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I feel Google owns me now - concerned about data privacy

There's a proven device with none of the drawbacks like crashing or poor battery life.

You may have seen one.

It's a spiral notebook ... :)
 
People don't realize that even a simple appointment at their doctors' office, they are willingly giving out all of their private information to them including their SSNs and yet they are worried about their privacy with Google? I don't understand that kind of mentality.
 
tomhorn said:
That database you speak of actually already exists ... and not at Google. In fact, there are several companies that have far greater data warehouses containing your personal information than Google does.

The federal government (and many commercial companies) already have all that same information, plus have cross-correlated it to all your credit bureau information, your banking and credit card purchase information, your travel data, your internet activity, and much more.

Google merely would have a sub-set of the data that is available about you. Seriously, just what do people think Google is actually going to do with all of that information? They have such a vast quantity of data that taking the time to single out one person doesn't seem very likely to me ... especially for the 99.9% of the world that no one cares about. Criminals and celebrities maybe, but John Doe from Albuquerque ... not so much.
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Some of this is true, but most of this is to much CSI on TV. I have worked for some of the largest credit issuers in the world and they do not have a fraction of the power Google does to cross correlate anything. Also If i use 2 different credit cards from 2 different banks there is no cross correlation - To much TV BS.

Google has more information - Google would have an easier time tracking down criminals then any other private company, or the government here is why:

Google can connect you to all your friends and associates via email, phone, and address. Google has all your contacts in its DB (The Feds don't have a copy of my address book - no the NSA is not copying my computer); if you use Google Voice; they can now connect you to all the calls you make and read your voice mail. All the places you go if you use My Tracks; They know who you email with and even the content of your emails.

If the Feds or credit collectors were looking for me they should contact google - do a White pages lookup, find my address; search google for that address and see who has it in their contact list (I have my own address to hand out my contact info) go over those people data and find all the phone numbers they have called and who is registered to those phones - at some point i will be found.

The banks don't have this data and neither do the Feds or private entities - they know what i have given them. Google sees what i do all the time.

Do i care, not really. Google has better things to do. But if i were worried about being tracked, i worry more about google then the Feds or anyone else.
 
peterpp said:
People don't realize that even a simple appointment at their doctors' office, they are willingly giving out all of their private information to them including their SSNs and yet they are worried about their privacy with Google? I don't understand that kind of mentality.
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But you don't have to give your SSN - that is why the insurance cards dont have it anymore. If a doctor insists i give it, i go to a different doctor.

The school wanted my daughter's SSN (elementary school) - I declined. You can do that.
 
alphadog00 said:
But you don't have to give your SSN - that is why the insurance cards dont have it anymore. If a doctor insists i give it, i go to a different doctor.

The school wanted my daughter's SSN (elementary school) - I declined. You can do that.
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It was just an everyday example of how we deal with giving out our private information very easily, banks, place of employment, credit card cos, cable, phone and so on. The second we step out of the house, we are being watched (including security cameras installed almost everywhere), there is nothing we can do about it and some folks are worried about Google???
 
peterpp said:
It was just an everyday example of how we deal with giving out our private information very easily, banks, place of employment, credit card cos, cable, phone and so on. The second we step out of the house, we are being watched (including security cameras installed almost everywhere), there is nothing we can do about it and some folks are worried about Google???
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Very true - and to your point, you can opt out of google, you can't opt out of of cameras.
 
alphadog00 said:
Some of this is true, but most of this is to much CSI on TV. I have worked for some of the largest credit issuers in the world and they do not have a fraction of the power Google does to cross correlate anything. Also If i use 2 different credit cards from 2 different banks there is no cross correlation - To much TV BS.
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Go ahead, keep thinking that ... and for the record, I have never watched CSI. I have however talked to many data mining experts, and I will stand by my statement that any illusion of privacy that people might think they have is just that ... an illusion.

If this was tipped to the mainstream media, what do you think the general public doesn't know about?

NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens | Threat Level | Wired.com

Yes, you have to be careful with your own private data because you don't want the rank and file companies that collect it and store it with little or no regard for security to let it get out to people that may do evil things with it. In the grand scheme of things I trust Google to secure my data a lot more than my local doctor's office, or the pizza joint that wanted my name, address and phone number when I was standing in their store ordering a pizza (that wasn't getting delivered) and paying cash.

