I hear that. I'd trust Google over Big Brother Steve with my personal information any day.
is anyone else concerned?
- Thread starter zer0xity
- Start date
I hear that. I'd trust Google over Big Brother Steve with my personal information any day.
Exactly.
So that Google maps is a better FREE service.
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That is a good question. Where is the option to disable the thing they get their money from, ie advertising? As far as I know, google scans the emails, and tells the advertisers what ads you should get. So there is no extra privacy concern there, since google could already scan your emails. The "delete" button doesn't have to "delete" anything. On hotmail for instance, when you click "delete" there is no way what-so-ever that you know your email is deleted and not saved on their servers somewhere. I do think you can disable drafts though, not sure where. Although, anyone could be saving it with or without your consent, if you don't want them getting it, don't type it on their page.
And they didn't "accidently" gather emails and passwords from open wifi networks. You heard things wrong. All they were doing really, was having their cars map open wifi networks. That is what bothered people, since people's homes with open wifi were then marked. This would've been good, because then you could have google maps point you to the nearest wifi as well.
Assuming you're running Windows or OSX, how do you know that isn't recording everything you type and sending it back somewhere? Even if you're running Linux (which I am), you can't be sure unless you've read every line of code in every thing on the system.
The option for that is to not use gmail, Google or their services and products. You're not being forced. You're aware of what they do. You have the control here. We're not helpless victims.
You're over-reacting just a bit, here. The scanning of private messages (I don't know if Google actually does this, but it seems like a perfectly logical way to tailor advertising and Google does, like you said, make a large chunk of their money from advertising) is being done by a BOT. No person is sitting around reading them. It's kind of a gray area, but it's not like somebody is sitting there reading your dirty secrets. I wouldn't really consider that an invasion of privacy. I mean, they're going to show you the
As for the "accidental" capture of the emails and such, it's not like they had to try very hard. They captured these, as you said, from "Open" WiFi networks. I'd recommend that you always secure your WiFi with WPA encryption or better or Google will be the least of your problems. All it takes is that smart-ass 15-year-old down the street to realize it's open and he could cause you a lot more hassle than Google intercepting a couple of emails.
In the grand scheme of things, it's not in Google's best interest to be "evil". The stuff they're doing is pretty benign. The GPS thing, like another reader pointed out, is very much an opt-in thing. I use it. I don't care if Google knows where I am. And if Skynet ever takes over and I have to change my mind, I can turn that feature off.
I'm going to have to agree with other here that you're being a little overly paranoid on this one.
If you're trying to "spy" on someone with a Google Streetview car, you're doing it wrong.
If you've ever seen one, you know that those cars tend to draw attention. Besides the 6-foot-tall protrusion from the top that looks like it should be housing an upside-down disco ball, they're also painted bright orange and green and say "Google Streetview" down both sides and (I think) the back.
They're hardly "spying" on us with those things.
That's so awesome. I hope I get to see one in my lifetime. How come when I do a street view of my house you can clearly see me in the shower? Seems odd...
Wow.... Google reported something like 978 million dollars revenue for the *first quarter* of this year. I seriously doubt they give a flying frak about your bank account.
You hand over your personal information to companies all day long. Every time you go to Taco Bell and pay with your credit card, both Taco Bell and the credit card company have a record that *you* bought $11.73 worth of tacos on June 1st at 2:26am from the store on Westheimer in Houston, Tx. Who knows what could be done with *that* information. And those companies aren't even pretending that that info isn't personally identifiable.
And you're really worried that Google storing everything you've ever searched the web for?
Yes... if you use Android, Google has a lot of info stored up about you. That's a given fact. But it's also a given fact that they have a ton of data for another 200 million people, too. Nobody's sitting there sifting through all that, unless they just wanted to research you specifically. And that's where you conspiracy falls apart because I'm pretty sure nobody at Google really gives a monkey's sh%7 what you had for dinner last night or what the name of your dog is or who you're crushing on this week.
