companies are huge targets for hackers, and will share your data with state actors, or worse advertisers, for-profit data miners et.al.
mxpxrocks10 9y ago
Totally. Here's some more info on the company. They are located in the Ukraine. http://escadra.com.ua/en/kak-dvoe-kievlyan-sozdali-servis-proverki-anglijskogo-pravopisaniya-stoimostyu-100-mln.html http://escadra.com.ua/en/kak-dvoe-kievlyan-sozdali-servis-pr...
- nakedrobot2 9y ago
  Interesting article.... they should have used grammarly to correct a few mistakes :-D

Why is this story not bigger news? Grammarly is excreting ads into my eyes before nearly every YouTube video I watch, yet I don't see any mainstream sites covering this.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago

Mostly because cloud-connected keyloggers are mainstream. As I mentioned, Windows does it if you have their "inking and typing" setting enabled. A lot of mobile keyboard apps do it, especially if they say they use the cloud to help correct your typing. Of course, in the case of Microsoft or Google, you presumably either have disabled the setting or you place your trust in their security practices that it is okay, because they are top tier companies, and most people send them all their private data anyways. There are a LOT of things out there that collect everything you type these days, and rarely to people want to define them as keyloggers.

Feniks 9y ago
If it acts like a keylogger its a keylogger. When people want privacy they will inevitably have to give up usability. I ditched Swiftkey for an open source Android keyboard that doesn't connect online or asks for any permissions. Its CRAP but it doesn't leak.
- rhizome 9y ago
  Ooh, what keyboard? Does it have gesture typing, and is it better than gboard (Google's own), which is the worst I've ever used?
  - lcampbell 9y ago
    I can't speak for GP, but I switched to Hacker's Keyboard[1] which doesn't support gesture typing. I'm pretty happy with it, though it's pretty barebones (it doesn't even turn on the phone's radio). Took a bit getting used to -- the recommendations are different and it felt like the key hitboxes weren't the same as gboard, but it felt pretty familiar after a couple of weeks. [1] https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard https://github.com/klausw/hackerskeyboard
    - alexanderdmitri 9y ago
      Thanks for this, exactly what I've been looking for
  - teddythetwig 9y ago
    You should check out MessagEase keyboard. It is so accurate for me that I don't even need corrections. It takes a little bit of time to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it's super fast.
z3t4 9y ago
top tier doesn't necessary mean better security. Your data being accessible from the cloud is a security risk by itself and these companies are huge targets for hackers, and will share your data with state actors, or worse advertisers, for-profit data miners et.al.

mxpxrocks10 9y ago

Totally. Here's some more info on the company. They are located in the Ukraine. http://escadra.com.ua/en/kak-dvoe-kievlyan-sozdali-servis-proverki-anglijskogo-pravopisaniya-stoimostyu-100-mln.html http://escadra.com.ua/en/kak-dvoe-kievlyan-sozdali-servis-pr...

nakedrobot2 9y ago
Interesting article.... they should have used grammarly to correct a few mistakes :-D