How much do you (dis)trust Google ?

bonzodog2

[If this isn't the best place for this, somebody move it ! Computers & Technology seemed too hardware oriented]

How much do you (dis)trust Google ?

I do use Google as my usual search engine, but I don't use their browser toolbar (as it takes up vertical screen space I'd rather use myself for showing web content). I won't use Chrome browser, as I don't want them tracking everything I do, and I definitely don't want them "indexing my desktop" !

Am I paranoid or just careful ?

FearDark

Dunno, google it.

Biggins

bonzodog2 wrote: »

...Am I paranoid or just careful ?

Nope, they are not all out to get you ...just a few of them.

Pineapple Dan

I dont trust them at all, I dont use gmail or google docs. all I use is the search engine and I clear cookies and that regularly


i run my own email server but not just to avoid google, but when lads like Eric Schmidt go around saying privacy worries are for wrongdoers I'm glad I dont rely on google at all

Pighead

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Am I paranoid or just careful ?

Nothing wrong with paranoia. It just means you're in possession of all the facts. The question should not be whether you are paranoid, the question should be are you paranoid enough.:eek:

Biggins

I never use google to be honest, I much prefer the yahoo search engine.

Overheal

Oddly, gmail is my main account but I dont like their ad system. I dont want google analytics running on my computer. I'll adblock them at just about every opportunity, and google desktop will never have a place on my computer. Nor do I want them as my browser. Not with their company profile: chrome is understandably self-serving. So are the Droid phones.

I use google because its the best search engine I've found that suits me. I use gmail for the same reason. As of yet I have a better/preferred browser, and office software. I dont jump on their emerging technology. Despite the fact that Droids seem ****ing nifty as ****.

i_inky

But they say "Don't be Evil", how could you not trust them?

drBill

Agree. They are one of the most secretive organisations in the world and they record and track everything. E.g: they know everything you search for (thanks to their everlasting cookies on the google site); if you have google toolbar they know every site your browser visits; if you use gmail it is with the understanding that they scan and analyse your emails; and they have a fair idea of where you are based on your ip address. Correlate all this together and you know a lot about your clients. And if you also use Chrome/Wave/googles phone/etc, chances are they could figure out what you'd like for breakfast before you've even woken up in the morning!

DarrenMSP

Everyone seems to forget Google is a business and they answer to the shareholders.... Not the users.

Google gives users Gmail, Google Docs etc for free not because its out of the good of thier health, but because its in thier better interest not yours. The more people use their services, the more data they have, the more valuable it becomes when they data-mine it to find out patterns you have.

They then

A) Advertise to you
Sell it onto to other Advertising companies.

There is no Google is out to get you crap though, Google just want data on you to make them money. Simply as!

Google's "do no evil" have been on thin ice for a very long time and have a nice list of cristisms!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google

do.ob

www.Scroogle.org ftw!

mikom

Cuil ftw.

Not really.

The upcoming Chrome operating system is intended to use cloud computing which, if I read it correctly, stores your apps and data on their servers.... eh, I'll pass.

bertie4evr

Go to Google.Sign in.On top left go to Settings>Account Settings.Then go to Dashboard(Beside your profile pic.).This will show you everything Google knows about you.

Last week I realized how much the bastards really knew about me.

OctavarIan

The paranoia and fear in this thread is gas, it's like the 90s again.

Oh well, I guess when Google decide to dive into their trillions of pieces of stored information to target me I'll just have to be prepared.

My name is URL

How much do you (dis)trust Google ?

On a scale of 1-10.. 5

banquo

Their web search history bothers me (have it turned off), but otherwise I love their products. I don't particularly have anything to hide (although ''why worry if you're innocent'' dosen't hold up as an argument for me) and I love my GMail, Google Docs, and Calendar.

