Sorry to post my shitty neofetch to this community
Google “Only spy the web” is highly inaccurate…they are everywhere. In every website, in your android phone, in your YouTube, in your Google drive, in your email, in your Google maps…
Anyways… I will calm down now. :)
In your car, your TV, your network, your dns…
Everywhere.
They are even part of paying for the cables that all internet traffic runs through.
They took everything over.
Literally 1984.
Except that instead of an authoritarian government using it to totally control the learned populace, they are showing you ads.
We’ve still got a way to go before 1984. If it did happen, you wouldn’t be able to discuss it.
To be fair, Google does release data to governments so I guess it’s both.
Used to be a joke, now its a journey.
Who is accessing the cables/data has never been more important, it’s literally the difference between being in/out of reach of the law.
It’s cute, people think their android os isn’t collecting an embarrassing amount of data. Even if you turn everything off but cellular, it still phones home with cellular tower triangulation, app usage, call history, general web activity, weather the phone thinks your walking driving or riding a Bike, device diagnostics, etc.
Yes but we do what we can.
demand compensation we should be paid for it
Same, I wish there was a better options. I’m on android right now but when it comes time to upgrade I always try to choose the lesser evil and it’s hard.
If you want privacy the only real option is to buy a Android phone with unlocked boitloader and use something like /e/OS or LineageOS, that will break a few apps but most of them work fine with MicroG.
To buy an android phone that is supported by one of those projects. My galaxy s20 isn’t and I’m not willing to loose Android auto and the ability to use my cameras.
I wish there was a paid google of no spying… I mean what does google one get me, but the ability for google to spy on more or my data?
Everyone thinks about the spying as relating to themselves, the individual.
Google doesn’t give a shit about you. Google gives a shit about us. Collectively. They can monitor the collective soul of the world. When people are busy, when they’re not paying attention, when they’re mad, who, and for how long; how they react to certain subjects…how to get them to listen about certain subjects, how to bring them around to certain subjects, how to keep them disagreeing with other viewpoints, etc.
They’re literally developed “a remote control for the flock” and everyone’s out here like “why do I care if Google see my save games I have 500 hours in CoD so wut”
They’re really good at providing value for your data, I feel the same way about YouTube premium. I do it to better support creators and remove ads but they probably have one of the most detailed profiles on me.
They’re really good at providing value for your data
Perhaps you perceive that to be, which is totally fine, but how do you actually know that? We have no clue what that value truly is to them since they won’t share with us. If you are happy with what the googs get you, great (no sarcasm).
Myself, I fail to see the value being returned.
To each it’s own, I’m trying to move away from Google too. I still think it’s a better return than you would ever get from Facebook, Microsoft, or Amazon. There’s something to be said about most people being completely happy with using Gmail, YouTube, chrome, or search with minimal complaints. For a while we even got “free” unlimited storage for photos.
I use alternative for all google server.
YouTube - piped.video
Google drive - Mega Drive or Anonfile
G-Mail - Proton
Google - OSM (Open Street Map)
It would be fun if some government required companies that off free services to disclose how they make money and allow each user to see their particular value. This might help open some eyes…
in your android phone
And if you try to revoke their spying access on a rooted stock device, they force a reboot ☹️
Hence GrapheneOS sandboxing the Play Store. It is ironic that Google is the only phone manufacturer that allows for installing a different OS. But I suppose the fact that GrapheneOS has pushed security updates that have made it into stock Android and the fact that most users won’t bother installing an alternative OS on their pixel phones is why they allow such shenanigans.
It is ironic that Google is the only phone manufacturer that allows for installing a different OS.
What do you mean by that? There are definitely other manufacturers that make it easy to unlock the bootloader so you can install other ROMs.
I stand correctted then. Please tell me a few of these other manufacturers!
Motorola has always made it easy. I’ve unlocked and rooted LG phones, although not sure on how easy they make it normally. Oneplus is well known for being open to unlocking. I’ve done it with Samsung too, although you have to be careful with the model, US variants are harder.
With Samsung these days, it’s usually impossible to root without some sort of exploit on US models unfortunately.
I stand very corrected. My apologies for not investigating this further before posting. I suppose i should rephrase my previous comment as:
I find it ironic that Google allows its flagship product to be rooted with an OS dedicated specifically to limiting data harvesting of Pixel users.
Yeah, it does seem counterintuitive, but they have to have some reason for it. If I were to guess it would be to keep goodwill with nerds like us. The way it stands, techies are still recommending Pixels, and that’s good for them.
But whatever reason it is doesn’t have to be much to have a better expected value for them. The amount of people that actually go through the process of changing the ROMs on their phone has to be so abysmally small that it is insignificant to them either way. And then the amount of people that take it the next step further and actually de-Google their phone completely is that much smaller.
I don’t do Android development, but I would imagine rooting makes it easier to test things, as you wouldn’t have to rely on ADB all the time.
Can users who use Google Fi switch too? Will call screening still work?
I don’t use Google Fi, but a quick search shows that many have gotten it to work with Graphene OS just fine. You can still install Fi from the Play Store, and it appears all works as intended as long as you grant it Network Permissions.
