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Facebook is harmful because it's reckless with your personal data, but Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide tho

Facebook is harmful because it's reckless with your personal data, but Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide those results because it steals your data, which it also abuses and sells. And as an alternative to YouTube, there are free public libraries with similar DIY books complete with pictures and drawings, but without stealing and selling your data.

jasode 8y ago
>, but Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide those results because it steals your data What data from me does Google steal? I don't have a Google account. I can be anonymous at a Starbucks coffee shop and search google for "Paul Graham" and get back useful results. If they coalesce search queries on my home ip address, that's unavoidable and a tradeoff I knowingly make. >And as an alternative to YouTube, there are free public libraries with similar DIY books In the last month, I needed to replace a side mirror of a Lexus car and also disassemble a Moen faucet. No, my library does not have the manuals to show how to do it. But youtube did have the videos uploaded by nice people. Both of those procedures had tricky steps that weren't obvious and Youtube saved me hundreds of dollars in fees from car dealerships and plumbers.
- czardoz 8y ago
  > I can be anonymous at Starbucks coffee shop and search google The "Google WiFi"? > I assume they are developing more unethical uses of personal data Why not make the same assumption about Google? They could jot down the MAC address of your device, and track you all over the place (not that they need to, since you already use Google maps).
  - jasode 8y ago
    >They could jot down the MAC address of your device, and track you Yes but a wifi MAC address is not my real name. I'd be more concerned if Google bought a telecom company like AT&T/Verizon and linked phones' IMEI/ESN hardware numbers to search queries. The IMEI is absolutely linked to a real identity because it's the billing address of the person paying for the phone. The MAC address correlation seems more useful for targeted ads rather than abusing personal real names data like Equifax & Facebook.
    - FB_goaway 8y ago
      not only that you can forge a MAC address in a number of ways, such as configuration, or with a bridge, there are very tiny routers that fit in a cigarette pack or a coffee cup.
  - mda 8y ago
    Why would they do that, It makes zero sense to assume they would do that and deliberately break their privacy policies.
    - czardoz 8y ago
      Oh, but it somehow makes sense to assume the other way for Facebook?
      - mda 8y ago
        I don't think they knowingly violate their privacy policies either.
      - lern_too_spel 8y ago
        Facebook (or really, Zuckerberg) has that track record.
kanox 8y ago
> Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide those results because it steals your data, which it also abuses and sells. I've been using DuckDuckGo lately and haven't noticed a drop in search quality. But I've always maxed out Google privacy settings so maybe I don't know what I'm missing.
herbst 8y ago
They however provide a unique service and never failed to protect my data. The only reason to use Facebook instead of anything else is the amount of people on there, it's not unique and also by far not better than other similar products. It's hard to say the same about Googles services.

jasode 8y ago

>, but Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide those results because it steals your data What data from me does Google steal? I don't have a Google account. I can be anonymous at a Starbucks coffee shop and search google for "Paul Graham" and get back useful results. If they coalesce search queries on my home ip address, that's unavoidable and a tradeoff I knowingly make. >And as an alternative to YouTube, there are free public libraries with similar DIY books In the last month, I needed to replace a side mirror of a Lexus car and also disassemble a Moen faucet. No, my library does not have the manuals to show how to do it. But youtube did have the videos uploaded by nice people. Both of those procedures had tricky steps that weren't obvious and Youtube saved me hundreds of dollars in fees from car dealerships and plumbers.

czardoz 8y ago
> I can be anonymous at Starbucks coffee shop and search google The "Google WiFi"? > I assume they are developing more unethical uses of personal data Why not make the same assumption about Google? They could jot down the MAC address of your device, and track you all over the place (not that they need to, since you already use Google maps).
- jasode 8y ago
  >They could jot down the MAC address of your device, and track you Yes but a wifi MAC address is not my real name. I'd be more concerned if Google bought a telecom company like AT&T/Verizon and linked phones' IMEI/ESN hardware numbers to search queries. The IMEI is absolutely linked to a real identity because it's the billing address of the person paying for the phone. The MAC address correlation seems more useful for targeted ads rather than abusing personal real names data like Equifax & Facebook.
  - FB_goaway 8y ago
    not only that you can forge a MAC address in a number of ways, such as configuration, or with a bridge, there are very tiny routers that fit in a cigarette pack or a coffee cup.
- mda 8y ago
  Why would they do that, It makes zero sense to assume they would do that and deliberately break their privacy policies.
  - czardoz 8y ago
    Oh, but it somehow makes sense to assume the other way for Facebook?
    - mda 8y ago
      I don't think they knowingly violate their privacy policies either.
    - lern_too_spel 8y ago
      Facebook (or really, Zuckerberg) has that track record.

kanox 8y ago

> Google is invaluable because of its utility and amazing results? It's able to provide those results because it steals your data, which it also abuses and sells. I've been using DuckDuckGo lately and haven't noticed a drop in search quality. But I've always maxed out Google privacy settings so maybe I don't know what I'm missing.

herbst 8y ago

They however provide a unique service and never failed to protect my data. The only reason to use Facebook instead of anything else is the amount of people on there, it's not unique and also by far not better than other similar products. It's hard to say the same about Googles services.