GLaDOS

I really don't care about them following me and such, not like I'm doing anything I shouldn't or they're going to show everyone I know. I use google as well as google images and google scholar all the time, because I like them. DCU email runs through gmail (way better than the crap we had before) so I don't have much choice there. I have another gmail account but there only purpose I have for it is my igoogle homepage as the majority of my emailing is in relation to college and anything subscription based I stick on my hotmail. Don't use chrome because I simply prefer Firefox. (which has links to google I believe anyway)

Everyone who's being paranoid about it, don't forget google owns youtube, better not use that either.

Frankly, imo, google rocks.

CrazyRabbit

bertie4evr wrote: »

Go to Google.Sign in.On top left go to Settings>Account Settings.Then go to Dashboard(Beside your profile pic.).This will show you everything Google knows about you.

Last week I realized how much the bastards really knew about me.

Bet you wish you hadn't searched for those 'animal fun' websites now.

Alessandra

I didn't distrust them until now:(

I will have to find another search engine, can't imagine "googling" on yahoo.

Micilin Muc

I use Google Reader as my main search engine at work now. I have subscribed to over 100 feeds and I trust every one of them. My own personalised search engine!

biko

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNofb-OlZyQ

The Big Red Button

To be honest I doubt I'm interesting enough for them to bother about me!

Mark200

drBill wrote: »

Agree. They are one of the most secretive organisations in the world

The whole point of them being secret is:

1) To have an edge over competitors who are trying to copy them

2) To keep everyone's information safe!!!

drBill wrote: »

if you use gmail it is with the understanding that they scan and analyse your emails;

Yes, so they can give you relevant ads. All email providers scan and analyse then content of your emails in a similar fashion to check for viruses and spam.

drBill wrote: »

And if you also use Chrome/Wave/googles phone/etc, chances are they could figure out what you'd like for breakfast before you've even woken up in the morning!

With Google Chrome you can turn on/off whatever information you want to allow them to gather.

( http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-chrome-communication/ )

Don't know about wave/google phone as I don't use either, but I assume it's a similar arrangement.

bertie4evr wrote: »

Go to Google.Sign in.On top left go to Settings>Account Settings.Then go to Dashboard(Beside your profile pic.).This will show you everything Google knows about you.

Last week I realized how much the bastards really knew about me.

Did you also find the delete option for pretty much every single piece of information they have? You can remove pretty much all of it.

drBill

Overheal wrote: »

Oddly, gmail is my main account but I dont like their ad system... *.

Actually rumour has it that you can get it to leave ads out of your message if you scatter it with potentially sensitive words like suicide, murder, death, etc. Not sure if that's much of an improvement though!

Sheeps

LMAO at this thread.

I use gmail because it's the best free mail provider out there. The authentication plugs in to their various other web technologies seamlessly. Also, their user interface is generally pretty nice. I also prefer the chrome browser to any other web browser because of the look, speed and feel of it. Anyone who thinks the Chrome web browser harvests any extra data about your browsing habits, beyond cookies and what you would find in any other web browser is simply a fool.

Google may have access to a lot of data about you, however they are still subject to the same privacy and data protection laws that everyone else is. Stop worrying about it.

ScumLord

I like the way google chrome knows what I'm looking for before I know it. It's amazing how you can be on a page and want to search for something related and as soon as you start typing it into google it auto fills in the answer your looking for. I come from a small town and know there's no such thing as privacy.

Pineapple Dan

DarrenMSP wrote: »

Everyone seems to forget Google is a business and they answer to the shareholders.... Not the users.

Google gives users Gmail, Google Docs etc for free not because its out of the good of thier health, but because its in thier better interest not yours. The more people use their services, the more data they have, the more valuable it becomes when they data-mine it to find out patterns you have.

They then

A) Advertise to you
Sell it onto to other Advertising companies.

There is no Google is out to get you crap though, Google just want data on you to make them money. Simply as!

Google's "do no evil" have been on thin ice for a very long time and have a nice list of cristisms!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Google

there is also the problem that if you so happen to look up "how to murder someone with a blunt knife" and sometime after someone in your area happens to get murdered with a blunt knife and the guards have no other leads they would very much like for you to be the murderer.