My point really is, that if the OP is that paranoid about Google, he'd never want to leave his home if he actually knew about all the other ways his personal information has been collected and distributed. It's all relative I suppose ... you can actually opt-out of cameras too ... just never leave your house.
 
Actually a lot of the companies still do, including Delta Dental and Blue Cross in many states. Others have added a letter onto your social and called that the "id" #
 
tomhorn said:
Go ahead, keep thinking that ... and for the record, I have never watched CSI. I have however talked to many data mining experts, and I will stand by my statement that any illusion of privacy that people might think they have is just that ... an illusion.

If this was tipped to the mainstream media, what do you think the general public doesn't know about?

NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens | Threat Level | Wired.com

Yes, you have to be careful with your own private data because you don't want the rank and file companies that collect it and store it with little or no regard for security to let it get out to people that may do evil things with it. In the grand scheme of things I trust Google to secure my data a lot more than my local doctor's office, or the pizza joint that wanted my name, address and phone number when I was standing in their store ordering a pizza (that wasn't getting delivered) and paying cash.

My point really is, that if the OP is that paranoid about Google, he'd never want to leave his home if he actually knew about all the other ways his personal information has been collected and distributed. It's all relative I suppose ... you can actually opt-out of cameras too ... just never leave your house.
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This week we saw forces in Egypt we saw how a people could force change against a government.

Why this can't happen in America is actually scary.

Google has shared its data, including your phone contacts, e-mails, surfing habits etc.. With the NSA. The NSA has been used as a political tool by elements of our government and even by agents own personal curiosity and vendettas.

If a credible movement were to begin organizing using social media in this country, the NSA would and will use that data to harass, arrest and disappear those who do not agree with or voice opposition to the administration, or their corporate masters.

What one must remember is that people were arrested and prosecuted under terrorism laws in the US for peacefully and quietly holding political protest signs ina public venue. This has happened under bush on dozens if not hundreds of occasions. Not all led to prosecutions but many did. Any quick search on the net will garner you the information.

Under our current terrorism laws a person "any person" can be charged with terrorism if they "interfere with the economic activity of a corporation" That includes protesting, online or other wise.

So to those who made a joke of this by asking "what a person might have to hide", look around, see what is happening in our society and know what the consequences are.

Evil will succeed when good people do nothing.

The Suns of Liberty are rising.
 
Allen Arbroath said:
This week we saw forces in Egypt we saw how a people could force change against a government.

Why this can't happen in America is actually scary.

Google has shared its data, including your phone contacts, e-mails, surfing habits etc.. With the NSA. The NSA has been used as a political tool by elements of our government and even by agents own personal curiosity and vendettas.

If a credible movement were to begin organizing using social media in this country, the NSA would and will use that data to harass, arrest and disappear those who do not agree with or voice opposition to the administration, or their corporate masters.

What one must remember is that people were arrested and prosecuted under terrorism laws in the US for peacefully and quietly holding political protest signs ina public venue. This has happened under bush on dozens if not hundreds of occasions. Not all led to prosecutions but many did. Any quick search on the net will garner you the information.

Under our current terrorism laws a person "any person" can be charged with terrorism if they "interfere with the economic activity of a corporation" That includes protesting, online or other wise.

So to those who made a joke of this by asking "what a person might have to hide", look around, see what is happening in our society and know what the consequences are.

Evil will succeed when good people do nothing.

The Suns of Liberty are rising.
Click to expand...
i said something like this awhile back and got replies that were so damned defensive,but i dont care what nsa-google knows anymore,they can suck my di$#,,RONPAUL.COM,,,,EDIT,I just had to the post this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJAkBYKJMt0
 
dgray said:
BTW, a phone is primarily a device for me to conduct business - I am not excited by the uncontrolled connectivity between the applications and with my personal data in the cloud.
Click to expand...

From what it seems you are worried about your contact list including phone numbers, emails etc of clients.

