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You can go to https://myactivity.google.com/ https://myactivity.google.com/ and turn off everything there. I think most users can do atleast that if you have a

by ece 6y ago

You can go to https://myactivity.google.com/ https://myactivity.google.com/ and turn off everything there. I think most users can do atleast that if you have a Google account. Using adblockers, fingerprint avoiding browsers, and diligently opting out of all forms of tracking where possible is also doable. This only minimizes data collection. It's sending companies like acxiom and sift science requests to delete your data based on identifiers that most people will likely not do. I would like to see banning of data collection IDs, including IDFAs. No ad re-targeting IDs, no Verizon injecting IDs into network traffic, no Facebook SDK IDs, no IDFAs enabling data collection. I think that would do wonders for big tech minimizing their data collection.

1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago
This requires sign-in. (Signing-in, the "business" of creating non-anonymous profiles, is as I see it the essence of the problem. "Tech" companies hoping to do "work" for free and profit via online advertising want to build profiles for advertisers to target, without having to ask for consent to create them. Some users do not want profiles nor advertising.) "Myactivity" does not stop data collection. It is, to quote the web page, for "managing" the data they have already collected and will continue to collect going forward absent intervention from the user. The data collection is already happening before one ever signs in. Sure, someone can tell Google to stop collecting, but by then it's too late. They have created a profile at Google's urging , identified themselves and put their name on data that Google has already collected and attached to other identifiers. The solution is simple, as stated above: stop collecting data on people without their prior consent. Legislation could address this, but I doubt the US will ever see any meaningful regulation in this area. As I am typing this I am thinking of the case where Google was sniffing people's Wifi and storing the data. I can find the cite if needed. They later stopped after people complained, and they were sued, but that was a nice example of how aggressively they pursue data collection "within the bounds of existing law". Wrong but legal (for now). This is the "tech" industry in a nutshell.

by ece 6y ago

1vuio0pswjnm7 6y ago

This requires sign-in. (Signing-in, the "business" of creating non-anonymous profiles, is as I see it the essence of the problem. "Tech" companies hoping to do "work" for free and profit via online advertising want to build profiles for advertisers to target, without having to ask for consent to create them. Some users do not want profiles nor advertising.) "Myactivity" does not stop data collection. It is, to quote the web page, for "managing" the data they have already collected and will continue to collect going forward absent intervention from the user. The data collection is already happening before one ever signs in. Sure, someone can tell Google to stop collecting, but by then it's too late. They have created a profile at Google's urging , identified themselves and put their name on data that Google has already collected and attached to other identifiers. The solution is simple, as stated above: stop collecting data on people without their prior consent. Legislation could address this, but I doubt the US will ever see any meaningful regulation in this area. As I am typing this I am thinking of the case where Google was sniffing people's Wifi and storing the data. I can find the cite if needed. They later stopped after people complained, and they were sued, but that was a nice example of how aggressively they pursue data collection "within the bounds of existing law". Wrong but legal (for now). This is the "tech" industry in a nutshell.