Sorry to post my shitty neofetch to this community
Google “Only spy the web” is highly inaccurate…they are everywhere. In every website, in your android phone, in your YouTube, in your Google drive, in your email, in your Google maps…
Anyways… I will calm down now. :)
They are even part of paying for the massive underwater cables between continents that all internet traffic runs through.
They took everything over.
It’s the most extensive surveillance network in the world.
It’s cute, people think their android os isn’t collecting an embarrassing amount of data. Even if you turn everything off but cellular, it still phones home with cellular tower triangulation, app usage, call history, general web activity, weather the phone thinks your walking driving or riding a Bike, device diagnostics, etc.
Same, I wish there was a better options. I’m on android right now but when it comes time to upgrade I always try to choose the lesser evil and it’s hard.
I wish there was a paid google of no spying… I mean what does google one get me, but the ability for google to spy on more or my data?
Everyone thinks about the spying as relating to themselves, the individual.
Google doesn’t give a shit about you. Google gives a shit about us. Collectively. They can monitor the collective soul of the world. When people are busy, when they’re not paying attention, when they’re mad, who, and for how long; how they react to certain subjects…how to get them to listen about certain subjects, how to bring them around to certain subjects, how to keep them disagreeing with other viewpoints, etc.
They’re literally developed “a remote control for the flock” and everyone’s out here like “why do I care if Google see my save games I have 500 hours in CoD so wut”
They’re really good at providing value for your data, I feel the same way about YouTube premium. I do it to better support creators and remove ads but they probably have one of the most detailed profiles on me.
For me, it is useful. At the very least, such a blatant display of tracking information means people will know about it and disable it if necessary.
It should be an opt in feature, but it has helped me a couple times. I got beat up pretty bad after leaving a bar and couldn’t remember anything about the night, was able to retrace my steps from the google stuff.
Oh that’s spooky. What phone do you have? I was almost gonna say that it’s likely a pixel thing, but I have one too, so idk why they would brag with your data.
in your android phone
And if you try to revoke their spying access on a rooted stock device, they force a reboot ☹️
Hence GrapheneOS sandboxing the Play Store. It is ironic that Google is the only phone manufacturer that allows for installing a different OS. But I suppose the fact that GrapheneOS has pushed security updates that have made it into stock Android and the fact that most users won’t bother installing an alternative OS on their pixel phones is why they allow such shenanigans.
I use rooted LineageOS on my 4a 5G, though I do still have GApps on it. Next phone I buy I’m thinking I’ll give GrapheneOS a try. Leaving behind my rooted system level adblocking would be difficult for me though.
I use alternative for all google services.
YouTube - piped.video
Google drive - Mega Drive or Anonfile
G-Mail - Proton
Google Map - OSM (Open Street Map)
I think you meant:
Google maps - OSM
and
Google Search Engine - almost a thing else (duckduckgo)
Yea, But my search engine is ecosia.org
It would be fun if some government required companies that off free services to disclose how they make money and allow each user to see their particular value. This might help open some eyes…
open their eyes to what? the fact it costs money to run a service? its either some data mining or everything costing a helluva lot more. and im sure youd complain about prices too.
and im sure youd complain about prices too
A universal claim only takes one case to disprove, and I’ll be that case: you’re wrong. I actually seek out the pay services and cut out the “free” ones.
My real complaint is when the huge companies offer a paid plan, but then still try to double dip and abuse my data and I. So I leave for the smaller guys who have an actual reputation to protect and so have garnered some trust. The hard part are things like google street view, or youtube, where competition is way behind due to the sheer inertia that incumbents have (e.g., creators using youtube due to the huge potential audience).
Other thing hard to ditch for me is android, as I really don’t like how tightly locked down apple’s walled garden is - not being able to run real firefox with my choice of extensions is a showstopper for any mobile platform.
How much money do you think a single user is worth? I can’t imagine it’s anything valuable
And not just google stuff, the big companies are for sure in exchange so if you do something on instagram, google will know it for sure.
Therefor im trying to step away from google, here are my alternatives to the google services:
Google drive -> Nextcloud Gmail -> Tutanota Youtube -> (im still using this) Maps -> Open Street Map Authenticator -> Aegis Chrome -> Librewolf/Firefox Passwords -> Bitwarden
(All of these alternatives are just my own preferences and what I daily use)
started uploading pics to maps as a ‘guide’ back in 2000s. G has sent me a few trinkets over the years(coveted lego phone stand). a level 8 guide, w/e that means. millions of pic views. what do I care. it’s a hobby. Moved a home phone line to Voice. Get email transcript of any voice mails. set it to do not disturb. phone never rings. voicemail or nothing. I use them for free. They use me. Or think they do
Google spy through android as well
I’ll be switching to Lineage soon…
Google forced my manufacturer (Fairphone) to effectively ‘disable’ the fingerprint scanner from android 13 onwards for the FP3. Our Lineage fork reverted that Google mandated change thankfully
or if your device has a maintainer willing: EvolutionX. im surprised how painless of an experience this custom rom is. and it’s got no bullshit stuff in it either. fucking crazy. they even got ota support… it’s like oem rom experience, only, there’s no third party spyware installed(excluding GApps. but even google’s telemetry can be highly restricted when we install AFWall+ and use NextDns+Adaway along with it). it’s been years(close to a decade actually) since I’ve used an oem rom on my personal phone, it’s just that good
Brave solves one set of problems… And replaces them with an entirely different set of problems. I’ll stick with Firefox.
Firefox is not safer. It’s just a different browser for people who don’t like to say ‘chrome’ in their mouths . It’s not really any different in the safety. It’s like how people think private browsing is private but it’s not. It’s just a comfort label.
Do you KNOW anything about online privacy?
Not using Chrome is a great first step since your browsing data isn’t directly fed to Gogle. Not using Gogle as your search engine is just the next step. Just by doing this you have mostly ridden G*ogle of the ability to know what you’ve been searching, but they can still get around.
This is where using stuff like Firefox and Brave is important. Because these browsers come with built-in protection against trackers. But that’s not just it. You want MORE. Next up is installing uBlock Origin. Set it up properly and congratulations you just became essentially invisible on the web. If that isn’t enough then you’re welcome to use TOR or a VPN to completely demolish all good attempts at tracking and spying. In fact, TOR alone would be enough for most users.
You fuckers always act like having privacy online is impossible or something when it’s really not. All it comes down to is user tech literacy and knowing what do to. I don’t want a browser that straight up listens on the mic to everything I say. NOBODY who knows shit thinks that “private browsing” is safe. NOBODY. That’s why using Firefox is just one step and not all of them.
How many years has it been since chrome had a “bug” that had it activate some “antivirus” project that was scanning files on the entire machine even when it wasn’t running?
Both Android and ChromeOS are Linux, and Google’s spying there…
We should all be thankful that ChromeOS is flaming hot garbage that no one should be using on UX alone.
It’s funny how Linux is only Linux if it benefits Linux nerds but the moment someone points out that Android, Chrome, Steam Deck, anything with telemetry and Linux has telemetry all of a sudden it’s not “really Linux” anymore.
It really is Schrodinger’s OS.
@CapraObscura @sin_free_for_00_days
I think steam deck is usually considered linux.
Benefits to proton after all make it out to linux. ChromeOS and Android are more debatable, although Google does submit a lot of code upstream to the kernel.
Nah, it’s just easier to refer to GNU/Linux as Linux. None of the GNU stuff is in Android, so it really is -just- Linux. Steam Deck is a fair point, they modified some distro a lot and made it their own (like Microsoft modifying chromium to make the edge browser). But yeah, Linux nerds be like that.