/goes to look up "how to murder someone with a blunt knife"

now they might not have the resources to follow up every dodgy google search but in a few years they might very well be sending the inspectors around to people who look up "how to evade nonsensical health and safety related planning regulations"

ScumLord

Pineapple Dan wrote: »

there is also the problem that if you so happen to look up "how to murder someone with a blunt knife" and sometime after someone in your area happens to get murdered with a blunt knife and the guards have no other leads they would very much like for you to be the murderer.

/goes to look up "how to murder someone with a blunt knife"

now they might not have the resources to follow up every dodgy google search but in a few years they might very well be sending the inspectors around to people who look up "how to evade nonsensical health and safety related planning regulations"

It doesn't really matter what they find you searching for (as long as it's not illegal) as they need prove you did it.

jimmycrackcorm

reported today that google plan on replacing your own desktop storage with online storage instead... Better buy shares so you can own everybody.

Queen-Mise

bertie4evr wrote: »

Go to Google.Sign in.On top left go to Settings>Account Settings.Then go to Dashboard(Beside your profile pic.).This will show you everything Google knows about you.

Last week I realized how much the bastards really knew about me.

Just after doing that - the bastards don't know a lot about me :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: There is very little there. I had to laugh at the info under one heading

Nothing interesting here

I hope that doesn't sum up my life :(

I shall use Google and Google Chrome away, they can store what they like about me, i don't care.

Dord

Biggins wrote: »

I never use google to be honest, I much prefer the yahoo search engine.

Which is now powered by Microsofts crappy Bing search engine.

Pineapple Dan

ScumLord wrote: »

It doesn't really matter what they find you searching for (as long as it's not illegal) as they need prove you did it.

you mean like blasphemy?

everyday the domain of what's legal shrinks a tiny bit. the law is constantly getting more pervasive and if all your data is being stored on some server in a huge datacentre laws that are unenforceable now become easier to enforce

bonzodog2

bonzodog2 wrote: »

I won't use Chrome browser

your loss my friend, nothing can even pretend to compare with chrome as a web browser. Firefox is no better than IE when compared with chrome. I have converted many skeptics and everyone has come to me and said what a legend chrome is.

Pineapple Dan

Lincoln Incalculable Sensibility wrote: »

your loss my friend, nothing can even pretend to compare with chrome as a web browser. Firefox is no better than IE when compared with chrome. I have converted many skeptics and everyone has come to me and said what a legend chrome is.

its a fairly meh-tastic browser. i have used it and its really nothing to write home about.

and no adblock plus + filterset G.

but of course if you are using Chrome you probably have all your data in the cloud, carry around a 'Droid', use gmail and web applications so you probably *want* to see all the ads they have so nicely picked out specially for you

ScumLord

Pineapple Dan wrote: »

its a fairly meh-tastic browser. i have used it and its really nothing to write home about.

and no adblock plus + filterset G.

but of course if you are using Chrome you probably have all your data in the cloud, carry around a 'Droid', use gmail and web applications so you probably *want* to see all the ads they have so nicely picked out specially for you

Does anyone anywhere actually pay any attention to online adds? It's a small price to pay for all the free services google give out.

Chrome is a great lightweight browser, any time I use any other browser it's like I've lost half my screen to pointless toolbars.

Pineapple Dan

ScumLord wrote: »

Does anyone anywhere actually pay any attention to online adds? It's a small price to pay for all the free services google give out.

Chrome is a great lightweight browser, any time I use any other browser it's like I've lost half my screen to pointless toolbars.

they must do otherwise google would have gone bust long ago. unless there is enough money to be made from simply selling information collected about you

peanuthead

bonzodog2 wrote: »

Am I paranoid or just careful ?

