4 ms·

Stop bashing Google without any proofs. They do respect privacy and don't share data you elect not to. In fact, their take out tool was released in 2009 or some

Stop bashing Google without any proofs. They do respect privacy and don't share data you elect not to. In fact, their take out tool was released in 2009 or something, way before GRPR made others do it too.

Nuzzerino 8y ago
So they don't share data with the government? Tell us more.
zer00eyz 8y ago
Uhhhh your doing this backwards. Prove that google is protecting my privacy not the other way around. The default state for people needs to be DISTRUST of corporations (and governments) that they do not have a direct financial relationship with (when you aren't giving them cash). I don't think that much of this holds water but it exists and the picture isn't one of "were standing up to defend your privacy" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Goo...
bryanrasmussen 8y ago
I believe that Google's theory is what mine would be in similar circumstances, why sell the data to a business when you can use that data to build a competing business.
untog 8y ago
That's part of the problem: we have no idea what Google is doing with our data, so we have no idea if they are respecting privacy - assuming there is even a definition for such a thing. The only answer is to simply gather less data, or be more explicit about when you do. And Google isn't great at either.
- joshuamorton 8y ago
  In what ways is Google but explicit about what they collect?
  - untog 8y ago
    One example that comes to mind is that Google Maps has started telling me when I've been somewhere before, like a restaurant. It's very useful information, but I do not recall an explicit prompt about Google collecting my location history in this way. Can advertisers target me based on this location history? I'm not sure. Does it affect how results are ordered on Maps? Probably. But I don't know. Relatedly, Maps shows me when a location is likely to be popular vs unpopular. I have to assume that's based on the location history of everyone using Maps - seeing how long they spend in a place and at what time. But what percentage of Maps users are aware their information is being used in this way? I doubt the number is high. Also, now I come to think of it, Google search itself. It shows different results sometimes when I'm logged in vs logged out, but it's not clear why. And I don't recall ever being asked if I wanted, say, my browsing history to influence future search results. It just does. Somehow.
    - brandmeyer 8y ago
      > Relatedly, Maps shows me when a location is likely to be popular vs unpopular. I have to assume that's based on the location history of everyone using Maps This is based on the location history of everyone using Android. Its the Google Location Services requests going back and forth all the time that tells them where people go.
    - staticassertion 8y ago
      > but I do not recall an explicit prompt about Google collecting my location history in this way. Weird, I'm pretty sure with my new Android phone, upon booting it up for the first time, I had to opt in to location services and a little popup explained exactly what it was doing.
      - pmontra 8y ago
        I'm on Android 8.0 with location services and history turned off. I'm also logged out from all Google services except Play (I want to update apps.) It works perfectly.
    - 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
millstone 8y ago
It's insidious how Google has redefined "privacy" from "what's yours is yours" to "what's yours is ours, as long as we don't share it." Microsoft is moving fast along the same path.
- wbillingsley 8y ago
  I'm not convinced they are -- the models are entirely different. Google receives the vast bulk of its revenue from advertising based on mining what they know about you. Microsoft receives the vast bulk of its funding from companies using its systems and paying them to run them well. MS do not tie an analytics product (on most sites around the world) into the world's largest personal-data-mining and advertising network.
- not_kurt_godel 8y ago
  [Replying to sibling comment] > MS do not tie an analytics product (on most sites around the world) into the world's largest personal-data-mining and advertising network. They're trying pretty damn hard with Windows 10, which by default collects pretty much every keystroke you make. That data in turn gets shared and sold to advertisers - see MS's own privacy page: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement
nhebb 8y ago
There is a YouTube update that's been pending on my Android for 1-1/2 years. I haven't agreed to it because YouTube decided that it needs access to my contacts. IMO, if Google needs to know who I communicate with in order to watch videos, they don't respect my privacy at all.
- curun1r 8y ago
  On the other hand, a Google product (YouTube) is asking for permission to access information already available to another Google product (Android). If Google had no respect for your privacy, they wouldn't even ask. Respect for privacy is a continuum and Google isn't on either extreme. I'd even go so far as to say that different parts of Google have different stances on privacy. People who try to make them into a monolith with a single binary stance on the issue are lacking nuance.
  - nhebb 8y ago
    I don't think it's an issue that deserves nuance because it's not unreasonable that they should behave as a monolith with regard to privacy. It should be a top-down corporate policy.
- neop1x 8y ago
  I stopped using official Youtube long ago. I recommend SkyTube and NewPipe. They are awesome!