Settings > Accounts and sync > Background data (uncheck), Auto-sync (unchcheck)

Set up your phone with a random unused gmail account, DONT SYNC, and dont install apps that want access to your contact list or anything else you feel is "sketchy". And take a minute to think about other companies and what info they have about you. I don't think android is for you because you seem paranoid about personal information and you seem like a noob, no offence.
 
iPhail said:
From what it seems you are worried about your contact list including phone numbers, emails etc of clients.

Settings > Accounts and sync > Background data (uncheck), Auto-sync (unchcheck)
Click to expand...
This... Does this not solve every problem brougt up by the OP?

I have nothing synced... All contacts are stored on my phone, and only my phone. I added them one by one when I got it. Sure, I have a gmail account added to the phone, but thats my primary e-mail anyway.

Simple as it gets really.
 
Allen Arbroath said:
This week we saw forces in Egypt we saw how a people could force change against a government.

Why this can't happen in America is actually scary.

Google has shared its data, including your phone contacts, e-mails, surfing habits etc.. With the NSA. The NSA has been used as a political tool by elements of our government and even by agents own personal curiosity and vendettas.

If a credible movement were to begin organizing using social media in this country, the NSA would and will use that data to harass, arrest and disappear those who do not agree with or voice opposition to the administration, or their corporate masters.

What one must remember is that people were arrested and prosecuted under terrorism laws in the US for peacefully and quietly holding political protest signs ina public venue. This has happened under bush on dozens if not hundreds of occasions. Not all led to prosecutions but many did. Any quick search on the net will garner you the information.

Under our current terrorism laws a person "any person" can be charged with terrorism if they "interfere with the economic activity of a corporation" That includes protesting, online or other wise.

So to those who made a joke of this by asking "what a person might have to hide", look around, see what is happening in our society and know what the consequences are.

Evil will succeed when good people do nothing.

The Suns of Liberty are rising.
Click to expand...

Though I'll be the first to agree that the scope and breathe of terrorism law is far too enabling of the government, specifically where the PATRIOT Act is concerned. I see some things here that I find to be stretching the facts/truthiness and more fear-mongering: "people were arrested and prosecuted under terrorism laws in the US for peacefully and quietly holding political protest signs in a public venue." That would seem to be in violation of the First Amendments protections of the "right to peaceably assemble for redress of greviences" and "right to free expression." Granted, the courts haven't always been so robust in defending those rights, but I honestly haven't seen anyone arrested under Alien and Sedition type statutes since Wilson and WWI. If you can find a link to a jailed dissident/political prisoner, I'd be happy to examine it. But I'm calling BS there.

As for the main point, Google, teh interwebz, and privacy. As has been pointed out, anyone who has significant concerns over their privacy can opt out of Google and Android, but they should probably consider opting out of smart phones and the internet more broadly. Hell, if privacy is of the utmost concern, you really gotta fall off the grid. The second you're on the grid, your privacy is compromised, so you might as well go all the way into interconnectedness. Truth be told, these revolutions that we have been seeing across the world haven't been hampered by tyrants using alliances with the web, but rather these revolutions have been organized, orchestrated, and choreographed ad hoc from the populations and the primary tools for enabling these revolutions have been exactly those web services people have been so worried about privacy on (facebook, twitter, et al.).
 
I'm pretty sensitive about my privacy. At the same time I'm fairly certain that I'm already on so many "lists" that one more won't matter much. To me it's all about mitigating the exposure with what kind of data you put out there for collection and maybe mixing in some intentional disinformation just for S&G. :cool:
 
This thread is kind of pointless. Google already knows who you are, what you are doing, where you are and what you are thinking. That's what their mind-control satellites are for. The phones are a red herring designed to distract you from their other means of data collection. Have you gotten a dental filling in the last 5 years? Google co-opted all the dentists in this country back in 2004. The same thing goes for those sub-dermal ID chips they put in your pet. Google got to them back in 2003. Got one of those fancy credit cards with a RFID chip or a new drivers license? You got Google. Bought any shoes lately? Walk by any trees planted as part of some "city beautification project"?

The fact that Google got early funding from CIA front companies is just a smoke screen to distract you from the truth.

Google reports straight to Santa Claus.

He knows when you've been sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He also knows your search queries, your browsing history and reads your email.
 
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