• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help "&%%#@" Google!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.

NexusTootsie

Well-Known Member
Why did my gnex suddenly - within the last week - start getting a bunch of ads coming through my notifications bar? Most of them have a little CROSS as their little icon. This is happening three four five times a day! Do I want to hook up? Do I want to make money from home? Do I want some stupid app? I am paying for this phone. This isn't free.

My husband is not getting this garbage on his charge. Why am I singled out for this special treatment?

PS I have adjusted settings in app market..no "suggestions ". Also in browser. But still they're creeping in. Very frustrating!
 
Why did my gnex suddenly - within the last week - start getting a bunch of ads coming through my notifications bar? Most of them have a little CROSS as their little icon. This is happening three four five times a day! Do I want to hook up? Do I want to make money from home? Do I want some stupid app? I am paying for this phone. This isn't free.

My husband is not getting this garbage on his charge. Why am I singled out for this special treatment?

PS I have adjusted settings in app market..no "suggestions ". Also in browser. But still they're creeping in. Very frustrating!

Did you install any questionable apps recently? I'm pretty that's not google sending you those things.
 
You installed an app that is crapware. My son's device did the same thing ( with a plus sign and everything). Start uninstalling apps, working backwards from now.

It's probably a game.
 
Yay for leaping to conclusions.

This is rather like saying, "I installed a virus on my computer last week and now I get popup ads. DAMN YOU MICROSOFT FOR SHOWING ME THESE ADS."

As said above, it's definitely an app you installed and you can make them go away by uninstalling it.
 
well, the reason I assumed google, was when I first started getting these little suggestions and spamyspams, and I clicked on one, I was taken to the google fun or google whatever...something or other agreement. which I eventually did opt into, because it was the google app market.

so jumping to conclusions? maybe yes. maybe no. I'm not a google fan over here. I find them awfully awfully intrusive but in this case, I could be wrong..


thanks for the advice. all of you are probably right and it is probably an app. so I will work backwards. thank you.

sorry for the delay in responding. had a rough day. but thank you.
 
Just saying, Google would not do this. Not sure why the OP would make that assumption.

"google would not do this". perhaps "google" wouldn't at this juncture in time, but I don't know whether their market would or wouldn't. I have no idea what any mega corporation will or won't do in aid of whatever they're doing at any given time to make a million gazillion dollars.

What I DO know is they monitor the hell out of every movement, bookmark, app, every setting, "conversation", destination I happen to go to, use or see.

So would google do this? They've done worse. A lot worse.
 
Yeah if Google tracks my behavior then shows me ads based upon my interests, why is this a bad thing?


this is the big question of our time isn't it? the expectation of privacy.

to me, having my activities monitored and tracked AND recorded isn't a good thing. it's an intrusive thing. even an invasive thing.

If I choose to give you my information, then I'm participating actively. And usually, when one opts in to that sort of thing, your first questions are:
why me and who's doing it?
and then what happens to this private data about me, my interests, my friends, my activities and whereabouts? where is it being stored? who has access to it? is my information public information? or private information? is it still my information? or is it now YOUR information? how did what I do become someone else's business?

well...do I have access to it? can I delete it? can it be used against me?

is what I do in private actually public information? okay, so if it is then where is it? and can I find out who's accessing it?

I am an American citizen who still has an expectation of privacy. Perhaps my beliefs about this are obsolete or even provincial. Still, I believe I'm entitled to purchase an app, use this app and not have my information blithely handed off to another interest. it's disturbing. if not to you, then okay. but I don't like it and I'll talk about it, question it and tell you and anyone else who asks that I don't like it one damned bit.

with the pure internet, there are so many different sources, so much going on in the back and forth of data exchange. the sheer vastness of it offers a certain anonymity.

but this android thing is something else. it's not about accessing a number of sources. it's about one source accessing me.

Agreed, there are always trade offs in anything, but there's something particularly over the top about the pervasiveness of google and it's need to mix and monitor everything I do on my phone.
 
What I DO know is they monitor the hell out of every movement, bookmark, app, every setting, "conversation", destination I happen to go to, use or see.

So would google do this? They've done worse. A lot worse.

I think you need a fundamental understanding of their business models. Google is out to make money, but not by cannibalization their platform to do so. Majority of Googles income comes from advertisers. Users are most likely to click on ads that fall into their shopping and surfing habits, generating hits(money) for google. Google will not spam phones, annoy users and steer people away from their devices since their phones are a vital source of income. That is why you have specialized advertisements when using various functions such as gmail or google search. Don't be so quick to blame Google.

