Starting to hate Google. Can I keep android but escape google?

[John Bean]

AFAIK, "your" data on google's servers is just tied to whatever google username/gmail address you happen to be using.

That may be true, but it doesn't prevent cross-referencing the email address to everything else you use it for across the web; I'd be astonished if Google's systems were not "aware" of exactly who I am - no matter how little personal information I actually gave them when I created my account years ago. The amount of personal data collected is mind bogglingly vast.

That was the basis for my suggestion of creating a new account used excursively for the Play store, minimising (but not eliminating) Google's ability to cross-reference user data for that account if this is causing concern.

 

[funkylogik]

What could google gain by cross-referencing things like that though?
I strongly believe that google are doing what they do very well and wouldnt jeopardise it by doing anything too creepy too soon lol

 

[mikedt]

I am ready to jump off the google ship. My only question is, can I do that and keep my android phone?

Yeh you can....Most of China missed the Google ship, or rather it never fully docked.

 

[John Bean]

What could google gain by cross-referencing things like that though?

Information. Google's whole business plan is built on targeted advertising; so how do they know what and who to target with some ad? Clue: I doubt they employ Mystic Meg (remember her?) or use a crystal ball of their own for that matter

I strongly believe that google are doing what they do very well and wouldnt jeopardise it by doing anything too creepy too soon lol

Depends what you call creepy. That's the whole point of this thread - some (including me) think Google can more or less be trusted to live up achieve its objectives[1] without breaching it's well-known statement of ethics[2] but others may disagree.

But like it or not Google already know a lot more about you (or me) that we have told them. Is that too creepy? ;-)

Notes:
[1] "Google

 

[Slug]

The Amazonians I am talking about have no form of electronics what so ever. Google just added their names to my contacts.

If so then they obviously had/have no email address, and that is what Google "adds" to your contact list; the senders of incoming mail and the recipients of outgoing, and then only if Gmail is used.

If, as you say, only names have mysteriously appeared in your Google contacts list then it's either down to some other app or they were accidently imported/linked from another source. In over five years with Android, over four different devices, I've yet to see what you describe and I use Gmail exclusively.

 

[CMNDR]

I fail to see the point of trying to run or hide from these companies. In this digital age if someone wants to find you, given enough money or power they can find you. It won't matter if you threw your cellphone out of a moving vehicle and just left it there. Before the internet it was phone books. Now I have an app that identifies any unknown caller that calls my phone in a mater of seconds. All this technology is moving us to a more open and connected human world, and trying to run from this grand new world is an effort in futility.

 

[zuben el genub]

Why make it easy for them?

 

[funkylogik]

To me, its more about making things easy for myself

 

[mikedt]

I fail to see the point of trying to run or hide from these companies. In this digital age if someone wants to find you, given enough money or power they can find you. It won't matter if you threw your cellphone out of a moving vehicle and just left it there. Before the internet it was phone books. Now I have an app that identifies any unknown caller that calls my phone in a mater of seconds. All this technology is moving us to a more open and connected human world, and trying to run from this grand new world is an effort in futility.

Maybe a brave new world I think.. A future with no civil or state government, but we're all ruled by ad companies.....won't be Tyrell Corporation, it'll be Google Corporation.

 

[dynomot]

Part of me feels I should be concerned about what Google, Microsoft, Face Book et al know about me, but to be honest I really don't care. Apart from direct advertising I doubt I'm that interesting to any of them, let alone any security agency or government. I am with funkylogic, if they continue to provide me with great services and I continue to live in a liberal democracy, and the people that can be traced through my usage of their services live in liberal democracies (they do) I feel fine about what they all collect and share about me.

Maybe I should care, I don't believe I have anything to hide, but maybe I am not the best judge of that. I think we live in an age where we have to accept we are "known" about, and our private information is no longer private, maybe we are being controlled subtly and covertly by our knowledge that "they" know about us. I just feel it is part of living in the 21st century and as long as I feel "free" and secure in real life and on line I'm OK with that.

