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Chrome also syncs your browser history and passwords with their servers. They have your search history. They have your private email. They have your YouTube his

by Flankk 5y ago

Chrome also syncs your browser history and passwords with their servers. They have your search history. They have your private email. They have your YouTube history. They have your private documents and photos. They run your phone. They possibly run your laptop. I guess my point is it goes far beyond Chrome. Google is running the Borg hive mind.

marderfarker2 5y ago
This is why China bans these companies long ago. Imagine handing your population’s intel on a silver platter to your adversary.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  When you’re actively persecuting a portion of your population, why not monetise it too?
- footlose_3815 5y ago
  Too bad we were slow to do the same thing with all the shitty lazily-named Chinese phone manufacturers like OnePlus who have free reign to skim our devices.
  - est31 5y ago
    One Plus, using a number and a sign, is lazily named as opposed to what? A company that's named after a misspelled number? A company named after the first two greek letters? A company named after a river in south america? A company named after fruits?
- arvigeus 5y ago
  These companies are banned for refusing to share the data they collect with the government. Essentially the Chinese government is a competitor when comes to harvesting user data, not a privacy guard.
  - marderfarker2 5y ago
    I don’t think it is ever intended to be a privacy guard but data exfiltration prevention and admittedly to control the narrative, as does with every country including your own for obvious reasons.
- ghostcluster 5y ago
  Chrome is still the most popular desktop browser in China by far, and has a significant chunk of the mobile market. https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/china https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/china
- Thorrez 5y ago
  Does China ban any non-LinkedIn Microsoft services or Apple services? I though they didn't. Signal is blocked in China, and I'm pretty sure it isn't handing the population's intel over to anyone. Full disclosure I work at Google.
Barrin92 5y ago
tbf they're fairly competent with it, I don't think I've ever had anything Google related compromised. I'm honestly not sure what the better solution is. There's a lot of security theater around this where people will de-google their software and then run random binaries compiled by unknown people on the internet instead
- pixelgeek 5y ago
  > tbf they're fairly competent with it, I don't think I've ever had anything Google related compromised. It doesn't need to be compromised. The biggest ad and ad tracking company in the world has all that data.
- zagrebian 5y ago
  > I'm honestly not sure what the better solution is. How about a browser company that syncs your data on their servers but doesn’t examine it. Even better, they couldn’t do that even if they wanted to, because your data is encrypted on their servers. That company has also never been compromised. Does that sound better?
  - Barrin92 5y ago
    I don't think Google does examine drive data by default, fairly sure it's encrypted. complete E2E encryption Signal style with you having sole access to the keys and sync is technically pretty non-trivial across multiple devices (also the reason they don't sync device history on previously unlinked devices), so there's a usability / security trade-off. Honestly not certain whether that fits the need of most users for most data they have.
    - zagrebian 5y ago
      What do you mean by drive data?
ddlutz 5y ago
Borg is the name of the backend service that runs a lot of Google software - https://research.google.com/pubs/pub43438.html?hl=es#:~:text=Google's%20Borg%20system%20is%20a,tens%20of%20thousands%20of%20machines https://research.google.com/pubs/pub43438.html?hl=es#:~:text....
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  That's the nod-and-wink joke about the name Kubernetes. While it's a "controller" (hence the name) its design was inspired by borg. ... Kubernetes, or "kube" for short. ;)
  - bqmjjx0kac 5y ago
    Can you also explain the "rnetes" part? And why is it spelled with a K?
    - shagmin 5y ago
      Kubernetes is a Greek word meaning helmsman.
    - Uehreka 5y ago
      > Kubernetes (κυβερνήτης, Greek for "helmsman" or "pilot" or "governor", and the etymological root of cybernetics) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubernetes?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubernetes?wprov=sfti1 (The Borg have cybernetic enhancements, I’m guessing that’s the link)
      - weikju 5y ago
        Also the Borg ships were called cubes (they were huge cubes)
shadowgovt 5y ago
It's incredibly convenient. I sat down at a new laptop about a month ago and realized I was blanking on my bank account credentials. Fortunately, since I use Chrome, I was able to log in and get them clouded over. Whew!
- sodality2 5y ago
  That means you were already logged into google. At that point just use Bitwarden.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    I'm not familiar with Bitwarden. After a bit of Wikipedia and web search research on them, I'm not sure why I'd trust 8Bit Solutions over Google for storage of my PII. Do they have the resources to keep it secure? What is their incentive structure to do so? What happens if they get bought? Should I be concerned about past errors such as "In March 2018, Bitwarden's web vault was criticized for embedding unconstrained third-party JavaScript from BootstrapCDN, Braintree, Google, and Stripe"? It sounds like it'd add an additional layer of complexity to my situation without an obvious up-side over my existing solution.
    - paulryanrogers 5y ago
      Bitwarden can be self hosted and there is at least one independently developed server.
    - jyscao 5y ago
      Bitwarden uses end-to-end encryption. So you don't have to trust them as much as Google.
      - ameliaquining 5y ago
        Chrome also offers the option to use end-to-end encryption.
      - theamk 5y ago
smoldesu 5y ago
And so does Apple, Microsoft, and pretty much anyone else you share that info with. It's a little surreal to hear people complaining about companies having all their data when they were the ones who gave it to them in the first place. You want to buy privacy? They make you pay with convenience.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  The expectation that everyone reads the TOS of services is laughable. They are impenetrable and they are long.
authed 5y ago
They still have a few of my emails but besides that, only Youtube browsing... I use LineageOS without Gapps on my phone and some other web search engine, most of the time.
mshroyer 5y ago
Chrome at least lets you opt into end-to-end encryption of your sync data. Unfortunately that isn't even an option on Edge yet.
aaomidi 5y ago
Iirc they do allow e2ee for some stuff, like bookmarks.
Thorrez 5y ago
>Chrome also syncs your browser history and passwords with their servers. Only if you enable it, right? And I don't think it's enabled by default, I think it prompts you asking whether you want to or not. Full disclosure I work at Google, but not on anything related to this.

