4 ms·

Never considered firebase.. How would you even avoid that?

by im3w1l 6y ago

jojobas 6y ago
Don't use services where you are the product.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago
  If only it were that simple. Just because you pay them doesn't mean they're not tracking you. Look at Windows 10. And just because they promise not to misbehave doesn't mean they're not subject to secret coercion (e.g. from China) or to getting hacked. The only solution is for them not to have your data at all. It has to stay on your machine and never be on theirs.
crdrost 6y ago
Firebase is loosely speaking an app development framework which hosts the server side of your app on Google Cloud. The firebase web site lists some apps built with it like NYT and trivago and Duolingo, but I don't think you could reasonably avoid them based on how they look, those look like every other app. It's really not clear what this lawsuit is about from this article, either. Is the problem the Google Cloud integration? Is the problem Google Analytics being shipped with apps? All that we can really tell from the information given is that there is some conflict between non-Google apps and the Google privacy settings, which just sounds like a strange tension. Like, of course non-Google apps are not subject to Google's privacy policy. Still, this lawsuit may have some indirect effect where Google someday needs to rebrand, and the apps that it sends straight to you like Docs and Gmail continue to be “Google” while the platforms for other developers like Google Cloud carry some other name as part of a different subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. I don't want to speculate too much about that, it seems strange but that's why we have court systems to work through the stranger points of law.
- shadowgovt 6y ago
  "Of course" to us. IIUC, the lawyer is trying to build a reasonable-person-principle case that an average user, downloading an app from the Android store to their Android phone, who turns off web and app activity tracking, is right to believe that it turns off all tracking on the DEVICE, regardless of who owns the apps (because from the user's point of view, they all come from Google).
  - judge2020 6y ago
    On the other hand, each app has a developer name right under the app name and includes a link to their T&C/Privacy policy, so it'll be interesting to see this play out.

Never considered firebase.. How would you even avoid that?

by im3w1l 6y ago

Never considered firebase.. How would you even avoid that?

jojobas 6y ago

Don't use services where you are the product.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
If only it were that simple. Just because you pay them doesn't mean they're not tracking you. Look at Windows 10. And just because they promise not to misbehave doesn't mean they're not subject to secret coercion (e.g. from China) or to getting hacked. The only solution is for them not to have your data at all. It has to stay on your machine and never be on theirs.

crdrost 6y ago

Firebase is loosely speaking an app development framework which hosts the server side of your app on Google Cloud. The firebase web site lists some apps built with it like NYT and trivago and Duolingo, but I don't think you could reasonably avoid them based on how they look, those look like every other app. It's really not clear what this lawsuit is about from this article, either. Is the problem the Google Cloud integration? Is the problem Google Analytics being shipped with apps? All that we can really tell from the information given is that there is some conflict between non-Google apps and the Google privacy settings, which just sounds like a strange tension. Like, of course non-Google apps are not subject to Google's privacy policy. Still, this lawsuit may have some indirect effect where Google someday needs to rebrand, and the apps that it sends straight to you like Docs and Gmail continue to be “Google” while the platforms for other developers like Google Cloud carry some other name as part of a different subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. I don't want to speculate too much about that, it seems strange but that's why we have court systems to work through the stranger points of law.

shadowgovt 6y ago
"Of course" to us. IIUC, the lawyer is trying to build a reasonable-person-principle case that an average user, downloading an app from the Android store to their Android phone, who turns off web and app activity tracking, is right to believe that it turns off all tracking on the DEVICE, regardless of who owns the apps (because from the user's point of view, they all come from Google).
- judge2020 6y ago
  On the other hand, each app has a developer name right under the app name and includes a link to their T&C/Privacy policy, so it'll be interesting to see this play out.