If you want privacy, then don't expect free services like Gmail, picasa, facebook and many others which are free based on advertising backing.

Why do they need your location?...perhaps to promote a local pizza place. It's a waste of resources for google to globally advertise for a local businesses. Why do they monitor your surfing habits, to market you merchandise you are likely to use. If you frequently surf for Xbox games and forums, they will tend to show gaming advertisements and not advertisements like adult diapers or fiber supplements since you do not fall in that demographic, a which would be another waste of advertising resources. It's not rocket science.
 
A. It serves google no benefit to do something soooo obviously stupid because we all know what the repercussions would be. I mean how much $$$ could google possibly make over dumb notifications like that.

B. If google had did this either intentionally or someone within google did this don't you think it would have been allll over the news by now rather than you being the lucky one to find this before anyone else.

Sometimes thinking about stuff like this before jumping to conclusion is a good thing. Its like my dad telling me I got cancer because I ate japanese food in the past year which was obviously contaminated with radiation from their nuclear reactors failing from their tsunami. I had no words to respond.
 
Hey let's jump on the frustrated person instead of helping!! I'm in, pile on!! :rolleyes:


The first four responses are your solution, the rest are just noise. Download the apps shiv81 recommended and see what's causing it. If nothing comes up then start uninstalling apps you've recently downloaded until the intrusive ads go away. That's really all you can do at this point.


Good luck!
 
I'd bet even with uninstalling the app, you're phone number is already in the spam community and you'll get those messages from here on out. I get them, no idea what app it was that originally caused it but I'm doubtful it will ever stop....

just like the spam that goes to your regular email now, that email got on a list and it spread across the spam world like a virus now 100's of spam companies/people have it and will send you stuff through eternity. Fortunately we have spam filters on our email that catches most of them and sends it straight to a junk folder....that has yet to be created for phones (that I am aware of)
 
well...do I have access to it? can I delete it? can it be used against me?
Most of your questions can be answered here:

Privacy Policy ? Policies & Principles

and

Advertising privacy FAQ ? Policies & Principles

I am an American citizen who still has an expectation of privacy. Perhaps my beliefs about this are obsolete or even provincial. Still, I believe I'm entitled to purchase an app, use this app and not have my information blithely handed off to another interest. it's disturbing. if not to you, then okay. but I don't like it and I'll talk about it, question it and tell you and anyone else who asks that I don't like it one damned bit.
As an American, you also have the freedom to explore lots of information. :) Below, is an app which can give you quite a bit of information regarding which applications are using which ad networks, and how (including which apps can display ads in your notification bar).

From there, you can uninstall them as you see fit, but a large part of owning an Android device with many free apps/services, is the fact that you "pay" for them in ads. This is not inherently evil, though it can be an annoyance when it's in the notification bar.

Google Play link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.addetector

Description: The Official Lookout Blog | Lookout Labs Releases Ad Network Detector App to Help You Manage Your Privacy

with the pure internet, there are so many different sources, so much going on in the back and forth of data exchange. the sheer vastness of it offers a certain anonymity.
This most definitely is not true; compounded by the fact that your device is now linked to the internet more than ever.
 
thank you all.

frustrated yes and completely beyond annoyed or angry. I never in a million years expected THAT. I expected junkmail. I didn't expect junk clanging away in my notifications bar. it's a new world.

you've been very helpful. I got my answer - a number of answers and possible solutions. I thank you all for your time, however annoyed you are or were at me or my dislike of the google. your suggestions, discussions and even your arguments are very much appreciated by me. I may not like the google, but I do like and appreciate this forum. thank you.

:)
 
On a side note, if you dont like Google. Why did you buy a phone that has the most Google stuff on a phone to date?


my first droid. I never wanted to go droid. I was quite happy having a go cellphone for emergencies. then, a real life emergency required my husband and I get serious phones. he bought a Charge. we liked the interface. but I started doing some investigating and this phone, the gnex seemed closest to where I wanted to go. a computer/phone with an OS that was completely google. I wasn't thinking Market google, I was thinking internet google.

(duh)
(didn't do ENOUGH research, I suppose.)

in any case, I'm not apple so I didn't want to get involved with i's. and I wasn't sold on the microsoft phones. and I really loved the possibilities of ICS. So here I am (laughing) hating the google. Not all of it, but damn I am a private PRIVATE person. the reason I never got into this, was because I never ever wanted to go into a contract and deal with that. And here I am, contracted AND googling.

