Testy... what makes you think you 'deserve' an answer?
Maybe because my original post was asking a question which was taken off on a tangent completely unrelated to the question, a very simple question which you still cant answer.
You were the guy that lumped the ad company together with the computer soft/hardware companies and claimed they all did the same thing regarding data scamming.
Last I checked Apple made Hardware, software and ran an add agency. The same applies to Microsoft.
Google also runs an online MP3, Video and App store - each companies other activities are irrelevant to the discussion we're supposed to be having here.
When was the last time Apple or Microsoft got caught and punished for hacking browser privacy settings? That's pretty damning of Google.
I agree that Google were in the wrong on the whole Safari thing - there's no questioning that, and it certainly damaged their reputation (and rightly so) however look at what it actually was they did. It's not 'hacking' it was exploiting a flaw that was present in Safari. Facebook were also found to be doing it. The shocking thing is, it was a glaringly obvious flaw. So we've got three culprits. Google and Facebook for exploiting it, and Apple for not patching it.
Google will be rightly sued for it, and will learn their lesson. But lets look at what the data they got out of that actually was - its the exact same data they would have got if people didn't click the 'opt-out' button, so its hardly the crime of the century.
It's not their first offense, nor is it the first time they've gone out of their way to make a privacy infringement.
Care to provide sources for a few more cases of such 'hacking' that Google has been involved in?
Further, Google discloses very little about their clients and services of their ad business.
Google ads are served via the following methods:
- Adsense (using Adwords where anyone can buy adspace)
- Doubleclick (which is essentially adwords but for 'big' clients)
- Google domains (for parking pages)
- AdMob (mobile adverts)
- YouTube ads
What else would you like them to disclose? They even disclosed a big list of their biggest clients not long ago (have a look on Mashable
Then we can debate your outlandish claims that Apple and Microsoft behave the exact same regarding privacy.
- User visits Google, searches for 'Golf' then sees golf ads on a website.
- User visits the iOS AppStore, downloads a free Golf score card app, and sees an iAd inside it for Golfing vacations
The same methods are used. It's called keyword profiling. They build up a database of keywords based on your interestes, activities, etc and return relevent adverts. Very simple in principle.
I think you're going to have to do some more work before you present your theories. Secretive 'ad' company + privacy violations = well it doesn't take a rocket scientist... but I came anyway.
You know, reading back through your posts I've yet to actually see anything of any relevance. You've made some pretty big claims about why Google is bad, with not a shed of evidence, and point to the only flaw (the safari incident, of which Apple is not an innocent party) in an otherwise spotless record.
Uh, in this reality, Google is the company that hacks browser privacy settings. That destroys their credibility, it also kinda taints the people who keep standing up for them.
As above, its unacceptable that Google did that. However by your logic the people who support Apple (The ones who failed to patch a highly known vulnrability) are also tainted. Everyone cocks up at some point. Apple is far from perfect
What was Google done since they hacked Safari to make me forgive and want to trust them?
On the flip side, what has Apple done since failing to patch a vulndrability that was known for a long time? Why would you trust that OS X is now secure? You can throw ifs and buts around but it comes down to personal choice, and sanity.
Apple has never been caught inappropriately acquiring additional personal details from it's iTunes Store or online store customers. You're trying to squid the privacy issue.
By that logic, if Google had never been caught exploiting Apple's Safari vulnerability then they would be considered to be fantastic.
Oh and as someone else pointed out, Apple were caught being naught, arguably worse than Google as it affected a lot more people. Look at the iOS user tracking scandal
http://www.businessinsider.com/ifa-apples-iphone-tracking-in-ios-6-2012-10?op=1
Google is a company where a substantial part of their revenue is dependent on such 'additional information', has run into that issue, several times very publicly.
Correct. Google's income does rely (although recently to a lesser extent) on picking up users browsing habbits and using it to show related advertisements. Whats your point here though? As we already established, they would actually LOOSE money if they sold that information on. It's a much more financially viable business model to use the keyword system where advertisers pick certain keywords, and the ads are then shown to users who's browsing habbits match those keywords, thus creating a recurring income for Google. Selling the details would be a one-shot deal, once its sold the buyer buggers off until they need more info a few years down the line. The keyword model forces them to keep paying Google monthly. And yes, this is something Apple do with iAds, as does Microsoft on Bing, Viglink do it here at MacRumors, etc.
It's not some sort of conspiracy. It's the way advertising has always worked. Google are just able to make a hell of a lot more money as they own 2 of the top 3 websites in the world (Youtube and Google.com) and a good 20% of the top 100 websites in the world. Nobody else has the kind of exposure they have.
Please oh please, keep responding...
Likewise. It's almost like you're under mind control, forced to hate anything non-Apple. I bet you hate Samsung and Microsoft too dont you, and I bet you think Android is a 'blatant copy' of iOS
When it comes to Google, you really only see this blind hatred here at MacRumors. Clearly very few people share that view otherwise YouTube would be empty, Android sales would be in the pan and everyone would use Bing.