Hey I’d Like to know why Google is often considered as really Bad. Is it because they collect so much or is It the way the handle it? Because from my point of view it makes no sense to sell user data if they want to use it for their advertising business.
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One would wear out one’s clicking finger if all the available information was included here.
Welcome to the forum.
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They don’t sell your data, they give it away for free.
Google finds out how likely you are to make a purchase, and they give that data away for free, but it also includes some personal data, and they give the data to the companies who bid on ad auctions.
Hi, it is the amount of data they collect and the ways in which they collect it. For example, Android is a tool for collecting information about the phone users location, the Wi-Fi networks they connect to. Their Google pay data, and potentially health data, through their phone. In other words, from your phone alone, Google can potentially tell that you went to a specific coffee shop, with another specific android user, and whether you uses Google pay to by your drinks. If you did use Google pay they also know how much you spent too.
Further, in Chrome Google refuse to implement standard industry practises, that enable users to mitigate the ability of marketers to track them across the internet. And Google proposes alternatives that would centralise marketing data in Googles own hands.
Finally, Google have been pushing for integration into the education system. This means that Google can legally collect data on subjects who would normally be protected because of their age.
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Ist there any article about this? What Personal Data ist Sold in this auctions? I thought the way it works is that Google sells targetted ads for a specific group of people who are likely to buy a product in the advertised category based on their User Activity?
You can see a data profile here https://iabtechlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IABTL-Audience-Taxonomy-1.1-Final.xlsx
EFF has some good information on how the data is used and collected.
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Ok, for me the collecting part isn’t that big of a problem. I don’t think it’s irrelevant but in my opinion thats just a way of paying for a “free” service and I don’t See Google as a Major threat to me. For me it is more important that my data is not passed on to others and is well protected against data theft. Nevertheless, I try to use services that collect as little data as possible whenever possible. For example DDgo, selfhosted NC, Protonmail and so on
Looks very interesting, thanks for Sharing
Fair I suppose, as long as you are aware of the data they are collecting.
However, if I may politely raise a different prospective , going back to the example of you meeting a friend at a coffee shop. What if your friend doesn’t want Google to know that.
Further, Don’t you think it creepy that Google knows more about your whereabouts than your loved ones?
Don’t you think it creepy that a stranger can see where you live, sleep, and work?
If you don’t care that’s fine, but worth thinking about.
The overarching narrative behind the lacking privacy of Google is the lack of choice within their services. Like, it is either data collected/compiled or not use the service, as there are no sliders.
That being said, if you watch LinusTechTip’s commentary on whether YouTube should have 4K be a premium feature, a claim he makes is the paying customer is more valuable than the ads-subsidized customer. Though, I ask for a source along with the financial outcomes and situations within that.
Though, the pointer hinting this is paying Google Workspace and Cloud customers are subject to better privacy standards. However, this is not commonly discussed in the privacy community because 1) this arguably contributes to the power of Big Tech further and 2) working with Workspace can be quite complex and Google has some lapses in privacy policies over Cloud and Workspace usage.
For instance, if you have a consumer Google account and actively use Cloud, what happens? What happens to Google Cloud Essentials and Starter customers privacy-wise? Google needs to make enterprise upgrades for consumers easier to work with, whether they seek better privacy, features, or both.
And the third reason this is not discussed is the privacy community is critical of approaching the idea of paying for privacy in an elitist manner. We aim for privacy to be as accessible as possible, both technically and financially. However, a reason why Google should be a paid service is to actually limit their power. If it is glaringly obvious none of their products are free, then it leaves a gap for someone else (whether company, FOSS project, NPO, something else) to fill it.
Unpopular Opinion: Google should be a paid service, with either paid One or Workspace being required, provided solid privacy standards are being exercised in all their options.
My primary concern about the privacy of my interactions with Google is that, as Edward Snowden revealed, Google has been subverted by the U.S. government. (See the NSA PRISM program.) Any data you share with Google, or that Google otherwise collects about you, may be provided to the U.S. government without your knowledge or consent.
Summary:
Google’s business model for free users is advertisements.
To get more money from advertising, they try to serve personalized ads.
They collect lots of data about you from your activities (web browsing, Youtube, Gmail, etc.) to build a profile about you, based on your interests, hobbies, and demographics
That profile is shown to advertisers, who bid to show you the ad, based on how interested you may be in their ad based on the profile Google has built on you.
Basically, a profile is built on you, so advertisers can bid on you if its worth showing their ad to you. This helps Google make more revenue.
Google collects lots of data on you, and stores that data forever possibly. Your emails in Gmail, Google has a copy of forever. And they can access all of this data anytime, its not end to end encrypted.
But I don’t think Google employees go through people’s Gmail and Google Drive, they don’t have time for this and its don’t going to help them. However, Google can turn over all of this data to the U.S. government, and has done so multiple times in the past.
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Sounds ridiculous I don’t think they’re charity I do believe they sell it to the highest bidder themselves. You’re proposing a reality where google makes no money on data.
Linus has actually posted a number of videos about their revenue streams, and YouTube Premium revenue is much higher per minute of watch time compared to ad-supported viewers.
I very much doubt your privacy is improved on a consumer Google account merely by virtue of using Google Cloud, any privacy advantages (if any) would be constrained to Google Cloud services. On the other hand, many Google features/apps are disabled for Google Workspace accounts specifically because they are not compliant with Workspace’s privacy policy, so Workspace is actually probably more private than a consumer account at the cost of features. That being said, this definitely still holds true, so I still wouldn’t encourage it:
To tired to explain this.
Just see:
It’s branch of the CIA.
To be fair, it’s not like Outlook’s any better for one’s privacy, is it?
Another branch of the CIA.