I guess people have found out that Google is still tracking people even if location is off, but it's hard to fix really. In fact, I'm not sure how to do that. Does it make a difference if it's Firefox? Can Google still track people with that? I know it's something about web and apps activity, but I don't know exactly what.
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Location on still
- Thread starter Rgarner
- Start date
Go into the Google app, select Settings, Accounts and Privacy, Google activity controls. That's where you will find the "web and app activity" setting. If you follow the "learn more" link you will find in there (though you have to look a bit) that this includes stuff like the location and IP address at the time an app was used. If you don't want that you need to turn this off ("pause"). You'll still have to manually delete old data - companies like Google do what they can to hold onto as much data as they can.
I was surprised that this was considered news the other week, or that it took "research" to find it. All you had to do was go through these settings and actually read what it says. (I'd turned all of this stuff off long ago, but then I don't care about Google's "personalising" services: if you use Assistant or stuff like that it may make a difference to you, but I would hope that anyone using that accepted that it means giving Google everything).
I was surprised that this was considered news the other week, or that it took "research" to find it. All you had to do was go through these settings and actually read what it says. (I'd turned all of this stuff off long ago, but then I don't care about Google's "personalising" services: if you use Assistant or stuff like that it may make a difference to you, but I would hope that anyone using that accepted that it means giving Google everything).
Thanks, and I totally agree. I'm wondering how to do that on a computer, though. I would hope Firefox would not gather such information but who knows. If Firefox is on then Google is not, right? Firefox probably wouldn't pass things on to Google or anyone else. Concerning privacy, I know vpns are a good idea, but which vpns? That antivirus company Avast has been advertising their own version for $1.99 a month. Would that be a good deal?
On a computer, just log in to your Google account via a browser and you can change your settings there.
Firefox as a browser gives away less information to websites it visits than the others on my phone, but it does depend on how you configure it. If you do a search from Firefox and you have Google set as your preferred search engine then of course Google get information about your searches, and any other information their website can get from your browser. As for the Web and App Activity logging, I can't tell you what Google learn from your use of Firefox on an Android device because I've had that turned off for a very long time (and deleted everything that was on there as well), so have no way of checking. But you are using Mozilla's app on Google's OS, so if that option is on I wouldn't just assume that Google only get information when you use Google apps. You can look at what information they have recorded for you under this heading though, so you can see for yourself what they can record of your Firefox usage.
You'll need someone else to advise on VPNs. I've used a few for specific purposes (e.g. corporate or institutional logins), and have made some use of non-root ad blockers (which use VPNs), but I do not use a VPN routinely and so cannot make any recommendations.
Firefox as a browser gives away less information to websites it visits than the others on my phone, but it does depend on how you configure it. If you do a search from Firefox and you have Google set as your preferred search engine then of course Google get information about your searches, and any other information their website can get from your browser. As for the Web and App Activity logging, I can't tell you what Google learn from your use of Firefox on an Android device because I've had that turned off for a very long time (and deleted everything that was on there as well), so have no way of checking. But you are using Mozilla's app on Google's OS, so if that option is on I wouldn't just assume that Google only get information when you use Google apps. You can look at what information they have recorded for you under this heading though, so you can see for yourself what they can record of your Firefox usage.
You'll need someone else to advise on VPNs. I've used a few for specific purposes (e.g. corporate or institutional logins), and have made some use of non-root ad blockers (which use VPNs), but I do not use a VPN routinely and so cannot make any recommendations.
KBU2
Android Expert
It doesn't matter which app you use because Google's API infrastructure in Android devices is self-sustaining and can't be bypassed since the initial update of there location tracking modifications.
https://androidforums.com/threads/google-new-tracking-policy.1284307/
https://androidforums.com/threads/google-new-tracking-policy.1284307/
chanchan05
The Doctor
From what I know it's less to do with what browser you use than with using Google itself. Even if you use Mozilla, if you use Google services through Mozilla, then Google still gets your data. Not using Google just means giving somebody else your data. Personally, since that's the way it goes, if anybody is getting my data, it's only Google or Microsoft.
As for anybody doing anything about this, they can't, because legally you agreed to be tracked. You know that terms of agreement that you accepted when you sign up for an account or activate your phone? If you read through that you'll see that part of the terms there is Google collecting your data and what they'll do with the data. You clicked accept (because you can't use the phone or make an account otherwise). So basically you already gave them legal permission to take your data.
An analogy is, Google for example asked you for $100, and you signed a contract saying you agree to giving them $100. You can't get the cops to go after Google for robbing you $100 because Google has a legal contract saying you willingly gave them that $100.
All the issues with the collecting privacy data bit is that it's not transparent and it's difficult to control what exactly is the data you are handing over, not an issue with the actual taking of the data, because as I said, it's perfectly legal.
The one thing you can say about Google is that they are more transparent than Facebook (do a little research on the measures Facebook take to track the web).