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I think this idea that Google Play is tracking the crap out of you (especially if you’re adept at changing your account privacy settings) is a bit overplayed.

by dangus 2y ago

I think this idea that Google Play is tracking the crap out of you (especially if you’re adept at changing your account privacy settings) is a bit overplayed. Google Play makes the bulk of its money on in-app purchases. It’s essentially the same software royalty business model as the PlayStation Store or Steam. I doubt it’s really a heavy personal information tracking app like Google Search, with the exception of personalization for ads for apps within the store (which can be de-personalized). Now, that’s not to say I don’t think it’s good to De-Google your life. However, for me personally, stuff like breaking bank apps or being unable to buy paid apps would be something of a dealbreaker. Using Android with an alternative browser, ad blocker, and email service that are outside of Google, and auditing your account privacy settings is already avoiding 95% of the personal info tracking that Google does on the average person, if I were to guess.

QuarterReptile 2y ago
I think you're conflating the Google Play store with Google Play Services. The latter is what people seek to avoid
- dangus 2y ago
  Doesn’t mean those people who wish to avoid it are doing so for incredibly strong reasons. Google is quite up front and transparent about what the services do and what data they collect. The user can control pretty much all of it via device and account settings. https://support.google.com/android/answer/10546414?hl=en https://support.google.com/android/answer/10546414?hl=en Personally, a lot of the tin foil hat privacy stuff isn’t worth losing some rather useful services like sending emergency responders my location.
  - QuarterReptile 2y ago
    On Google's transparency, I think you need to bear in mind that, even if they have stopped now, Google was built by routinely collecting unseemly piles of data about each of us on the mostly correct assumption that our Overton windows precluded consideration of such invasions. In the meantime, law enforcement has helped itself to the spoils through geofence warrants that can earn you police scrutiny in, again, post-hoc happenstance that would be disruptive and jarring to one's life. On you last point, consider that some people view those features as marginally useful or view abstinence from their use as worthwhile self-deprivation (e.g. I spend no time alone, so my emergency calls are already a solved problem.) Having said that, I don't use a Graphene OS Pixel or any other de-Googled phone, but the existence of such a market shouldn't be surprising.
panarky 2y ago
> breaking bank apps It's not popular to say because Google is everyone's favorite villain, but those banking apps are far, far greater privacy threats. A typical user session on the Chase website or mobile app might make a couple hundred https requests, and between 30% and 50% of those requests go to a dog's breakfast of 30 to 40 different non-Chase sites. If you think it's important for your privacy to de-Google your phone, more power to you. But if you don't also de-Chase and de-Schwab and de-Instagram and de-Amazon at the same time, then your threat model is a lot different than my threat model.
- dangus 2y ago
  One https request != one disclosure of personal information If I host some static files on S3 and your browser makes some requests to AWS URLs that doesn’t mean that I’m giving all your info to AWS.

by dangus 2y ago

QuarterReptile 2y ago

I think you're conflating the Google Play store with Google Play Services. The latter is what people seek to avoid

dangus 2y ago
Doesn’t mean those people who wish to avoid it are doing so for incredibly strong reasons. Google is quite up front and transparent about what the services do and what data they collect. The user can control pretty much all of it via device and account settings. https://support.google.com/android/answer/10546414?hl=en https://support.google.com/android/answer/10546414?hl=en Personally, a lot of the tin foil hat privacy stuff isn’t worth losing some rather useful services like sending emergency responders my location.
- QuarterReptile 2y ago
  On Google's transparency, I think you need to bear in mind that, even if they have stopped now, Google was built by routinely collecting unseemly piles of data about each of us on the mostly correct assumption that our Overton windows precluded consideration of such invasions. In the meantime, law enforcement has helped itself to the spoils through geofence warrants that can earn you police scrutiny in, again, post-hoc happenstance that would be disruptive and jarring to one's life. On you last point, consider that some people view those features as marginally useful or view abstinence from their use as worthwhile self-deprivation (e.g. I spend no time alone, so my emergency calls are already a solved problem.) Having said that, I don't use a Graphene OS Pixel or any other de-Googled phone, but the existence of such a market shouldn't be surprising.

panarky 2y ago

> breaking bank apps It's not popular to say because Google is everyone's favorite villain, but those banking apps are far, far greater privacy threats. A typical user session on the Chase website or mobile app might make a couple hundred https requests, and between 30% and 50% of those requests go to a dog's breakfast of 30 to 40 different non-Chase sites. If you think it's important for your privacy to de-Google your phone, more power to you. But if you don't also de-Chase and de-Schwab and de-Instagram and de-Amazon at the same time, then your threat model is a lot different than my threat model.

dangus 2y ago
One https request != one disclosure of personal information If I host some static files on S3 and your browser makes some requests to AWS URLs that doesn’t mean that I’m giving all your info to AWS.