Neither. You're dodgy

ScumLord

Pineapple Dan wrote: »

they must do otherwise google would have gone bust long ago. unless there is enough money to be made from simply selling information collected about you

Advertising on google is expensive but so is advertising on tv and if you got 1% of the people that saw your add to convert into a sale you'd be doing well. With google you can see the conversion rates and there not all that great. Advertisers know that most people that see their adds pay no attention to them and the ones that do very little convert into sales.

bonzodog2

peanuthead wrote: »

Neither. You're dodgy

Maybe, but you don't know me that well ...

GLaDOS

ScumLord wrote: »

Chrome is a great lightweight browser, any time I use any other browser it's like I've lost half my screen to pointless toolbars.

Have you tried... not installing pointless toolbars?

Pineapple Dan

ScumLord wrote: »

Advertising on google is expensive but so is advertising on tv and if you got 1% of the people that saw your add to convert into a sale you'd be doing well. With google you can see the conversion rates and there not all that great. Advertisers know that most people that see their adds pay no attention to them and the ones that do very little convert into sales.

back when i used google adsense i got around 1% click throughs but that was a while back.
i also have my doubts about the long term viability of this sort of advertising - as more and more sites rely on putting ads on people's screen there is only a certain pool of advertisers who sell tangible goods or non ad-supported online services to pay for it all.
more of this sort of stuff will become subscription based in the long run just like news sites are already doing.

Professey Chin

Theyre taking over and ive already picked their side

bonzodog2

Well its nice to stimulate a bit of discussion anyway ....

ScumLord

Pineapple Dan wrote: »

back when i used google adsense i got around 1% click throughs but that was a while back.
i also have my doubts about the long term viability of this sort of advertising - as more and more sites rely on putting ads on people's screen there is only a certain pool of advertisers who sell tangible goods or non ad-supported online services to pay for it all.
more of this sort of stuff will become subscription based in the long run just like news sites are already doing.

I don't see that happening, whenever anyone trys to make people pay for services on the internet someone comes along and offers a free version. The internet is just to open any group of people can come together and out of shear love or passion create something that people will want to use.

I think targeted advertising like ggogles will become the norm. I'm surprised it isn't being used more as it is. RTE player could be targeting adds on a local level so could channel 4, having a completely different set of ads depending on where you are or what your interests are. I found that googles ad sense was pretty good at sending people to our website, maybe to good the first month was quite a surprise at the amount of traffic it sent to us.

The shot in the foot for google was the site became so popular it topped the list and it was pointless paying for the adds.

Pineapple Dan

Pineapple Dan wrote: »

its a fairly meh-tastic browser. i have used it and its really nothing to write home about.

and no adblock plus + filterset G.

but of course if you are using Chrome you probably have all your data in the cloud, carry around a 'Droid', use gmail and web applications so you probably *want* to see all the ads they have so nicely picked out specially for you

I dont even notice ads so it makes no difference to me, I do however notice (as mentioned above) that I'm not struggling to see web pages due to a massive toolbar or that im not waiting an age for a web page to load. Also the way the address bar acts as google and can often guess the site you want ftw!!

ScumLord

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Have you tried... not installing pointless toolbars?

Even on a fresh install with no toolbars all the other browsers take up more screen space than Chrome. I just like Chrome, it does exactly what it's supposed to do fast and efficiently, that's all I want from a browser. I do have to switch to other browsers at times but Chrome is my proffered browser over all. I've recommended it to all my friends that are new to computers because it doesn't put options in front of you that you simply don't need.

Biggins

Dord wrote: »

Which is now powered by Microsofts crappy Bing search engine.

Not just yet. Try a search for a same thing through both.
One is still more accurate than the other - and definitely refines the results accurately better than Google.
"Bing" for me sucks big time either way.

bonzodog2

Google Toolbar caught tracking users when 'disabled'

Biggins

谷歌是不好的，中國可能會更差，所以我寧願有兩害。哪一個更糟糕的是下一個問題！

中國可以吻我的屁股。

cian1500ww

Well if Google is trying to take over the world, they seem to be going about it much better than others have in the past such as Germany At least we get a bunch of cool free things :rolleyes: