I need more control

mrsmumbles

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I'm sure everyone who wants to know, knows that in Settings (in the phone), Accounts, Google, Google+ you can turn off a lot of the Google spyware, and also someplace else in the same general area you can turn off Google's searching and collecting of app data, texts, etc.

(Heheh, sorry about the "same general area", it's there under accounts, Google, search. :)

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mrsmumbles

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But what would be nice is if it were opt in, instead of opt out. If they showed a prompt every now and then to opt people in with clear benefits attached, it would be nicer than having to go through a lot of settings to opt out. But still, I'm glad there's still an option to opt out.

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mrsmumbles

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Oh, and in the phone's Search settings (for web searches, I'm guessing) you can turn off the setting to 'return results relevant to me', so I just did that and I'm going to see if I start getting more varied search results.

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llamabreath

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I'm sure everyone who wants to know, knows that in Settings (in the phone), Accounts, Google, Google+ you can turn off a lot of the Google spyware, and also someplace else in the same general area you can turn off Google's searching and collecting of app data, texts, etc.

(Heheh, sorry about the "same general area", it's there under accounts, Google, search. :)

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I repeat -

How do we ever really know if turning off options such as ones that relate to our privacy really actually turn them off?

I think it's naive to think that those options do anything at all.




I think signatures are stupid.
 

mrsmumbles

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I repeat -

How do we ever really know if turning off options such as ones that relate to our privacy really actually turn them off?

I think it's naive to think that those options do anything at all.




I think signatures are stupid.

You could be right. But whoever discovers that fact for certain is in for a lawsuit windfall, I'm guessing.

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Aquila

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I repeat -

How do we ever really know if turning off options such as ones that relate to our privacy really actually turn them off?

I think it's naive to think that those options do anything at all.




I think signatures are stupid.

In some cases we have access to the actual code, which is one of the cool things about some of Android and most of Linux in general, but you're right, there is an element of trust implied in the contract of the privacy agreement.
 

A895

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I repeat -

How do we ever really know if turning off options such as ones that relate to our privacy really actually turn them off?

I think it's naive to think that those options do anything at all.




I think signatures are stupid.

So you are suggesting we do not do anything? I found just deleting the offending things works for me.

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llamabreath

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So you are suggesting we do not do anything? I found just deleting the offending things works for me.

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No, I'm not suggesting that doing nothing is any better. I'm just saying that nobody can be sure if those opt-outs do anything at all, kind of like the placebo effect.




I think signatures are stupid.
 

A895

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No, I'm not suggesting that doing nothing is any better. I'm just saying that nobody can be sure if those opt-outs do anything at all, kind of like the placebo effect.




I think signatures are stupid.

So we shouldn't do anything? Regardless, we will opt out and privatize our settings and so far to the best of our knowledge it works to keep our info from prying eyes, but the company itself may still have some peepers on it still but, its better than it being all out there for the world to see.

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msndrstood

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No, I'm not suggesting that doing nothing is any better. I'm just saying that nobody can be sure if those opt-outs do anything at all, kind of like the placebo effect.




I think signatures are stupid.

The same could be said for anything. Our info, our faces, our banking and credit transactions, our connections to the Internet, our license tag numbers, even at the local library (where you have to sign in to use their computers) everything is considered data used by a third party to track us. Local police departments track tag numbers on a daily basis. Stores track us while we're in the store, gathering data on what we shop for, the things we stop to look at.

Like I said, that horse has left the barn, the genie is out of the bottle, whatever analogy you want to use, if you want to go back to the 50's, your only option is to move completely off the grid, no bank account, no smart phone, no Internet, no electric company (they track your usage too looking for unusually high usage indicates possible indoor farming, ahem), use cash only, no car since they track your tags.

Stay away from shopping centers, malls, stores, cities, any public places. Don't have a job either, you'll be tracked by your social security number. Pretty much, you'd better find a nice piece of land with some water rights because that's the only way you're going totally off the grid. And even then, you'll have to register your land with the local government and pay taxes, so essentially, you're screwed. ;)
 

mrsmumbles

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The same could be said for anything. Our info, our faces, our banking and credit transactions, our connections to the Internet, our license tag numbers, even at the local library (where you have to sign in to use their computers) everything is considered data used by a third party to track us. Local police departments track tag numbers on a daily basis. Stores track us while we're in the store, gathering data on what we shop for, the things we stop to look at.

Like I said, that horse has left the barn, the genie is out of the bottle, whatever analogy you want to use, if you want to go back to the 50's, your only option is to move completely off the grid, no bank account, no smart phone, no Internet, no electric company (they track your usage too looking for unusually high usage indicates possible indoor farming, ahem), use cash only, no car since they track your tags.

Stay away from shopping centers, malls, stores, cities, any public places. Don't have a job either, you'll be tracked by your social security number. Pretty much, you'd better find a nice piece of land with some water rights because that's the only way you're going totally off the grid. And even then, you'll have to register your land with the local government and pay taxes, so essentially, you're screwed. ;)

Not to mention satellites can take your picture almost anywhere.

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msndrstood

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Not to mention satellites can take your picture almost anywhere.

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Exactly. It's the price we pay for technological advancement. It's really not the tech that's the problem, it's the people who have access to the advanced tech and the data produced, that proves to be the problem.

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Aquila

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Like I said, that horse has left the barn, the genie is out of the bottle, whatever analogy you want to use,

I'd prefer the genie over the horse, if you don't mind.

if you want to go back to the 50's

No, thank you. The world was and was becoming an awful place then. As horrible as people are now, it was much more socially acceptable to behave like the scum of the earth back then.

use cash only

Cash is tracked every time it enters and leaves a bank. Also, with no job and no human contact (in person or electronic), where is the cash coming from?

totally off the grid

Being "off the grid" isn't possible anymore , in any long term sustainability sense of the concept, if you are an honest person.

The most obvious most optimal solution is to accept that you live in a society where the internet exists and that it knows stuff, and then to make intelligent decisions on your personal interactions with it and the companies that also utilize it based on valuation judgments that you make of risk (in a privacy sense) vs reward, based on the most information that you have available to you at the time.

As the perception of the big data age is new to most people, a lot of the concepts of the enormity of the data that they create and the enormity of the potential uses of that data can be quite disturbing. Yes, the world is changing and there literally is no going back. It ultimately means an easier and more deliberate or targeted consumer experience and a much more profitable enterprise for businesses that can bring this intelligence to bear in an effectively innovative way.

Of all companies, Google probably has the most inherent ability to do the most damage to you as an individual given the immense amount of information that they possess. The fact that they do not sell that information and the level of transparency and control that they offer is what turns a lot of people ON to them as a company. Bad apples like Microsoft and Yahoo give us useful caution, but the line between being prudent and being paranoid to the debilitation of the value add of the product is an easy line to cross, even in the most subjective of personal values.
 

msndrstood

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I'd prefer the genie over the horse, if you don't mind.



No, thank you. The world was and was becoming an awful place then. As horrible as people are now, it was much more socially acceptable to behave like the scum of the earth back then.



Cash is tracked every time it enters and leaves a bank. Also, with no job and no human contact (in person or electronic), where is the cash coming from?



Being "off the grid" isn't possible anymore , in any long term sustainability sense of the concept, if you are an honest person.

The most obvious most optimal solution is to accept that you live in a society where the internet exists and that it knows stuff, and then to make intelligent decisions on your personal interactions with it and the companies that also utilize it based on valuation judgments that you make of risk (in a privacy sense) vs reward, based on the most information that you have available to you at the time.

As the perception of the big data age is new to most people, a lot of the concepts of the enormity of the data that they create and the enormity of the potential uses of that data can be quite disturbing. Yes, the world is changing and there literally is no going back. It ultimately means an easier and more deliberate or targeted consumer experience and a much more profitable enterprise for businesses that can bring this intelligence to bear in an effectively innovative way.

Of all companies, Google probably has the most inherent ability to do the most damage to you as an individual given the immense amount of information that they possess. The fact that they do not sell that information and the level of transparency and control that they offer is what turns a lot of people ON to them as a company. Bad apples like Microsoft and Yahoo give us useful caution, but the line between being prudent and being paranoid to the debilitation of the value add of the product is an easy line to cross, even in the most subjective of personal values.

My point as well. :thumbup:

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