(pray for me) (laughing)
I'm okay. And I'll find my way through this. But damn, this whole marketing thing is daunting. Maybe most of you are familiar with most of it. But for me, this is new. Having a thing watching everything I do. It gives me the willies.

But I do love my little gnex.

hey. I'm human. I'm contradictory.

Thanks for the conversation. Sorry if I brought along my soapbox and bored you to tears. :D
 
PS. I wanted nothing to do with Gmail. First because I have a mail app. And second because it's so lousy, I'm astounded every time I go in there to try to do anything. It's totally piss poor, confusing and ridiculously set up. Maybe you guys like it. Maybe you grew with it, so you're familiar with it's weird quirky little interface and how to get things done. I'm not. It's not even as good as the lousiest of the lousy and that would be yahoo.

And it's the same with using facebook and picassa or the rest on my phone. Kicking and screaming with this stuff, thats how it was for me and I immediately disabled FB on my phone. If I want it, I get it from my laptop. I HAVE to use gmail. but the rest of it. I don't.
 
I think you need to take a break and a deep breath. Your posts have been rude and extremely antagonistic in nature.

If you own ANY cell phone you will be tracked, that's a fact of life.

The ONLY thing you're required to use a Google or a gmail account for is to register your phone and access the google market(now Google Play). NOTHING ELSE.

that said the purpose of a "smart phone" is to be connected. All 4 major mobile phone OS's (Google,iOS,WP7,blackberry) have VERY similar privacy policies and access most if not all the data on your phone.

P.S. saying your sorry for offending people DOES NOT make it ok to do so.

Now I'll get off my soap box.
 
I think you need to take a break and a deep breath. Your posts have been rude and extremely antagonistic in nature.

If you own ANY cell phone you will be tracked, that's a fact of life.

The ONLY thing you're required to use a Google or a gmail account for is to register your phone and access the google market(now Google Play). NOTHING ELSE.

that said the purpose of a "smart phone" is to be connected. All 4 major mobile phone OS's (Google,iOS,WP7,blackberry) have VERY similar privacy policies and access most if not all the data on your phone.

P.S. saying your sorry for offending people DOES NOT make it ok to do so.

Now I'll get off my soap box.

Nothing I read from her sounded offensive or directed at someone personally unless you're Eric Schmidt and don't like her questioning your business practices lol. Everyone's entitled to an opinion. I personally think it's healthy to have people asking those kinds of questions rather than just accepting it.

It's been interesting coming from an iPhone and seeing that people on these messageboards can sometimes be almost as passionate as the Apple fanboys (don't take that the wrong way lol).
 
I think you need to take a break and a deep breath. Your posts have been rude and extremely antagonistic in nature.

If you own ANY cell phone you will be tracked, that's a fact of life.

The ONLY thing you're required to use a Google or a gmail account for is to register your phone and access the google market(now Google Play). NOTHING ELSE.

that said the purpose of a "smart phone" is to be connected. All 4 major mobile phone OS's (Google,iOS,WP7,blackberry) have VERY similar privacy policies and access most if not all the data on your phone.

P.S. saying your sorry for offending people DOES NOT make it ok to do so.

Now I'll get off my soap box.

I'm rather confused reading your response to me as nothing I've said has been directed at individuals here and certainly not at you. In fact, I've thanked everyone for their assistance, even if the assistance was in the form of a riot act read to me. ;)

I've merely expressed opinions and concerns about The Google. I don't think I've inflicted any harm to them by voicing them. And The Google Police have not visited here, so I'm nearly positive I haven't broken any G Fun Laws.

I should warn you though, for your future peace of mind that I expect given the marketing practices of The Google I will probably be expressing more of the same kind of thing as they will probably continue down this path of very lucrative privacy invading.

Further, I'm afraid I do not accept this sort of thing. And especially when I'm paying for the privilege. That is not my nature.

In conclusion, I'm sorry you've been so offended by my thoughts and opinions about a gigantic corporation and I do hope you haven't been too deeply damaged by them. Please - feel free to ignore me. I do not want to inflict any more psychic damage. I couldn't bear the thought.
 
Nothing I read from her sounded offensive or directed at someone personally unless you're Eric Schmidt and don't like her questioning your business practices lol. Everyone's entitled to an opinion. I personally think it's healthy to have people asking those kinds of questions rather than just accepting it.

It's been interesting coming from an iPhone and seeing that people on these messageboards can sometimes be almost as passionate as the Apple fanboys (don't take that the wrong way lol).

bwahahahahaha...apple fanboys. bwahahahahahhahahahha
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom