Authored by Jake Anderson via TheAntiMedia.com,
With all the attention paid to Facebook in recent weeks over ‘data breaches’ and privacy violations, even though what happened with Cambridge Analytica is part of their standard business model, it’s easy to forget that there are four other Big Tech corporations collecting just as much - if not more - of our personal info.
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports actually suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook.
Curious about just how much of his data Google had, web developer Dylan Curran says he downloaded his Google data file, which is offered by the company in a hub called “My Account.”
This hub was created in 2015, along with a tool called “My Activity.” The report issued is similar to the one Facebook delivers to its users upon request. Whether or not these reports are comprehensive is still up in the air, but Curran says his was 5.5 GB, which is almost ten times larger than the one Facebook offered him. The amount and type of data in his file, Mr. Curran says, suggests Google is not only constantly tracking our online movements but may also be monitoring our physical locations.
Curran’s Google report contained an incredible amount documentation on his web activity, going back over a decade. But perhaps more importantly, Google had also been tracking his real-life movements via his smartphone device or tablet. This included fairly random places he’d frequented, many of the foreign countries and cities he visited, the bars and restaurants he went to while in these countries, the amount of time he spent there, and even the path he took to get there and back.
This, of course, is not new. It has been well-known for some time that Google silently tracks you everywhere you go and creates a map of your physical movements through its Location History feature. You can deactivate it by going to your timeline and adjusting the preferences.
Another Google user downloaded his file and discovered the company had been archiving his data even when he browsed in Incognito mode, a setting that advertises itself as one that does not save browsing history.
Like Facebook, Google gathers your info for sale to 3rd-party advertisers, including your name, email address, telephone number, credit card, specific ways you use Google’s services, your mode of interaction with any website that uses Google technology (such as AdWords), your device, and your search queries. And if you don’t enter your account and make adjustments, pretty much anything you do online while deploying a Google tool is tracked. Google’s policy states:
“If other users already have your email, or other information that identifies you, we may show them your publicly visible Google Profile information, such as your name and photo.”
But much of the location data stems from the use of Google apps like Maps or Now, which broadcast your location. If you want to stop this information from being shared, you have to go into your account settings and make adjustments.
The ostensible purpose of this data-sharing is to fine-tune your user experience, but who is benefitting more is arguable. The same year it released its new activity hub, Google also unveiled a new program that shares your email with high-value advertisers. Called Customer Match, this system streamlines consumer info so that an advertiser’s “brand is right there, with the right message, at the moment your customer is most receptive.”
Google’s policy also lists the three major categories of data collection: Things you do; Things you create; and Things that make you “you.”
But you do have the ability to limit this info from getting out. You can turn off location tracking, voice searches, and other features; you can view and edit your preferences; you can adjust your public profile, and you can download Google’s data hoard to see what they see.
You’re also welcome to go a bit further and delete all of your data from not only Google but also a variety of other online services.
- Go to Deseat.me and sign in with a Gmail address.
- Look down the list of synced accounts and decide which you want to delete and which you want to keep.
- Click the button
Will deleting a select amount of your data from the innards of the Big 5 stop predatory data mining? Certainly not. But while Facebook testifies before Congress, we have an opportunity to draw attention to some of the consequences of a technocracy that privatizes surveillance. As the control grid tightens, our reaction indicates our level of complacency.
Comments
I already know.
Mostly weapons parts and ammo with a little permaculture thrown in on the side.
Absolutely nothing.
In reply to I already know… by e_goldstein
Whatswhat, do you use a mobile adblocker? Do you know anybody who doesn't. Whoever controls the browser controls the ad money.
I prefer brave browser bc of its ease of use and DEFAULT setting to protect the user and user data.
Brave blocks advertising malware and tracking by DEFAULT on any device and operating system rendering digital advertising model useless.
We can break goobook surveillance censorship tracking business model overnight if everybody downloads brave or equivalent browser.
What is digital advertising worth if an ad can't be served, viewed and tracked.
Cheers,
Pigpen
In reply to absol by whatswhat1@yahoo.com
For anyone who insists on using android phone, and insists on using google tools on the phone, they should root then install xPrivacy, AFWall+ and Adaway.
In reply to Whatswhat, do you use a… by pigpen
“Deleting” anything won’t do shit.