by Flankk 5y ago

marderfarker2 5y ago

This is why China bans these companies long ago. Imagine handing your population’s intel on a silver platter to your adversary.

lostlogin 5y ago
When you’re actively persecuting a portion of your population, why not monetise it too?
footlose_3815 5y ago
Too bad we were slow to do the same thing with all the shitty lazily-named Chinese phone manufacturers like OnePlus who have free reign to skim our devices.
- est31 5y ago
  One Plus, using a number and a sign, is lazily named as opposed to what? A company that's named after a misspelled number? A company named after the first two greek letters? A company named after a river in south america? A company named after fruits?
arvigeus 5y ago
These companies are banned for refusing to share the data they collect with the government. Essentially the Chinese government is a competitor when comes to harvesting user data, not a privacy guard.
- marderfarker2 5y ago
  I don’t think it is ever intended to be a privacy guard but data exfiltration prevention and admittedly to control the narrative, as does with every country including your own for obvious reasons.
ghostcluster 5y ago
Chrome is still the most popular desktop browser in China by far, and has a significant chunk of the mobile market. https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/china https://gs.statcounter.com/browser-market-share/all/china
Thorrez 5y ago
Does China ban any non-LinkedIn Microsoft services or Apple services? I though they didn't. Signal is blocked in China, and I'm pretty sure it isn't handing the population's intel over to anyone. Full disclosure I work at Google.