I’d do research on it though if you’re truly interested. They have a link to their Matrix chat on their website where you can field general questions.
I use rooted LineageOS on my 4a 5G, though I do still have GApps on it. Next phone I buy I’m thinking I’ll give GrapheneOS a try. Leaving behind my rooted system level adblocking would be difficult for me though.
In regards to ad blocking. My solution isn’t as all encompassing as that, but for general web browsing, I use the Mull browser as you can install some addons like ublock and noscript. I’ll admit though if you’re looking to install advertisement heavy Play Store Apps though, I’d say maybe look into using a PiHole to adblock your home network?
Sure, but all of those, except the phone (and TV mentioned below), are part of the web.
And not just google stuff, the big companies are for sure in exchange so if you do something on instagram, google will know it for sure.
Therefor im trying to step away from google, here are my alternatives to the google services:
Google drive -> Nextcloud Gmail -> Tutanota Youtube -> (im still using this) Maps -> Open Street Map Authenticator -> Aegis Chrome -> Librewolf/Firefox Passwords -> Bitwarden
(All of these alternatives are just my own preferences and what I daily use)
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For me, it is useful. At the very least, such a blatant display of tracking information means people will know about it and disable it if necessary.
It should be an opt in feature, but it has helped me a couple times. I got beat up pretty bad after leaving a bar and couldn’t remember anything about the night, was able to retrace my steps from the google stuff.
It is opt in. someone didn’t read.
Google spy through android as well
And chromeos
Degoogled my Tab.
I use lineageOS because of this
I’ll be switching to Lineage soon…
Google forced my manufacturer (Fairphone) to effectively ‘disable’ the fingerprint scanner from android 13 onwards for the FP3. Our Lineage fork reverted that Google mandated change thankfully
Google: I only spy the web
Oh you poor child…
How many years has it been since chrome had a “bug” that had it activate some “antivirus” project that was scanning files on the entire machine even when it wasn’t running?
Both Android and ChromeOS are Linux, and Google’s spying there…
We should all be thankful that ChromeOS is flaming hot garbage that no one should be using on UX alone.
Do we really need to bring back “GNU/Linux” for the pedants?
This is one of the reasons why I think something like “Freedesktop Platform” is a more appropriate term than “Linux”.
Linux*
*Except Ubuntu
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Idk that they are overtly spying, but they have telemetry reporting turned on by default now, and you have to manually turn it off. There has been concern in the community over what they’re doing with that data.
linux is not inherently immune ya’ll
Y’all* :)
the reason they put so many cameras on phones is not for selfies
I always love that scene in Batman where he’s hacked everyone’s phone to see all their cameras.
It looks like everyone in the world is standing around everywhere pointing their phone cameras in the most convenient directions to give a great view of streets, rooms and hallways everywhere.
In real life, if you tuned into people’s cameras right now, fifty percent would be the inside of pockets, purses or clothing. A quarter would be pointed at blank walls, ceilings, floors or the sky. And the rest would be terribly close close-ups of people faces or the shower/bathroom/sink.
If I remember correctly, it wasn’t the cameras, it was the microphones. It was able to recreate 3d scenes with some kind of sonar algorithm (probably by combining the microphones from multiple people in the same room?) (I actually really liked Batman using sonar). 3d images from microphones still sounds farfetched but, may actually be possible soon
I mean, Batman’s software could probably filter out that stuff and show only the ones that are actually useful.
It’s for food and cats photos too
CalyxOS for your pixel phone. Degoogle that baby.
Calyx isn’t as secure as GrapheneOS
It’s a lot easier to install and more secure than not having anything. Good option for people who don’t have a lot of skill in this area.
Is the phone still usable as it was before or are there apps/capabilities that won’t work after the install?
All you can really do is make the spying as difficult as possible. That’s really all we can do 🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️
Apple fanboys will lose their shit if they see this meme. I sometimes dont understand these fanboys like apple doesn’t pay them nor does they credit these idiots for word of mouth free marketing instead these idiots pay top $ to buy their product and act like them invented it. Stupid mofos!!
yeah i will never understand company fanboys they cheer for people that fuck them over it’s like putting your hand in acid and saying it’s good for you
Google : “i only spy through the web”
Me :
Google: Laughing in Android.
Google: Laughing in Chrome, scanning your entire file system
Google: Laughing in bloody web DRM
I’m sure not everyone will agree, but honestly, I kind of stopped caring too much. I’ve been using Instagram, Google, Android, Apple, and many other service providers for years and none seems to know a lot about me based on the stuff I see being advertised to me.
None of them seem to have figured out what languages I speak (I get a lot of language courses for English and German, but I’m native in both), what my education level is (I get a lot of ‘study your bachelor or master here or there or online’ despite having two master’s degrees), where I really live (lots of British stuff always, but I live out of Europe), or what my hobbies are (lots of mobile games that I wouldn’t touch with a stick).
Yeah, it seems they get the basics (I’m male, below 35, I am interested in educational stuff), but that could be anyone… And if I can use their services for tree for them to put me in a category with some 10M others, I’m kinda okay
