3 ms·

Google tracks online behaviour on an industrial scale. It's baffling how little scrutiny the company faces, least of all from the tech community who often rush

Google tracks online behaviour on an industrial scale. It's baffling how little scrutiny the company faces, least of all from the tech community who often rush to it's defence. (Does a multi-billion dollar company need your defence?) When you create a Google account, you're asked to provide your name, your gender, your date of birth, your location and your mobile phone number. Some of your most personal and private details, all of which will now be tied to your online behaviour. That ceaseless data capture starts right from school, where millions of students use a cloud-based OS called ChromeOS that records everything they do. It's quite horrible that this is happening - the kids don't even get a say, it's the adults who've decided this. It doesn't matter if that information is only collated in aggregated form and detached from user accounts, we don't know how that information could be mined or analysed either now or in the future. (In fact, I suspect that even Google hasn't figure all the possible uses of the ginormous quantity of user behaviour it has captured and continues to capture). And we've seen from Spotify and Netflix how even aggregated data can reveal very private and personal user behaviour. Google and many of it's supporters conflate security with privacy. Just because Google hasn't ever suffered a breach of user data, people say that Google can be trusted. You can't have privacy without security, but security by itself does not equal privacy. You're still being tracked relentlessly by Google no matter how securely it's storing your online behaviour.

teddyfrozevelt 9y ago
G Suite for Education very clearly doesn't track students using it. https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/privacy-security/ https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/privacy-security/
- open-source-ux 9y ago
  Where does it say that it doesn't track students on that page? The G Suite for Education Privacy Notice [1] clearly states that Google collects device information, unique device identifiers, mobile network information (including phone number of the user). Also logged are IP addresses, location information, and app usage using unique application numbers. Even if this information is detached from individual accounts and aggregated, it equals a phenomenal amount of data captured by Google on millions of students in the US. [1] https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html
hlecuanda 9y ago
>Google and many of it's supporters conflate security with privacy. >You're still being tracked relentlessly by Google no matter how securely it's storing your online behaviour. Non sequitur conclusion from a faulty premise. If you're a Google user, then it's in your best interest that their security is up to par and they don't disappoint. I get enterprise class 2FA security to protect my data on my end and clear controls, opt-outs and buttons everywhere to delete all of my data from any particular service, plus I get to download such data in a useful, documented format for my own consumption, not some crippled html report I need to mine after the fact. If you are NOT a Google user, though, not tracking you is not their duty, but a security breach on YOUR part, especially on the part of those who kbow better. Its like a person walking naked in a public square, expecting that it was the city's duty to protect their privacy. If you are Not a Google user and do not wish to be tracked by Google or Facebook or anyone for that matter, you need to assume responsibility for the security of your data and metadata by becoming as inconspicuous on the network as you can. Again, it's nobody's duty but yours and failure to do so is a breach of your own security leading to leakage of your privacy.

teddyfrozevelt 9y ago

G Suite for Education very clearly doesn't track students using it. https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/privacy-security/ https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/privacy-security/

open-source-ux 9y ago
Where does it say that it doesn't track students on that page? The G Suite for Education Privacy Notice [1] clearly states that Google collects device information, unique device identifiers, mobile network information (including phone number of the user). Also logged are IP addresses, location information, and app usage using unique application numbers. Even if this information is detached from individual accounts and aggregated, it equals a phenomenal amount of data captured by Google on millions of students in the US. [1] https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html https://gsuite.google.com/terms/education_privacy.html

hlecuanda 9y ago

>Google and many of it's supporters conflate security with privacy. >You're still being tracked relentlessly by Google no matter how securely it's storing your online behaviour. Non sequitur conclusion from a faulty premise. If you're a Google user, then it's in your best interest that their security is up to par and they don't disappoint. I get enterprise class 2FA security to protect my data on my end and clear controls, opt-outs and buttons everywhere to delete all of my data from any particular service, plus I get to download such data in a useful, documented format for my own consumption, not some crippled html report I need to mine after the fact. If you are NOT a Google user, though, not tracking you is not their duty, but a security breach on YOUR part, especially on the part of those who kbow better. Its like a person walking naked in a public square, expecting that it was the city's duty to protect their privacy. If you are Not a Google user and do not wish to be tracked by Google or Facebook or anyone for that matter, you need to assume responsibility for the security of your data and metadata by becoming as inconspicuous on the network as you can. Again, it's nobody's duty but yours and failure to do so is a breach of your own security leading to leakage of your privacy.