Barrin92 5y ago

tbf they're fairly competent with it, I don't think I've ever had anything Google related compromised. I'm honestly not sure what the better solution is. There's a lot of security theater around this where people will de-google their software and then run random binaries compiled by unknown people on the internet instead

pixelgeek 5y ago
> tbf they're fairly competent with it, I don't think I've ever had anything Google related compromised. It doesn't need to be compromised. The biggest ad and ad tracking company in the world has all that data.
zagrebian 5y ago
> I'm honestly not sure what the better solution is. How about a browser company that syncs your data on their servers but doesn’t examine it. Even better, they couldn’t do that even if they wanted to, because your data is encrypted on their servers. That company has also never been compromised. Does that sound better?
- Barrin92 5y ago
  I don't think Google does examine drive data by default, fairly sure it's encrypted. complete E2E encryption Signal style with you having sole access to the keys and sync is technically pretty non-trivial across multiple devices (also the reason they don't sync device history on previously unlinked devices), so there's a usability / security trade-off. Honestly not certain whether that fits the need of most users for most data they have.
  - zagrebian 5y ago
    What do you mean by drive data?

ddlutz 5y ago

Borg is the name of the backend service that runs a lot of Google software - https://research.google.com/pubs/pub43438.html?hl=es#:~:text=Google's%20Borg%20system%20is%20a,tens%20of%20thousands%20of%20machines https://research.google.com/pubs/pub43438.html?hl=es#:~:text....

shadowgovt 5y ago
That's the nod-and-wink joke about the name Kubernetes. While it's a "controller" (hence the name) its design was inspired by borg. ... Kubernetes, or "kube" for short. ;)
- bqmjjx0kac 5y ago
  Can you also explain the "rnetes" part? And why is it spelled with a K?
  - shagmin 5y ago
    Kubernetes is a Greek word meaning helmsman.
  - Uehreka 5y ago
    > Kubernetes (κυβερνήτης, Greek for "helmsman" or "pilot" or "governor", and the etymological root of cybernetics) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubernetes?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubernetes?wprov=sfti1 (The Borg have cybernetic enhancements, I’m guessing that’s the link)
    - weikju 5y ago
      Also the Borg ships were called cubes (they were huge cubes)

shadowgovt 5y ago

It's incredibly convenient. I sat down at a new laptop about a month ago and realized I was blanking on my bank account credentials. Fortunately, since I use Chrome, I was able to log in and get them clouded over. Whew!

sodality2 5y ago
That means you were already logged into google. At that point just use Bitwarden.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  I'm not familiar with Bitwarden. After a bit of Wikipedia and web search research on them, I'm not sure why I'd trust 8Bit Solutions over Google for storage of my PII. Do they have the resources to keep it secure? What is their incentive structure to do so? What happens if they get bought? Should I be concerned about past errors such as "In March 2018, Bitwarden's web vault was criticized for embedding unconstrained third-party JavaScript from BootstrapCDN, Braintree, Google, and Stripe"? It sounds like it'd add an additional layer of complexity to my situation without an obvious up-side over my existing solution.
  - paulryanrogers 5y ago
    Bitwarden can be self hosted and there is at least one independently developed server.
  - jyscao 5y ago
    Bitwarden uses end-to-end encryption. So you don't have to trust them as much as Google.
    - ameliaquining 5y ago
      Chrome also offers the option to use end-to-end encryption.
    - theamk 5y ago

smoldesu 5y ago

And so does Apple, Microsoft, and pretty much anyone else you share that info with. It's a little surreal to hear people complaining about companies having all their data when they were the ones who gave it to them in the first place. You want to buy privacy? They make you pay with convenience.

lostlogin 5y ago
The expectation that everyone reads the TOS of services is laughable. They are impenetrable and they are long.

authed 5y ago

They still have a few of my emails but besides that, only Youtube browsing... I use LineageOS without Gapps on my phone and some other web search engine, most of the time.

mshroyer 5y ago

Chrome at least lets you opt into end-to-end encryption of your sync data. Unfortunately that isn't even an option on Edge yet.

aaomidi 5y ago

Iirc they do allow e2ee for some stuff, like bookmarks.

Thorrez 5y ago

>Chrome also syncs your browser history and passwords with their servers. Only if you enable it, right? And I don't think it's enabled by default, I think it prompts you asking whether you want to or not. Full disclosure I work at Google, but not on anything related to this.