Every company that you deal with all day long is storing your personal information. At least Google's upfront about it and does a good job protecting that info. I mean, to my knowledge nobody's managed to hack Google's servers yet.
That does seem odd. I think you should give us the address so that we can investigate this further
I seriously wish people would question your own gov't as much as you question google. You wanna see the "creepy line" being crossed, just look at the federal gov't every single day. That's who you should be worrying about, not google.
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I'm not too concerned with Google collecting data. That's what they do. I wouldn't have bought an Android device if I wasn't willing to put up with that. However I do share the concern of what could happen if/when hackers break into Google's systems.
That said, I do feel betrayed by "evil" Google, not because of their data collection policies but because Android was supposed to be the geek's dream smartphone platform, yet Google is turning it into yet another iOS-wannabe. They punish users who root their devices by blocking movie rentals (and who knows what they'll block next). They pull useful and popular emulators off the Market, yet they still can't be proactive about malware apps. They won't provide the user control over Market updates -- you can't take an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach with Market app updates because sooner or later they'll shove the update down your throat anyway. And they still allow the phone manufacturers and carriers to do whatever the heck they want with the phones and then lock users out of them through locked bootloaders and other crap like that.
So yes, Google is as evil as Apple, not for collecting our data but for selling us on one platform and then deliver something different. At leat Apple doesn't hide behind an "open platform" mask. There's nothing out there right now enticing me to jump ship but I'm not attached to Android the least bit. If Apple were to make an iPhone with a hardware keyboard or if RIM's new BlackBerrys really live up to the specs on paper. I'm ditching the green, slimy robot for good.
That said, I do feel betrayed by "evil" Google, not because of their data collection policies but because Android was supposed to be the geek's dream smartphone platform, yet Google is turning it into yet another iOS-wannabe. They punish users who root their devices by blocking movie rentals (and who knows what they'll block next). They pull useful and popular emulators off the Market, yet they still can't be proactive about malware apps. They won't provide the user control over Market updates -- you can't take an "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach with Market app updates because sooner or later they'll shove the update down your throat anyway. And they still allow the phone manufacturers and carriers to do whatever the heck they want with the phones and then lock users out of them through locked bootloaders and other crap like that.
So yes, Google is as evil as Apple, not for collecting our data but for selling us on one platform and then deliver something different. At leat Apple doesn't hide behind an "open platform" mask. There's nothing out there right now enticing me to jump ship but I'm not attached to Android the least bit. If Apple were to make an iPhone with a hardware keyboard or if RIM's new BlackBerrys really live up to the specs on paper. I'm ditching the green, slimy robot for good.
Some of your blame is a bit misplaced. Google has no reason to limit streaming to rooted devices, the content owners are doing that.
Google wants apps that are potentially in violation of copyright law out of their market - this seems reasonable as they would be held liable in addition to the authors themselves. Even more reasonable because you can set up an emulators-only appstore if you wanted to. In fact, the Amazon store may soon become the primary appstore for quite a few devices - I can run it on my Zeen despite the Zeen not having access to the Google Market.
Google can't be "proactive" about malware apps because that means vetting every app as it gets submitted, but they are very reactive when it comes to removing them.
You also can't have "open and free" and still have control. Without carrier support there is no phone market in the US because we're too spoiled to pay retail on a phone. Don't like locked bootloaders? Go to one of the vendors who has announced an open bootloader policy. Expecting Google to be able to prevent manufacturers and carriers from doing what they want with phones while keeping the OS free and open isn't a possibility, they could only do this if they closed the OS and people had to ask to use it.
Google wants apps that are potentially in violation of copyright law out of their market - this seems reasonable as they would be held liable in addition to the authors themselves. Even more reasonable because you can set up an emulators-only appstore if you wanted to. In fact, the Amazon store may soon become the primary appstore for quite a few devices - I can run it on my Zeen despite the Zeen not having access to the Google Market.
Google can't be "proactive" about malware apps because that means vetting every app as it gets submitted, but they are very reactive when it comes to removing them.
You also can't have "open and free" and still have control. Without carrier support there is no phone market in the US because we're too spoiled to pay retail on a phone. Don't like locked bootloaders? Go to one of the vendors who has announced an open bootloader policy. Expecting Google to be able to prevent manufacturers and carriers from doing what they want with phones while keeping the OS free and open isn't a possibility, they could only do this if they closed the OS and people had to ask to use it.
Hackers breaking into Google's system is defiantly something to be concerned about, especially in light of what happened to the PlayStation Network recently. All we can do about that is hope that Google is being vigilant and protecting our data as best they can.
As for blocking movie rentals on rooted devices, that wasn't Google's call. They were pressured into blocking root users, most likely by the MPAA. And as for the emulators, Sega, Nintendo, Sony and the other console manufactures wanted the emulators gone, and rightfully so, so Google complied. Video game emulation has always been controversial, not to mention illegal, and I'm honestly surprised it took as long as it did for the console manufactures to speak up and demand the emulator's removal. From what I've seen Google has been pretty fast when it comes to removing malicious apps from the market and patching vulnerabilities, and as for locked bootloaders I would point to the Nexus phones. I think the Nexus phones are what Google wants all Android phones to be, the pure Google experience, easily rootable and with fast updates. The carriers are the ones pressuring the manufactures to do things like lock they're bootloaders. The carriers own the networks, not Google, and if they decide they don't want rooted phones on they're networks, and I'm afraid we might be heading in that direction, that is they're prerogative. I doubt that there is much, if anything, Google could do about that.
Who needs a white van when you have multiple bugging devices in almost every home? I'm not worried about it but people need to be aware the potential is there.
By the way, I'm saying this because my thread subscription notifications go to my gmail account... Yay Google!
ottscay
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- Jul 16, 2010
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I know how long Google keeps the data, and how they anonymize it, because their ToS spells it out precisely. And I'm not posting the answer here, because anyone who wants to know should go look for themselves (and really, get into the habbit of at least skimming those things you agree to...from everyone).
That said, it seems to me that Google actually has the most consumer-friendly ToS in terms of how far they go to anonymize your data. Some of that data is kept longer than other companies, but those other companies also allow for more data-mining and reselling of your data, so I'm pretty happy with Google so far. Which isn't to say people shouldn't be vigilant, but at the same time paranoia doesn't help.
For sure you should do what makes you feel comfortable. Since you make a big deal of being safer by splitting your other services...have you read the privacy statement and ToS on those other services? I assure you gtalk is much safer and less intrusive than Skype, for example. And Gmail data, for example, is never associated with a name; they are just putting a product type associated with an anonymous cookie for advertising, and that data goes away after 18 months.
Also, what is the policy of your other service providers in terms of turning over data to others? Many other companies sell your personal data, and most of them happily turn it over to authorities any time they are asked. Google, on the other hand, has spent its money to fight (and won) even against official warrants.
Any and all companies need to be watched and vetted on current actions, not just past deeds. But if you push media sensationalism aside then at this point I'm still a firm believer that Google protects my interests more than almost any other company.
And if they stop...screw them. But so far, so good.
ottscay
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- Jul 16, 2010
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Who needs a white van when you have multiple bugging devices in almost every home? I'm not worried about it but people need to be aware the potential is there.
By the way, I'm saying this because my thread subscription notifications go to my gmail account... Yay Google!
That would completely violate their own ToS. Seriously, we all know that companies act immorally at times, but usually companies change their own agreements before shafting you, because otherwise they open themselves up to huge judgments (and rightfully so).
And as I mentioned above, Google at least has refused (and fought at great cost) government inquiries into getting at their users data. Not that I'm an anti-government type, but if I'm going to trust my data to a company I prefer one that fights against unreasonable fishing requests for user data.
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