5 ms·

> can't opt out of their tracking How would breaking up Google prevent tracking?

SomeOldThrow 7y ago
Ideally it would Balkanize user profiles to individual products. It would greatly reduce the harm in using YouTube, maps, and search if they were distinct data silos. So yea, tracking will continue until people regulate it.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  Except with all the various products Google has, search is likely the only one that could stand on its own financially.
  - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
    That’s google’s problem for picking a delicate business model.
    - colejohnson66 7y ago
      So you’re fine with YouTube failing because Google got broken up?
      - loudtieblahblah 7y ago
        Absolutely.
  - v7p1Qbt1im 7y ago
    That for one. And products like Assistant would become pretty much useless. Brin and Page always stated that search is not the end goal. A real AI is. If these actions happen, it‘s pretty much guaranteed that China will get there first. We don‘t have the global regulations in place yet to discourage that arms race.
    - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
      There’s no indication they are capable of this.
      - drippingthunder 7y ago
        https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveill...
      - v7p1Qbt1im 7y ago
        Not yet. But they are doing everything possible to lay the groundwork. As much accurate data as possible, hire all the best AI talent, pioneering work on quantum computing and constantly improving tooling. 2030 to 2040 will be the earliest AGI could happen realistically.
  - close04 7y ago
    Feels like Youtube and Maps have a pretty solid foothold given how very few products can compete at that level. I’m not sure how much they rely on data from other Google divisions but even without it I don’t see why they would fare worse than any other map service.
- studentrob 7y ago
  > tracking will continue until people regulate it How are you going to stop tracking? Whenever you interact with a business, online or offline, you're supplying information that can be tracked.
  - antisemiotic 7y ago
    I think there's a difference between gathering information that's necessary for the service at hand (giving your IP address to a server, or your current location to a cell phone network) and milking the user for all identifying information that can be gathered (asking for the user's gender to create a shop account, browser fingerprinting by scanning plugins and canvas hashing, etc).
    - studentrob 7y ago
      Regardless, how is breaking up Google going to stop such tracking? I've asked this question twice now. We can't just break up companies because they collect data. That's not anti-trust.
      - antisemiotic 7y ago
        Well that's a question for SomeOldThrow, I don't know how breaking up Google would help either.
  - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
    You’d need something like the GDPR I imagine. While tracking and anti-trust are only loosely coupled, both are symptoms of an anti-social company.
- myko 7y ago
  Sounds like a big negative for the average consumer

Ideally it would Balkanize user profiles to individual products. It would greatly reduce the harm in using YouTube, maps, and search if they were distinct data silos. So yea, tracking will continue until people regulate it.

jjeaff 7y ago
Except with all the various products Google has, search is likely the only one that could stand on its own financially.
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  That’s google’s problem for picking a delicate business model.
  - colejohnson66 7y ago
    So you’re fine with YouTube failing because Google got broken up?
    - loudtieblahblah 7y ago
      Absolutely.
- v7p1Qbt1im 7y ago
  That for one. And products like Assistant would become pretty much useless. Brin and Page always stated that search is not the end goal. A real AI is. If these actions happen, it‘s pretty much guaranteed that China will get there first. We don‘t have the global regulations in place yet to discourage that arms race.
  - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
    There’s no indication they are capable of this.
    - drippingthunder 7y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveill...
    - v7p1Qbt1im 7y ago
      Not yet. But they are doing everything possible to lay the groundwork. As much accurate data as possible, hire all the best AI talent, pioneering work on quantum computing and constantly improving tooling. 2030 to 2040 will be the earliest AGI could happen realistically.
- close04 7y ago
  Feels like Youtube and Maps have a pretty solid foothold given how very few products can compete at that level. I’m not sure how much they rely on data from other Google divisions but even without it I don’t see why they would fare worse than any other map service.
studentrob 7y ago
> tracking will continue until people regulate it How are you going to stop tracking? Whenever you interact with a business, online or offline, you're supplying information that can be tracked.
- antisemiotic 7y ago
  I think there's a difference between gathering information that's necessary for the service at hand (giving your IP address to a server, or your current location to a cell phone network) and milking the user for all identifying information that can be gathered (asking for the user's gender to create a shop account, browser fingerprinting by scanning plugins and canvas hashing, etc).
  - studentrob 7y ago
    Regardless, how is breaking up Google going to stop such tracking? I've asked this question twice now. We can't just break up companies because they collect data. That's not anti-trust.
    - antisemiotic 7y ago
      Well that's a question for SomeOldThrow, I don't know how breaking up Google would help either.
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  You’d need something like the GDPR I imagine. While tracking and anti-trust are only loosely coupled, both are symptoms of an anti-social company.
myko 7y ago
Sounds like a big negative for the average consumer