4 ms·

Not a huge fan of Google, but have to defend them here. They have a pretty huge privacy section in android settings where you can see exactly what data they ha

by zibzab 5y ago

Not a huge fan of Google, but have to defend them here. They have a pretty huge privacy section in android settings where you can see exactly what data they have on you and how to opt out and/or delete existing data. When you set up android, it ask you if your want in or out. You can even set up a new android device without a Gmail account and disable all Google services including Gmail and search. I don't belive you can do this with iOS.

sralbert 5y ago
You can set up an iPhone without an Apple account.
- zibzab 5y ago
  That is mainly used to rescue a device, you can't really use it as your daily phone that way. (Yes, I know there are some hacks to get around that )
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  Although, since you won't be able to install any software or use much of the preinstalled software, I don't think it would have much utility...
TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
iOS can also be set up without a Gmail account, no Google services required either.
lurkerasdfh8 5y ago
You are not wrong. But not right either. All those nice settings (for google and everyone else) are only for the minimum they are required by law. That means anything that they can claim to be "anonymized" is fair game and not visible to you in any way.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  ...are they? In the US? One thing I really do appreciate about Google products is that I'm able to fully disable personalization. My Youtube homepage is completely depersonalized, because I went through their privacy settings and switched off everything. I can't say whether or not Google is still secretly tracking me, but my biggest concern is actually that algorithmic recommendations put me in a filter bubble. Google lets me turn off the bubble. Amazon, by contrast, does not let me depersonalize my recommendations. Neither does Netflix. There was a period of several years where I would periodically go through my Amazon history and manually mark everything as a gift. This worked for a time, but abruptly stopped one day. I assume Amazon decided I'd marked too many things as gifts and my selections should be ignored.
  - lurkerasdfh8 5y ago
    Google gives you the illusion. Ads are still targeted just fine. Did you receive any ads in spanish or chinese recently? did you see any political ad to a party you vehemently oppose? All that is still decided by your profile and history. Just with hocus pocus anonymization on the front end. So google is not that different from netflix and amazon. they just give you a blanket.

by zibzab 5y ago

sralbert 5y ago

You can set up an iPhone without an Apple account.

zibzab 5y ago
That is mainly used to rescue a device, you can't really use it as your daily phone that way. (Yes, I know there are some hacks to get around that )
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
Although, since you won't be able to install any software or use much of the preinstalled software, I don't think it would have much utility...

TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago

iOS can also be set up without a Gmail account, no Google services required either.

lurkerasdfh8 5y ago

You are not wrong. But not right either. All those nice settings (for google and everyone else) are only for the minimum they are required by law. That means anything that they can claim to be "anonymized" is fair game and not visible to you in any way.

Wowfunhappy 5y ago
...are they? In the US? One thing I really do appreciate about Google products is that I'm able to fully disable personalization. My Youtube homepage is completely depersonalized, because I went through their privacy settings and switched off everything. I can't say whether or not Google is still secretly tracking me, but my biggest concern is actually that algorithmic recommendations put me in a filter bubble. Google lets me turn off the bubble. Amazon, by contrast, does not let me depersonalize my recommendations. Neither does Netflix. There was a period of several years where I would periodically go through my Amazon history and manually mark everything as a gift. This worked for a time, but abruptly stopped one day. I assume Amazon decided I'd marked too many things as gifts and my selections should be ignored.
- lurkerasdfh8 5y ago
  Google gives you the illusion. Ads are still targeted just fine. Did you receive any ads in spanish or chinese recently? did you see any political ad to a party you vehemently oppose? All that is still decided by your profile and history. Just with hocus pocus anonymization on the front end. So google is not that different from netflix and amazon. they just give you a blanket.