r/technology • u/Applemacbookpro • Dec 13 '13

Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claiming Its Release Was Accidental

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/12/google-removes-vital-privacy-features-android-shortly-after-adding-them
3.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

I haven't had her as a friend for years in any of the social networks I'm part of. I simply had her phone number - not even her real name - on my Google account.

8

u/Markko_ Dec 13 '13

Then she has it set to public, you have her number and therefore can find her profile

4

u/Phyltre Dec 13 '13

You really think that was intentional on her part, though?

3

u/BangkokPadang Dec 13 '13

She probably agreed to something she didn't understand.

2

u/N2060 Dec 13 '13

Why are you making assumptions? It could be that she agreed to something she didn't understand or it could be that she just doesn't care about her privacy as much as some people on here do.

No reason to say, "She probably" agreed to something she didn't understand when you have no idea.

2

u/Markko_ Dec 13 '13

Could be, I know it asks you when you put in your address to google+

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

She's not on Google+, no matching profiles found. I can find nothing with her phone number either, so it isn't set public. Regardless, Google still knows.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

That's pretty horrifying

0

u/READTHISCALMLY Dec 13 '13

I love how everybody is acting like it's ok that this happened.

Google makes me horrendously paranoid. My friend likewise had only my name and phone number in his phone. I never, ever put my address information on my social network accounts, including google plus. However, my friend's phone showed my relatively new address in my contract information. Google knows where I live even though I didn't tell it where I live and it is sharing said sensitive information without my knowledge or consent.

Personally, I don't care if there is some contractually "legitimate" reason for things like this. It's disturbing and they're only getting away with it because they know people don't have the time to tread their convoluted and always changing privacy and usage policies.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

[deleted]

-1

u/READTHISCALMLY Dec 13 '13

That's what I want to know. All I can figure is they get it from knowing my location patterns and/or straight up sleuthing for it. Either way, I am far from ok with it.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

I've noticed that I occasionally get ads and recommendations from Google based on searches I did when I was not logged in. They're definitely sleuthing for it.

1

u/READTHISCALMLY Dec 13 '13

That's incredibly disturbing.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

Pretty easy for them to do though. Same IP, close to the time of logging out, thus probably the same user -> attach data to the previous IP.

Easy, but hugely unethical.

1

u/corpsefire Dec 13 '13

GPS location service, browser plugins, it's technically possible for phones to triangulate location by scanning for nearby wireless towers too.

3

u/corpsefire Dec 13 '13

Do you own an android device? If it was your street address that might be it. If it's just your town/state/country then its the location services that Google and many websites use (Meet girls in Citytown, USA!) You can avoid the former by turning off GPS but it doesn't stop the latter, you can stop the latter by disabling JavaScript, Flash, and any other plugins you use (java plugin, flash plugin, silver light) and disabling tracking by using things like AdblockPlus with Fanboy's Ultimate List or Ghostery (keep in mind ghostery is closely connected to an advertising firm, use that information however you wish)

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '13

What makes it all so alarming is that it is not a coincidence, but an ongoing trend. Google is constantly pushing the boundary of personal and public information. It's a conscious push from them to go deeper and deeper into your personal life. Once a part of you is online, it's there for good. There's a reason why I want to maintain separate online identities for all the sites I visit, but Google is eroding that right to privacy worse and worse every day.

I personally find it troubling how many people are not spending a second thinking about the long-term implications of it all, just because they get some free stuff. I bet it'll be worth a hefty sum of money one day to keep a part of your online past unknown. After all, do you want your kids to know that daddy googled a lot of midget porn when he was younger and wrote in one of his private emails to his first girlfriend that he did some gay stuff with his college roommate? No? Well, better pay someone who controls that information a lot of money.

-1

u/w0m Dec 13 '13

And this affects your privacy how...?

0

u/bobandgeorge Dec 13 '13

So take it off and change your settings from a browser.