Naive ? Possibly, but maybe sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 

[funkylogik]

So true. What i dont like though is when less educated people judge us who arent worried as being naive and inferior.
Our goverments do other things that i corncern me far more than them having some data about me.
The police have my name, pictures, handprints, address and DNA on their servers and i dont have to worry about that unless i commit a crime
(Really doubt they'd wana clone me ) :-D

 

[Eugene]

I went through the same issues with hotmail and yahoo, I had e-mail accounts there which started to become intrusive. What I did was create my own domain and pay $50 a year to have my e-mail hosted so I can take it wherever I want. I use gmail just for for notifications on forums like this.
I've been searching for a while for a calendar app that will let me sync my own file and not go through google, but mainly because of the limitations in google calendar.

 

[jungleexplorer]

If so then they obviously had/have no email address, and that is what Google "adds" to your contact list; the senders of incoming mail and the recipients of outgoing, and then only if Gmail is used.

If, as you say, only names have mysteriously appeared in your Google contacts list then it's either down to some other app or they were accidently imported/linked from another source. In over five years with Android, over four different devices, I've yet to see what you describe and I use Gmail exclusively.

I can't explain how Google got all these names or why the associated them with an account that is not linked to my real identity. This is what concerns me. I don't mind companies having the info I give them willingly, but when they start taking info that I did not intend for them to have, I believe they have stepped over the line. After intensive research, I have come to the decision that the only possible way that Google could have come up with the names that they added to my profile is if they have been scanning the text of my emails and email attachments (Docs, PDFs etc.). Since the people I am talking about have no digital footprint and the spelling of their names are unique (like the only ones in the world with that name), the only way a scanning bot could have deciphered that they were people is if the bot was programed with a contextual algorithm to look for names based on the wording of the text.

As far as google knowing who I really am, that is easy. All they have to do is buy the info from Blue Cava who has created the digital fingerprinting technology that has gathered personal information from over 10 billion electronic devices in the world.

 

[jungleexplorer]

Maybe a brave new world I think.. A future with no civil or state government, but we're all ruled by ad companies.....won't be Tyrell Corporation, it'll be Google Corporation.

Sounds like the movie W.A.L.L.E to me. LOL!

 

[funkylogik]

I really dont think google want to know who you are lol, why would they?
Youre just a unique number who is interested in XY, buys WX and sometimes Z, lives in P, has B kids.. etc, data that can be sold or used to target ads.
Thats not YOU, YOU are your personality, that cant be recorded or sold

 

[jungleexplorer]

So true. What i dont like though is when less educated people judge us who arent worried as being naive and inferior.
Our goverments do other things that i corncern me far more than them having some data about me.
The police have my name, pictures, handprints, address and DNA on their servers and i dont have to worry about that unless i commit a crime
(Really doubt they'd wana clone me ) :-D

As a certified PC tech that provides consumer tech support, I know for a fact that some people are naive. But I know that you are not naive. No, you have made a educated choice, as have I. We have made a choice that the benefit and convenience offered by these services are worth the sacrifice and risk associated with the loss of personal privacy. We are gambling on the future that the countries we live in will remain freedom loving democracies and that all of this permanently stored data will not come back to haunt us down the road. This is a choice we make each time we post to a forum, post a picture, an email, tweet, facebook etc. The difference between me an you is that I have not always lived under freedom loving democratic government and I know first hand how the seemingly innocent activity we partake of each day can come back in the future to destroy our lives. History is bloated with examples of what I am saying and to even try to quote but a few what be an exercise in redundancy. But this is the gamble we are taking none the less.

 

[CMNDR]

I can't explain how Google got all these names or why the associated them with an account that is not linked to my real identity. This is what concerns me. I don't mind companies having the info I give them willingly, but when they start taking info that I did not intend for them to have, I believe they have stepped over the line. After intensive research, I have come to the decision that the only possible way that Google could have come up with the names that they added to my profile is if they have been scanning the text of my emails and email attachments (Docs, PDFs etc.). Since the people I am talking about have no digital footprint and the spelling of their names are unique (like the only ones in the world with that name), the only way a scanning bot could have deciphered that they were people is if the bot was programed with a contextual algorithm to look for names based on the wording of the text.

As far as google knowing who I really am, that is easy. All they have to do is buy the info from Blue Cava who has created the digital fingerprinting technology that has gathered personal information from over 10 billion electronic devices in the world.

