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Nobody really cares outside this tech bubble. There won't be a PR fiasco, because it's hard to explain why it's bad for a non techie end user. "Google simplifi

Nobody really cares outside this tech bubble. There won't be a PR fiasco, because it's hard to explain why it's bad for a non techie end user. "Google simplifies the login experience in Chrome", is essentially what's happening here and it's far from obvious how to sell it as a doomsday scenario as I read the mood correctly of many HN users.

jonbronson 8y ago
For people already logging into Chrome, perhaps. For people who have chosen to not sign into chrome, this is a breach of privacy and of trust. Without warning, we've been force-signed-in with no clear way to disable this setting.
prolikewh0a 8y ago
Agreed, this will be forgotten about even by tech power users in under a week. Google needs to take the initial PR blow and then it will be over. The only thing that will put pressure on Google is EU with GDPR.
Sargos 8y ago
> Nobody really cares outside this tech bubble Even inside of this tech bubble there are people like me that think this change is fine the way it is and that it's actually a good idea for convenience. The vast majority of people are using Chrome to go to Google websites using their Google account and having one less step to sign in to Chrome Sync is just a good thing from a usability perspective.
bepotts 8y ago
Maybe I'm just crazy, but if I didn't like Google Chrome (or if I was a privacy hawk), I wouldn't use Google products. Why do so many people complain about "privacy" and still use Google products? The people who think they can speak for their parents or the less technically inclined are being too presumptuous in my opinion. YOU may have a problem with these methods, but not everyone does. Heck, there's people as technical as you that still don't have a problem with it.
- Daegalus 8y ago
  Super technical person who doesn't care, reporting in. But I also wish we lived in a utopian society where all information, people, companies, govt. was public and there was no weird illusion of privacy that everyone is clamoring for. I long accepted privacy on the internet doesn't exist, and mostly privacy off the internet is minimal, especially with all the technology around. If you want privacy, you need to live like the Amish. So, I just accepted it, and now don't care about privacy breaches, giving all my data to google. I willingly give more data to google so they can make my life easier. I get hopefully 100 years on this planet, I am not going to worry about privacy when I got better things to use my limited time and energy on.
throw2016 8y ago
Everything has an adoption curve, when Chrome launched why would the average user use it? But eventually it went through the adoption curve and even with Google aggressive nagging too time to gain mainstream traction. The same thing is happening with surveillance and spyware and the self serving 'users don't care' that many tech apologists use to distract from their stalking and lack of ethics is already out of touch and disconnected from increasing mainstream awareness and disgust with surveillance. Just yesterday Craig Newmark announced a $20 million donation to a new publication modelled on propublica to examine tech surveillance. It's only a matter of time before surveillance implementors and apologists begin to look like the sellouts that they are in the public eye.

jonbronson 8y ago

For people already logging into Chrome, perhaps. For people who have chosen to not sign into chrome, this is a breach of privacy and of trust. Without warning, we've been force-signed-in with no clear way to disable this setting.

prolikewh0a 8y ago

Agreed, this will be forgotten about even by tech power users in under a week. Google needs to take the initial PR blow and then it will be over. The only thing that will put pressure on Google is EU with GDPR.

Sargos 8y ago

> Nobody really cares outside this tech bubble Even inside of this tech bubble there are people like me that think this change is fine the way it is and that it's actually a good idea for convenience. The vast majority of people are using Chrome to go to Google websites using their Google account and having one less step to sign in to Chrome Sync is just a good thing from a usability perspective.

bepotts 8y ago

Maybe I'm just crazy, but if I didn't like Google Chrome (or if I was a privacy hawk), I wouldn't use Google products. Why do so many people complain about "privacy" and still use Google products? The people who think they can speak for their parents or the less technically inclined are being too presumptuous in my opinion. YOU may have a problem with these methods, but not everyone does. Heck, there's people as technical as you that still don't have a problem with it.

Daegalus 8y ago
Super technical person who doesn't care, reporting in. But I also wish we lived in a utopian society where all information, people, companies, govt. was public and there was no weird illusion of privacy that everyone is clamoring for. I long accepted privacy on the internet doesn't exist, and mostly privacy off the internet is minimal, especially with all the technology around. If you want privacy, you need to live like the Amish. So, I just accepted it, and now don't care about privacy breaches, giving all my data to google. I willingly give more data to google so they can make my life easier. I get hopefully 100 years on this planet, I am not going to worry about privacy when I got better things to use my limited time and energy on.

throw2016 8y ago

Everything has an adoption curve, when Chrome launched why would the average user use it? But eventually it went through the adoption curve and even with Google aggressive nagging too time to gain mainstream traction. The same thing is happening with surveillance and spyware and the self serving 'users don't care' that many tech apologists use to distract from their stalking and lack of ethics is already out of touch and disconnected from increasing mainstream awareness and disgust with surveillance. Just yesterday Craig Newmark announced a $20 million donation to a new publication modelled on propublica to examine tech surveillance. It's only a matter of time before surveillance implementors and apologists begin to look like the sellouts that they are in the public eye.