3 ms·

I'm actually curious how Google is still tracking you with that entirely Google-less stack? (note: I don't work for Google)

solotronics 7y ago
AdSense for one.
tedivm 7y ago
The most obvious are Google Payments (from the merchant side), Google Analytics, Google Ads (doubleclick). Then there's street view cars collecting photos and wifi data, Google registry services siphoning up domain metadata, and of course any information someone else enters about you- if they save their contacts to google and it includes you, you're suddenly part of their graph. Then there's the direct cell phone tracking- > Investigators who spoke with The New York Times said they had not sent geofence warrants to companies other than Google, and Apple said it did not have the ability to perform those searches. Google would not provide details on Sensorvault, but Aaron Edens, an intelligence analyst with the sheriff’s office in San Mateo County, Calif., who has examined data from hundreds of phones, said most Android devices and some iPhones he had seen had this data available from Google.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  Don't forget recaptcha.
  - jakear 7y ago
    This is the main inescapable one for me. I have uMatrix to block analytics and all that, but so many websites simply wont work without recaptcha. My solution lately has been to feed them junk data until they either give up on me or erroneously perceive my input as non-erroneous (not sure which it is). Takes some time, but to me it’s worth it. If we can get enough people doing this they might have to get rid of it all together. (Vastly unlikely, but a guy can dream, right?)
- drilldrive 7y ago
  Small note, but can't you block Google Analytics with something like Privacy Badger? Google Payments and Google registry services seem near impossible to avoid though. Not to mention the near requirement to use certain Google products in certain lines of work.
- pvorb 7y ago
  Don't forget about GMail. Everytime you send a mail to somebody on GMail, which might not be obvious with custom domains, your mail will be analyzed by Google. And your email address serves as the perfect ID.
  - godzillabrennus 7y ago
    Google maps and Google mail are two apps that have no comparable privacy focused competition at their price point.
dleslie 7y ago
Through your friends and family that interact with you and who aren't so careful with their data. Through browser fingerprinting that is shared via channels which are undetectable and unlockable via browser scripts. Through hundreds of many tiny mistakes you make every day and unknowingly let down your guard. _Oops, damn, I forgot I disabled uBlock when accessing that important page for work._ You cannot opt out.
- oefrha 7y ago
  None of those channels can be shutdown by breaking up Google or other tech giants, let alone imposing a fine. As long as there's a very popular communications service / social networking service / etc., or even a few of them (none of which dominates the entire market), you can't stop other people from turning in your data (unless you have no connections whatsoever in this world, or you and all your connections live in a cave). And if you use any popular service or visit any popular website yourself, your data will be collected, it's only a matter of the level of details.
  - squeaky-clean 7y ago
    But at the very least my mom's contact list shouldn't be able to be used to send me targeted ads in search or suggest contacts to me in Gmail. It would be isolated to those products owned by that newly split off sub-company. Sure any 3rd party app I install can track me to some degree, but it can't compare my usage against my entire email history, my travel history, recordings of my voice...
    - oefrha 7y ago
      > my entire email history, my travel history, recordings of my voice GGP was talking about data collected involuntarily, and I was responding to that. Google (or any other company) can't have your entire email history, your travel history, and recordings of your voice without your voluntary participation in one of their services or services of a "partner". Those are way beyond drive-by collection.
mastazi 7y ago
Don't forget AMP
- mastazi 7y ago
  Source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764?hl=en

solotronics 7y ago

AdSense for one.

tedivm 7y ago

The most obvious are Google Payments (from the merchant side), Google Analytics, Google Ads (doubleclick). Then there's street view cars collecting photos and wifi data, Google registry services siphoning up domain metadata, and of course any information someone else enters about you- if they save their contacts to google and it includes you, you're suddenly part of their graph. Then there's the direct cell phone tracking- > Investigators who spoke with The New York Times said they had not sent geofence warrants to companies other than Google, and Apple said it did not have the ability to perform those searches. Google would not provide details on Sensorvault, but Aaron Edens, an intelligence analyst with the sheriff’s office in San Mateo County, Calif., who has examined data from hundreds of phones, said most Android devices and some iPhones he had seen had this data available from Google.

inferiorhuman 7y ago
Don't forget recaptcha.
- jakear 7y ago
  This is the main inescapable one for me. I have uMatrix to block analytics and all that, but so many websites simply wont work without recaptcha. My solution lately has been to feed them junk data until they either give up on me or erroneously perceive my input as non-erroneous (not sure which it is). Takes some time, but to me it’s worth it. If we can get enough people doing this they might have to get rid of it all together. (Vastly unlikely, but a guy can dream, right?)
drilldrive 7y ago
Small note, but can't you block Google Analytics with something like Privacy Badger? Google Payments and Google registry services seem near impossible to avoid though. Not to mention the near requirement to use certain Google products in certain lines of work.
pvorb 7y ago
Don't forget about GMail. Everytime you send a mail to somebody on GMail, which might not be obvious with custom domains, your mail will be analyzed by Google. And your email address serves as the perfect ID.
- godzillabrennus 7y ago
  Google maps and Google mail are two apps that have no comparable privacy focused competition at their price point.

dleslie 7y ago

Through your friends and family that interact with you and who aren't so careful with their data. Through browser fingerprinting that is shared via channels which are undetectable and unlockable via browser scripts. Through hundreds of many tiny mistakes you make every day and unknowingly let down your guard. _Oops, damn, I forgot I disabled uBlock when accessing that important page for work._ You cannot opt out.

oefrha 7y ago
None of those channels can be shutdown by breaking up Google or other tech giants, let alone imposing a fine. As long as there's a very popular communications service / social networking service / etc., or even a few of them (none of which dominates the entire market), you can't stop other people from turning in your data (unless you have no connections whatsoever in this world, or you and all your connections live in a cave). And if you use any popular service or visit any popular website yourself, your data will be collected, it's only a matter of the level of details.
- squeaky-clean 7y ago
  But at the very least my mom's contact list shouldn't be able to be used to send me targeted ads in search or suggest contacts to me in Gmail. It would be isolated to those products owned by that newly split off sub-company. Sure any 3rd party app I install can track me to some degree, but it can't compare my usage against my entire email history, my travel history, recordings of my voice...
  - oefrha 7y ago
    > my entire email history, my travel history, recordings of my voice GGP was talking about data collected involuntarily, and I was responding to that. Google (or any other company) can't have your entire email history, your travel history, and recordings of your voice without your voluntary participation in one of their services or services of a "partner". Those are way beyond drive-by collection.

mastazi 7y ago

Don't forget AMP

mastazi 7y ago
Source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764?hl=en https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7486764?hl=en