Nuzzerino 8y ago

So they don't share data with the government? Tell us more.

zer00eyz 8y ago

Uhhhh your doing this backwards. Prove that google is protecting my privacy not the other way around. The default state for people needs to be DISTRUST of corporations (and governments) that they do not have a direct financial relationship with (when you aren't giving them cash). I don't think that much of this holds water but it exists and the picture isn't one of "were standing up to defend your privacy" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Google https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Goo...

bryanrasmussen 8y ago

I believe that Google's theory is what mine would be in similar circumstances, why sell the data to a business when you can use that data to build a competing business.

untog 8y ago

That's part of the problem: we have no idea what Google is doing with our data, so we have no idea if they are respecting privacy - assuming there is even a definition for such a thing. The only answer is to simply gather less data, or be more explicit about when you do. And Google isn't great at either.

joshuamorton 8y ago
In what ways is Google but explicit about what they collect?
- untog 8y ago
  One example that comes to mind is that Google Maps has started telling me when I've been somewhere before, like a restaurant. It's very useful information, but I do not recall an explicit prompt about Google collecting my location history in this way. Can advertisers target me based on this location history? I'm not sure. Does it affect how results are ordered on Maps? Probably. But I don't know. Relatedly, Maps shows me when a location is likely to be popular vs unpopular. I have to assume that's based on the location history of everyone using Maps - seeing how long they spend in a place and at what time. But what percentage of Maps users are aware their information is being used in this way? I doubt the number is high. Also, now I come to think of it, Google search itself. It shows different results sometimes when I'm logged in vs logged out, but it's not clear why. And I don't recall ever being asked if I wanted, say, my browsing history to influence future search results. It just does. Somehow.
  - brandmeyer 8y ago
    > Relatedly, Maps shows me when a location is likely to be popular vs unpopular. I have to assume that's based on the location history of everyone using Maps This is based on the location history of everyone using Android. Its the Google Location Services requests going back and forth all the time that tells them where people go.
  - staticassertion 8y ago
    > but I do not recall an explicit prompt about Google collecting my location history in this way. Weird, I'm pretty sure with my new Android phone, upon booting it up for the first time, I had to opt in to location services and a little popup explained exactly what it was doing.
    - pmontra 8y ago
      I'm on Android 8.0 with location services and history turned off. I'm also logged out from all Google services except Play (I want to update apps.) It works perfectly.
  - 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

millstone 8y ago

It's insidious how Google has redefined "privacy" from "what's yours is yours" to "what's yours is ours, as long as we don't share it." Microsoft is moving fast along the same path.

wbillingsley 8y ago
I'm not convinced they are -- the models are entirely different. Google receives the vast bulk of its revenue from advertising based on mining what they know about you. Microsoft receives the vast bulk of its funding from companies using its systems and paying them to run them well. MS do not tie an analytics product (on most sites around the world) into the world's largest personal-data-mining and advertising network.
not_kurt_godel 8y ago
[Replying to sibling comment] > MS do not tie an analytics product (on most sites around the world) into the world's largest personal-data-mining and advertising network. They're trying pretty damn hard with Windows 10, which by default collects pretty much every keystroke you make. That data in turn gets shared and sold to advertisers - see MS's own privacy page: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement

nhebb 8y ago

There is a YouTube update that's been pending on my Android for 1-1/2 years. I haven't agreed to it because YouTube decided that it needs access to my contacts. IMO, if Google needs to know who I communicate with in order to watch videos, they don't respect my privacy at all.

curun1r 8y ago
On the other hand, a Google product (YouTube) is asking for permission to access information already available to another Google product (Android). If Google had no respect for your privacy, they wouldn't even ask. Respect for privacy is a continuum and Google isn't on either extreme. I'd even go so far as to say that different parts of Google have different stances on privacy. People who try to make them into a monolith with a single binary stance on the issue are lacking nuance.
- nhebb 8y ago
  I don't think it's an issue that deserves nuance because it's not unreasonable that they should behave as a monolith with regard to privacy. It should be a top-down corporate policy.
neop1x 8y ago
I stopped using official Youtube long ago. I recommend SkyTube and NewPipe. They are awesome!