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Before you continue… ... the last bastion of online privacy has gone!

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agarnett
agarnett Posts: 1,301 Forumite
edited 31 May 2016 at 10:04AM in Techie Stuff
I have been meaning to write about this for months and I apologise if there's another thread about it, Google have finally forced us all to let them spy on us as much as they like.

They started with a "Do Not Pass Go" pop up that you had to agree to in Chrome - maybe six months ago? They adjusted the message a little bit in the first month or so and if I remember correctly you could close the pop up and ignore it for a short period. Then they altered it, and the wording of it, and forced you to ok it if you wished to continue in Chrome.

There's a sop to those who think they might want to tailor what they do and do not share but if you fall for it, then you haven't understood how mealy mouthed the options are or you just don't care! You couldn't use Google Search or Google Translate or indeed Google Services generally unless you clicked on "I agree".

Then after a couple of months they clearly got Microsoft to do the same thing via their browsers Internet Explorer and Edge.
The latest front screen of the pop up (and you probably will not have seen it if you have agreed an earlier version months ago or have reinstalled the operating system), says this:

Before you continue ...

To be consistent with data protection laws, we’re asking you to take a moment to review key points of Google’s Privacy Policy. This isn’t about a change we’ve made — it’s just a chance to review some key points.

We’ll need you to do this in order to continue using Google services.

Clearly there has been at least some resistance to this, especially amongst the open source fraternity who believe in the freedoms that developed Mozilla Firefox as an alternative browser. I've been using Mozilla exclusively for Google Search and Translate for weeks or maybe months.

All this time (months) despite a modest half-hearted bleat from Google when you opened one of their webpages for searching or translating, Mozilla Firefox has allowed you to ignore it and continue using Google Services.

As of yesterday that stopped. I haven't used Google Search for two days on my PC because of it - I have religiously not agreed to Google's urging for all these months so far.

To be honest I am not sure whether I agreed on my mobile phone in the Safari browser - probably I slipped up there. I used it last night to Google with no obstruction.


I don't know if the Techie Forum is the place to raise this really, but at least you techies stand the best chance of understanding what I am on about.

The fact is that Google tracks our every move, our every device, our every location - even if we use a VPN it starts acting up and questioning whether it was really us in Belgium this morning an Manchester this afternoon when it knows our mobile last logged in to Gmail this morning from Bratislava - they already know of course - VPNs have to be pretty expensive beasts to truly hide us from Google's snooping!

Is anyone concerned about the level of such snooping we are conned into agreeing to? Clearly the answer to a different question is No. That different question is "Do most people understand what they have agreed to when they have clicked OK?"
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Comments

  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    How does Google know who you are, if you don't use gmail, and all you do is use a selection of devices, and just do some web searches?
  • spadoosh
    spadoosh Posts: 8,732 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    googler wrote: »
    How does Google know who you are, if you don't use gmail, and all you do is use a selection of devices, and just do some web searches?

    Because the first thing someone does when they start using google is google their name.
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    spadoosh wrote: »
    Because the first thing someone does when they start using google is google their name.

    I must be the exception to that rule. If you don't do that, how do they know?
  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    Google don't need to know your name to fulfil their business model - serve adverts for stuff you have shown an interest in.
    One way to minimise their knowledge is to use plugins such as Ghostery (which also blocks adverts).
    Alternately you can just stop trying to fight a losing battle and accept that you are only in this world to increase corporate profits.
  • Google don't need to know who you are to track you. They use cookies, DNS servers and a lot of other techniques.

    At first you will simply be a reference number. Maybe they'll figure out who you are at a later date.

    Also remember, Google own a lot of other sites you may have signed up for. YouTube is just one example.
  • agarnett
    agarnett Posts: 1,301 Forumite
    edited 31 May 2016 at 9:58PM
    As AllTheseUserNamesAreTaken has just said, you don't have to use Gmail for them to know who you are if they want to, or simply if that particular falls into their laps a number of ways.

    Anyway, I think I have maintained my 100 not out score - buoyed by one of my own pointers this morning, I've found a fourth browser now just for using Google services :p

    Let's see how long I can survive without clicking "I agree" to any of their snooping nonsense :rotfl:

    Naturally I haven't signed up to any of their other services like YouTube - if I had, I am sure it would have taken it as a big "I agree" to every Google service ;)

    Not me though, not just yet!
  • S0litaire
    S0litaire Posts: 3,535 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    heck why you bothered about what google knows about you?

    They probably know everything they want to know
    for instance this forum probably has a Google analytics tracking code, so your account here is tagged with corresponding IP address, it can easily cross reference that with EVERY OTHER website using google analytics to build a pattern of you habits!

    That's not to mention Credit/Debit cards and Loyalty cards area goldmine of personal info.

    Cross-reference those with your googly analytics profile and they probably know if you need more fibre in your diet by the food you buy and toilet paper consumption!


    p.s. I've never noticed one of those "Before you continue..." messages. I just get a reminder to do their security refresh checklist.

    Are you sure you not got malware / virus?? ;)
    Laters

    Sol

    "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  • RumRat
    RumRat Posts: 5,015 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    You'll only get an outcry and reaction if you change the name from Google to Microsoft.;)
    Drinking Rum before 10am makes you
    A PIRATE
    Not an Alcoholic...!
  • agarnett
    agarnett Posts: 1,301 Forumite
    edited 31 May 2016 at 10:14PM
    S0litaire wrote: »
    heck why you bothered about what google knows about you?
    I am concerned about the generally ridiculous amount of incorrect and irrelevant data being unlawfully held, duplicated and combined by a myriad of corporates. It is a real problem e.g. in the CRA arena, and you cannot trust a CRA to restrict their data accumulation activity to just what you'd expect they might need. They of course collect everything that they can get their hands on bth from other corporates, from governments and from other data repositories more shady than all of them. So thats why ;)

    I shall be hammering this home to one of my credit card providers sometime this week when I have the time for a long call. They recently damaged my reputation by making a systems fault, apologising in writing, assuring me no harm done specifically when I asked about whether false data was sent to CRAs, and subsequently I have discovered they were lying or they simply were incapable of analysing their own faults.

    The result is that both they and Amex reduced my credit limits at the same time. The at fault company did not tell me they had done that when we discussed the whole problem by phone first time. They probably hadn't even noticed either.. I learned later when catching up on snail mail after having been away.
    They probably know everything they want to know
    for instance this forum probably has a Google analytics tracking code, so your account here is tagged with corresponding IP address, it can easily cross reference that with EVERY OTHER website using google analytics to build a pattern of you habits!

    That's not to mention Credit/Debit cards and Loyalty cards area goldmine of personal info.

    Cross-reference those with your googly analytics profile and they probably know if you need more fibre in your diet by the food you buy and toilet paper consumption!
    Yep agreed.

    p.s. I've never noticed one of those "Before you continue..." messages. I just get a reminder to do their security refresh checklist.

    Are you sure you not got malware / virus?? ;)
    I am abroad a lot in a country where one ministry has overtly attacked Google for its conduct in other respects, so it is faintly possible that either they do something special as retaliation, or European Law has a different effect.

    I'm in UK tomorrow and rest of week and will check to see if it makes any difference, although my laptop does still have a European keyboård - d'yer think they can still tell? :p
  • LHW99
    LHW99 Posts: 5,240 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    p.s. I've never noticed one of those "Before you continue..." messages. I just get a reminder to do their security refresh checklist.

    Yes they've had them in the UK & you get to a point where you can't use even Google search without clicking the OK
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