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Google and FTC Near Deal for Record $22.5 Million Fine over Safari Privacy Circumvention
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Funny - I think I read similar things here about Apple. That there's no real competition to the Apple "experience" yet Apple is praised and Google is "evil" because they've cornered the market. Even funnier is that people say Google doesn't/haven't been innovative. Yet no one else seems to be able to touch them with certain services.
That's why I enjoy being technology agnostic. The best device/service for the job. I don't care who it is. I'm not emotionally involved with my tech. Nor do I consider any company's success or failures my own (except the one I actually work for).
I have been scolded for using stuff like AdBlock and DoNotTrack because by not being exposed to ads is "stealing"; i.e. not "paying" for what I am getting.
Perhaps, but Google's (and likely others) privacy violations eliminates any qualms or guilt I might have had for blocking anything I can possibly block.
Does it mean I am totally protected...of course not. But I will do everything in my power to retain what few vestiges of privacy that remain. Unfortunately that means the innocent (e.g. MR) suffer for the acts of a few.
Perhaps, but Google's (and likely others) privacy violations eliminates any qualms or guilt I might have had for blocking anything I can possibly block.
Does it mean I am totally protected...of course not. But I will do everything in my power to retain what few vestiges of privacy that remain. Unfortunately that means the innocent (e.g. MR) suffer for the acts of a few.
"There's something inherently hilarious about the Federal govt fining someone for violating privacy." -asharp45
I was genuinely listening (or should I say reading) right up until that final Earth comment.
1 - Vimeo has a MUCH smaller base than youtube
2 - Even the new hotmail is years behind Gmail (and still hellishly slow in Europe)
3 - Bing maps are good, and I do agree that they are in a lot of ways better than GMaps (Especially with the satellite imagery) but they dont have streetview.
4 - Bing image search is nowhere near as accurate as Google image search (probably because a lot of Google's image search stuff was manually added instead of by a spider).
5 - Earth may be a gimmick to you but its not for millions of others. I'm guessing you'd disagree if I called Siri a gimmick.
For many things TIME is the key. iPod for example - Apple nailed it when the time was right and no one was able to catch up. Same with search or maps. There were some at that time, but Google nailed it by providing superior product. Now it is basically impossible to beat iPod and beat Google search or Google maps.
Even if you had a very good product on par with the rival or even better you’d need a lot of time, your rival to screw up a few times and make a name for your product. NOT THAT EASY WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT.
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Vimeo is about quality, Youtube is just a scarpheap now. Not what it was.
Gmail settings panel is confusing to say the least and UI is not what i would call lite and simple. iCloud mail web app UI is clean and settings are pretty easy to understand.
Edit: Fine new gmail Ui is pretty good, but i’m not a fan of those ads.
Completely agree. It gets on my nerves when we have members crying about Google being evil. What people cant seem to answer is what the issue is.
Here's how I see it:
Google record my location and browsing history. That the customises ads to match what my habits are. At no point is the information sold (that much has bee proven countless times) or passed to3rd party advertisers as Google control the whole system with adwords/adsense, so there is no need to pass the info outside the company.
This to me is basic advertising and a fact of life on the internet. It's akin to those annoying people who dial every number in the phonebook to sell you something, just in a much less annoying way.
If it's paying to keep the Google services on line then I have no problem with it at all.
I use Apple products and Google products on a daily basis. As long as both continue doing what I need/want them to do, I'll carry on using them...I really couldn't give a damn if they do store my details as I know that nothing will go wrong, my identity will not be stolen and my life will not be changed for the worse.
If we go down this 'Google is evil' route then we should really be saying all big corporations are evil. Apple use the exact same info on iAds, Bing and Yahoo use it for their paid ads, heck even Mac OS can track your activity and send it back to Apple if its enabled. Does this make these companies evil? Not in any way, shape or form. It would only make them evil if they were selling your personal details to a telesales company or being negligent with them.
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You may be correct RE Vimeo, however if the content isnt there, its not really useful to just have good quality. It'll take a long time to beat YouTube, especially since its integrated into pretty much everything these days.
As for iCloud, I simply cant trust it. Apple have gone from the old iTools, to .Mac to MobileMe to iCloud, changing things and shutting the old stuff down in the process. Theres simply no way it can be seen as a reliable long term email option. For all we know Apple will get bored with it again in 2 years and move on to another service. It's reliability has also been an issue. Compared to the Google Apps Gmail package its very much behind. Gmail is very powerful, with support for external POP/IMAP accounts being fed into Gmail, full support for 2-factor authentication, labels, stars, a decent Mac notifier app, free phonecalls, etc. Plus you arent locked down to one platform. You can sync your gmail contacts and emails to your Mac, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, etc - iCloud cant do this and never will be able to do it.