Just stop using Joogle and their products altogether.
In reply to For anyone who insists on… by Sokhmate
Just deletes it from what you can see the next time you check. Why? Because it was "deleted". And you might start to get suspicious if you go back again and see it still there.
In reply to “Deleting” anything won’t do… by Americano
Googled it...
In reply to Just deletes it from what… by Conscious Reviver
I'm beginning to think the inconvenient disclosures of the surveillance state, starting with Snowden, and continuing to the recent Facebook revelations, are not so inconvenient, done by design.
Your behavior changes when you know you're being watched. Surveillance has a dramatic effect on behavior, ask anyone from the former soviet union, or the political prisoners of Cuba's Presidio Modelo .
The west has become a modern day Panopticon
The Watchers
Assaults on privacy in America
In reply to Googled it... by Déjà view
Ignorant writers.
Google's data is 10x larger because Google includes every photo/video/document you've uploaded to Google Drive.
If Facebook included every photo/video/document you've uploaded, they'd be 1000x larger.
Either the writers are ignorant, or they're intentionally manipulating the truth, or both.
In reply to I'm beginning to think the… by Tarzan
My google file is 15.5gb. I don't use tools except a minimally used gmail and I don't use drive. They have a huge location history and tbh I thought I turned that off.
In reply to Ignorant writers… by Dsyno
Quite likely you did turn off location history, but not to worry - it's probably just a bug that they'll resolve at their earliest convenience.
In reply to My google file is 15.5gb. I… by Donald J. Trump
Funny... these corp's are the meta data collection fronts for the intel agencies... which is why the NSA has to keep building new ones... they fill them up with all this BS... as they are mere sheeple themselves and aren't allowed to edit the data stream.. so the pile of shit grows and grows until Mother Nature swings in to clean it all up....
In reply to Quite likely you did turn… by Joe Davola
these corp's are the meta data collection fronts for the intel agencies
Which is why the legislooters will only bark loudly when there's a camera around, then do nothing the rest of the time. At least one can safely ignore studio wrestling. Ignoring the government is like turning your back on the ocean - it's gonna swamp you sooner or later.
In reply to Funny... these corp's are… by gdpetti
correct... the govenment circumvents the law by getting the data from the ISP's, telcon providers, and google amazon facebook apple and many others... NSA collects EVERY electronic transmission and stores it for future use... (and current fisa/privacy violations)... how many of the 17 (why so many) intel agencies are violating your rights right NOW...??? not to mention the FBI....all of them!!! They are arrogant dolts abusing the public trust in government. 90% of government workers are LIBTARDS... essentially glorified welfare recipients contributing NOTHING of economic value.. slugs ticking off the days til retirement and using additional useless "work" in the last few years to increase the amount they get...
In reply to I'm beginning to think the… by Tarzan
That is probably correct. A very good argument could be made that all of this information is essentially of the limited hangout type, for precisely the purpose you mention: intimidation.
In reply to I'm beginning to think the… by Tarzan
This is what happened to me. I went to the doctor, when I came home, Youtube had a line of videos for me to review about the subject. I really couldn't get the correct responses from the doctor.
I kept trying to find out, but the doctor was elusive. The videos were at the top, I believe it was recommend for you section. I'm big on Youtube use, I like to watch people's blogs on things like camping and farmers starting out etc.
Google was tracking with the phones GPS and recording the conversation through the phone. Great, I am tracked 24/7 by Google. And Yahoo has my phone for pass word verification. So everything I do is monitored 24/7.
So either someone is trying to keep me alive or the AI robot they've assigned me is real good. The next phase will be predictive programming, this means, our habits will be predicted and we will be programmed with our own data.
The brain can be programmed. period.
See, I use Youtube all the time for music, and many learning videos, I kind of like some of the videos on what people think, but many of those have been culled.
When it happened, I called a relative and told them, they were concerned.
So they have an AI robot assigned to me, to take care of all my needs.
They don't think we're slaves, they think of us as profit centers. The bad part, we know they are selling our date to other AI robots to hound us anyway they can to sell us something.
Sometimes I feel like a chicken being harvested by a chicken farmer. Next is predictive programming by using data on our habits, to know when we lay an egg. Like when we shop and how much money we spend. etc.
In reply to “Deleting” anything won’t do… by Americano
The Talmud is clear, the goyim are to be herded--and harvested-- like cattle.
In reply to This is what happened to me… by MK ULTRA Alpha
Thanks, I am glad at least one person has read it too. No one can see what has happened and is happening.
In reply to The Talmud is clear, the… by Buckaroo Banzai
Ridding your phone of Google is damn near impossible. I tried it awhile back, and it pretty much turned my phone into a brick, and I ended up crawling back to daddy Google within a few months. I'm waiting for a decent phone with Linux to hit the market, but so far there are only a couple, and they're hard to find and overpriced.
On the other hand, ignoring Google on a PC is easy as fuck. Just don't use it, ever. Tutanota for email, DuckDuckGo for search, and use blockers for anonymous Youtube. Just remember, in for a penny, in for a pound with Google. Google+ is about the biggest sack of faggotry the web has ever known. Simply signing up for Google automatically gives you a + account, and automatically starts posting all your activity to a Facebook-style wall that you might not even know exists, if all you ever do is watch Youtube, or use Gmail.
In reply to “Deleting” anything won’t do… by Americano
"DuckDuckGo for search"
DuckDuckGo was founded by a Jew, and earns its keep by tracking and selling your data.
Try Startpage or SearX instead. Even Bing is a better choice than DuckDuckGo
In reply to Ridding your phone of Google… by jin187
That's shows how much you know. DuckDuckGo is Bing. All they are is a proxy that passes your search terms onto Bing anonymously.
In reply to "DuckDuckGo for search"… by Buckaroo Banzai
The funniest part is when you have to trust a third party site to clean up your data. One born every minute.
In reply to “Deleting” anything won’t do… by Americano
Sokhmate, I use Google phone but run all social apps including YouTube on brave browser. Zero ads. The art of possible is installing brave browser. Your solution is fantastic but impossible to implement mass adoption. Do you think Grandma understands what you just suggested.
Brave is simple and blocks by DEFAULT rendering digital advertising model useless.
Brave let's me listen to YouTube with screen off or while I'm browsing the web.
Cheers,
Pigpen
In reply to For anyone who insists on… by Sokhmate
Adding Adblocker Ultimate and Privacy Badger extensions to Firefox does the same thing. I've tried Brave but it's pretty basic. Chrome, of course, is another Alphabet, Inc. scam like Gmail and Google.
For those of you who are addicted to Facebook, Firefox has a separate privacy extension to isolate Facebook spying on your other computer activities.
In reply to Whatswhat, do you use a… by pigpen
I use Microsoft Edge web browser with AdBlocker Ultimate and Ghostery extensions to block ADS and TRACKING respectively.
I don't use Google for anything. Not even searches. I use DuckDuckGo for searching.
No Facebook, Twitter or any other social accounts.
I have e-mail with my local cable company but I also have a OUTLOOK.COM e-mail address. Microsoft, unlike Google does not search/index your e-mail messages and sell that data to 3rd parties.
In reply to Adding Adblocker Ultimate… by Koba the Dread
I use Tutanota for my primary email. It's free, but you can pay $1 a month for premium just to help them out. On top of not trolling your email for personal data, they also offer end-to-end encryption, and other useful privacy features. It's basically the DuckDuckGo of email.
In reply to I use Microsoft Edge web… by JethroBodien
"I use DuckDuckGo for searching"
Please, do not do this. DuckDuckGo captures your search data and sells it. The founder of the company, a Jew, was in the personal data harvesting business before he started up the DuckDuckGo search engine.
Use Searx.me or Startpage
In reply to I use Microsoft Edge web… by JethroBodien
According to Wikpedia...
DuckDuckGo positions itself as a search engine that puts privacy first and as such it does not store IP addresses, does not log user information and uses cookies only when needed. Weinberg states "By default, DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. That is our privacy policy in a nutshell." However, they do maintain logs of all search terms used
Because they don't store IP addresses "search terms" would be logged anonymously. I suspect every search engine in the world stores search terms to improve the results people get back.
In reply to "I use DuckDuckGo for… by Buckaroo Banzai
Use mailfence.com for secure, private email.
In reply to I use Microsoft Edge web… by JethroBodien
As if Edge or MS are any better. The very reason it's called Edge is proof of how win10 is tracking you 95 ways to Sunday.
In reply to I use Microsoft Edge web… by JethroBodien
Yes Windows 10 does go much further with tracking than previous versions of Windows. That said under Privacy settings I've turned off every single tracking option. At least Microsoft gives you the option. I've even disabled the LOCATION feature which apps can use to track your location.
Even though I don't have a camera or microphone I've also disabled those features in Windows 10.
In reply to As if Edge or MS are any… by thebriang
Other good choices are Adblock Browser and Firefox Focus.
On my Android phone, I don't use any Google tools. I had to set up an Google email address, but I only set it up as it was required. I have never used it for any email whatsoever.
Use DuckDuckGo for searching. Clear cookies often and entire browsing history often.
At home, use a VPN constantly from a country that doesn't require keeping records.
In reply to Whatswhat, do you use a… by pigpen
+1 for the permaculture.
In reply to I already know… by e_goldstein
Think it is this myself ...
The concept :- You deseat.me through a third party just like Cambridge Analytica and you just effectively moved the data onto another server freeing up space on the main store.
The reason:- Need to free digital storage so move data, store and pretend it is in fact deleted so you carry on thinking you can now delete it at will.
Idiots do this:- Fooled you once like Zuckerberg admitted, well fooled you again now because now I have the free space once all your old data is archived to do it all over again.
If deleted without you doing it yourself could cause a whole load of issues as important data people want is deleted and that is a bad rep.
Does the above conform to data practices if the stored data makes its way onto secure server for intelligence agencies to use as an archive?
Do you trust the matrix?
In reply to I already know… by e_goldstein
When they chain me to the steel ring on the floor of the cold-dark railcar, I will carefully coax the diamond file from my rectum, and know for certain that I have them, finally, exactly where I want them.
Mother fuckers!!!!!!!
Great, now Google knows you keep a diamond file in your rectum. Worse, now we all have to brain-bleach that image from our minds as well. Thanks, HH. Much appreciated.
You are one crazy motherfucker.
In reply to I love Big Brother. by hedgeless_horseman
Soooo, where is a good place to buy such a file?
:)
In reply to Great, now Google knows you… by NoDebt
His ass
In reply to Soooo, where is a good place… by gladih8r
google it!
In reply to Soooo, where is a good place… by gladih8r
Google it! Too funny.
When MH370 disappeared into a hangar on Diego Garcia, an American passenger sent a text saying he was blind folded and handcuffed, but he managed to pull his phone, which had voice commands enabled, out of his ass, ouch! Take a picture and send it with some text explaining the above. The picture showed what a dark room looks like ... black. But the GPS location was on the picture.
Maybe he meant rear of his shorts?
In reply to google it! by kiwimail
Some people (so I hear) think that Google's purpose is to get you to search for pictures of naked women. Not that I would do that....
In reply to Google it! Too funny… by Conscious Reviver
His phone was in his ass? I guess we can rule out the Galaxy Note 7. Good thing in his case. Note 7 battery + methane = boom.
In reply to Google it! Too funny… by Conscious Reviver
MI6 / CIA if you pay to play.
In reply to Soooo, where is a good place… by gladih8r
tip: get the round ended one
In reply to Soooo, where is a good place… by gladih8r
Logged in just to +1 HH and NoDebt. Well done you crazy bastards!
Also, thanks to all for the suggestions for limiting exposure to some of this insanity...
In reply to Great, now Google knows you… by NoDebt
Hedgeless, with coaxing and rectums and diamond files, where exactly is it that you want them.
In reply to I love Big Brother. by hedgeless_horseman
Ouch !!... 😤😤😤
I hope its at least a round file, not a flat or worse a tri-square file... 😅😅😅
I can hear u now...
"The name's HORSEMAN"...
"HEDGELESS_HORSEMAN"...
😎
In reply to I love Big Brother. by hedgeless_horseman
just deleted EVERYTHING EVER NEVER...gone.
In reply to Ouch !!... 😤😤😤… by Eyes Opened
Funny, I can fit my universal handcuff key in my mouth.
In reply to I love Big Brother. by hedgeless_horseman
"John Smith" is getting a lot of ad traffic...
Pagination