It's already been well documented that Google scans all the emails going through their servers. It's necessary for them to even deliver and serve the email to you. There's so much information being generated at any given point in time it would take the resources of a small nation state just to record every little bit. Even more resources are needed to build and maintain these extensive profiles you're scared of them having. It takes too much for 'them' to monitor everyone all at once. The NSA can't even do that. Now if they are interested in one single person in the noise then they can drill in and build a profile, but that's a different matter.

 

[funkylogik]

As a certified PC tech that provides consumer tech support, I know for a fact that some people are naive. But I know that you are not naive. No, you have made a educated choice, as have I. We have made a choice that the benefit and convenience offered by these services are worth the sacrifice and risk associated with the loss of personal privacy. We are gambling on the future that the countries we live in will remain freedom loving democracies and that all of this permanently stored data will not come back to haunt us down the road. This is a choice we make each time we post to a forum, post a picture, an email, tweet, facebook etc. The difference between me an you is that I have not always lived under freedom loving democratic government and I know first hand how the seemingly innocent activity we partake of each day can come back in the future to destroy our lives. History is bloated with examples of what I am saying and to even try to quote but a few what be an exercise in redundancy. But this is the gamble we are taking none the less.

Good point bro. Where did you live before? I think in texas youre in one of the safes places from a fascist coup lol :beer:

 

[Riche101]

Simple point relating to this,NSA etc.

If your not doing anything wrong or deemed to be dangerous etc you have nothing to worry about.

If it was not for scans etc the amount if spam we cpuld get through would be crazy

 

[John Bean]

I think it is unwise to conflate what Google does with the likes of the NSA (or GCHQ); Google is a commercial entity whose purpose is to generate income from advertising, the NSA is a government body whose purpose is to maintain security in the public interest and receives funding only if its actions please the political entities in power at the time.

Now I'm not naive enough to believe that the NSA/GCHQ have stayed completely within their official remit, and neither am I naive enough to believe that Google's behaviour will remain whiter than white for all time. But while Google have no real need to behave badly so long as the income stream is stable the same can't be said of secret spy agencies funded solely by government - whose goals can radically change on electoral whim.

That said the bottom line is all about balance, and personally I'm glad that Google exists and I use its resources a lot without direct cost to me. I'm extremely suspicious about the other agencies mentioned but on balance I'd much rather have them than not

 

[mrex]

no google+ - no headache

 

[Slug]

no google+ - no headache

Yeah, I think that was established back at post #2.

 

[zuben el genub]

Good argument on both sides.

I agree with eggs in basket just to be a PITA.
Google+ Sign-In: Is It Bad Or Good For You?

 

[jungleexplorer]

I really dont think google want to know who you are lol, why would they?
Youre just a unique number who is interested in XY, buys WX and sometimes Z, lives in P, has B kids.. etc, data that can be sold or used to target ads.
Thats not YOU, YOU are your personality, that cant be recorded or sold

I think you are not totally correct in your assumtion that advertizing companies do not want to know who you are. That is exactly what they want to know. That is the whole idea behind targeted advertising. The more they know about who you are, they better they can target ads to your individual personality. You really need to do some research on digital (or device) fingerprinting technology that is being used by companies like BlueCava to subvert any attempt to hide your identity only by tracking your device's unique ID and not you personally. You could have five different devices, all linked to different accounts under different names, and with digital fingerprinting technology, BlueCava can build a profile that ties all of those device to you based on the intersecting activity trails. BlueCava has built a database of profiles that contains more then 10 Billion internet connected devices and they are up for sale to anyone that wants to buy them. Advertisers use this info to deliver target ads to you regardless of what device you are using (i.e. PC, tablet, laptop, smartphone etc), because all of your devices are link to a single profile. I could go into great detail on how this technology works to subvert any attempt to hide yourself online, but the point is this; the fact is that advertising companies DO want to know EXACTLY who you are right down to your personality. Not only do they want to know who you are, they have assumed it is their right to know, and that you are wrong to try to hide it from them. They have done everything in their considerable power to take the information they want regardless of whether you want them to have it or not. These are just the undeniable facts. Some people trust them and are comfortable with this and others are not. It is not my place to say one opinion is right or wrong, but to deny that this is what is going on is to willing turn a blind eye to reality.

 

[MLSS]

I have said it before and I'll say it again. I have nothing to hide and do nothing I am ashamed of.
I don't care if Google or the nsa collects my data. I have never been the type to worry about it.
If it is a problem then don't put it online..... Pretty simple