Its not only about media quality, but content quality and the site is overall more pleasing.
Google: "Do no evil"
It seems like a lot of money to you, but for google it's equal to about 23 cents. What's important here is not the money, but the fact that they've been exposed. Getting bad PR is more powerful than a fine. They will stop these practices to keep a good image. This goes for all Tech and other companies, including Apple. We need this kind of thing happening in government. That's were the really shady stuff goes on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGDZOW-brA&feature=youtu.be
It seems like a lot of money to you, but for google it's equal to about 23 cents. What's important here is not the money, but the fact that they've been exposed. Getting bad PR is more powerful than a fine. They will stop these practices to keep a good image. This goes for all Tech and other companies, including Apple. We need this kind of thing happening in government. That's were the really shady stuff goes on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svGDZOW-brA&feature=youtu.be
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The story I hear is that one engineer added that code fully intentionally, but without knowledge of his colleagues or superiors. What would make any software developer think it was a good idea, I don't know.
Saying that the company was doing it is of course right. They have the responsibility for everything their employees do in their role as employees. In many companies, employees have regular training in ethics. It seems Google wasn't very good at that.
That's not what this is about. This is about Google using clever tricks to get around people's privacy settings on their browser.
Usually you get a higher fine for repeats.
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Why don't Google, Apple, the government, Samsung, et al, just give each other $100,000,000 each in play money and call it a day.
Is it not Apples fault that Safari wasn't good enough to not be exploited?
Is it not Apples fault that Safari wasn't good enough to not be exploited?
Good on the FTC for following up and taking action on this, but I bet this is just a minor "cost-of-doing-business" expense for Google.
For all those who think that Google tracking your internet use is OK, I agree. UNLESS you don't want them to and change your browser to facilitate that, and then Google circumvents your request to privacy by exploiting a loophole.
Totally low move Google... you are not to be trusted.
Google and Facebook, and so on, ARE "Big Brother". Don't let them get away with this cr@p.
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It was Google who bypassed YOUR browser settings to invade YOUR privacy. If someone find the key to YOUR house that doesn't give them permission for ILLEGAL entry.
For all those who think that Google tracking your internet use is OK, I agree. UNLESS you don't want them to and change your browser to facilitate that, and then Google circumvents your request to privacy by exploiting a loophole.
Totally low move Google... you are not to be trusted.
Google and Facebook, and so on, ARE "Big Brother". Don't let them get away with this cr@p.
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It was Google who bypassed YOUR browser settings to invade YOUR privacy. If someone find the key to YOUR house that doesn't give them permission for ILLEGAL entry.
Better? :
More like your house is locked and they have no business to get in and look at your stuff.
But, they kept looking for a way in and then got in and looked at your stuff
People 'freak out' because it's being done against their wishes and without their knowledge.
I used an adblocker on every browser on my Macs and block ads on this and every site I go to. I love that ads are blocked here and especially on Facebook.
I remember reading about some guys blog a few years back where he blocked people from his site who were using adblockers. Yes, people have a right to use ads on their own sites to help pay for server costs but we also have a right to block them.
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If you are as concerned about privacy as I, and it seems you are...check out Do Not Track.
It blocks various entities that track you (for advertising purposes and other):
http://www.abine.com/dntdetail.php/
Google Fine
That's nice but another pittance in fines. Does the fine match the profit from the illegality?
But what I really want--what I need to know is: Who is going to jail?
I want someone, somewhere, who breaks a big, big law to go to jail. Someone in Silicon Valley, or Wall Street, or Washington.
That's nice but another pittance in fines. Does the fine match the profit from the illegality?
But what I really want--what I need to know is: Who is going to jail?
I want someone, somewhere, who breaks a big, big law to go to jail. Someone in Silicon Valley, or Wall Street, or Washington.
I use Safari now, and limit my exposure to Google services when possible.
If you want to hurt Google, use their services less.
Google is evil. This was not always the case.
If you want to hurt Google, use their services less.
Google is evil. This was not always the case.
Actually, "Don't be evil."
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It's a perfect analogy.
It's Apple's responsibility to make the browser as exploit-proof as possible.
That doesn't let Google off the hook by any means. Apple made an error, but Google was intentionally malicious. As someone else said, finding a house key does not give you the right to break in.
