Oh that’s a great argument. I think I heard it first from Scott McNealy.
Using Google iron doesn’t mean they have access to the data.
But then I don’t expect a random off the internet to understand that.
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Oh that’s a great argument. I think I heard it first from Scott McNealy.
Using Google iron doesn’t mean they have access to the data.
But then I don’t expect a random off the internet to understand that.
So if your credit card company can know so much from your purchase history, imagine what google can know about you since they have a lot more than that.
go to : https://takeout.google.com/
download your data. See if it stripped your personal identifies from them. Let it be known to you that Google employees do have access to this data as its not encrypted from them.
Google engineer accesses teen emails: What's the damage for Google?
What will be the collateral damage from David Barksdale's transgressions at Google?
www.zdnet.com
Google fired 80 employees for abusing user data and spying on people, with some even sharing personal information outside the company, a new report says
Dozens of Google employees were fired between 2018 and 2020 for using internal tools to view personal user data, Vice's Motherboard reports.
www.businessinsider.com
Google’s Scans of Private Photos Led to False Accusations of Child Abuse
Internet users’ private messages, files, and photos of everyday people are increasingly being examined by tech companies, which check the data against government databases. While this is not a new practice, the public is being told this massive scanning should extend to nearly every reach of...
how so? I have family members who have Android phone and iOS is much more pleasant and easier to use. Its not bad, but the Apple offer is better.
The information Google has can be relatively benign compared to what some other companies have. The bigger point here is that many companies have varying degrees of personal information about you and none should necessarily be trusted any more than the other. As far as tech is concerned, if you are hesitant to use Google products due to privacy or security concerns, you should also be hesitant to use Apple products, Microsoft products, Meta products, etc.
We're all just guessing about how Google's AI will damage our privacy and how that compares to the damage from our use of some other vendors' products. I wish I could get over the sense that Google is way worse. I can't imagine otherwise given the extreme conflict of interest between Google safeguarding your data and Google making money. But, certainly something like Facebook gives me the same discomfort.
It's not just that Google itself works with your data, but they facilitate other companies in doing it. I remember a particularly egregious example that I experienced personally. I made the mistake of having my browser session logged into Facebook. I did a Google search for something. One of the results was some company's Facebook page. I navigated to it. Facebook received the entire search query that I had done in Google that provided the link to that Facebook page. Whenever I then logged in to Facebook, I got ads about the topics related to that search. That's such an extreme violation of trust in safeguarding my privacy. Of course, companies were paying for that information. That's an example of the conflict of interest that is hard to ignore. I can't confirm it's happening anymore since I don't use Google or Facebook.
And I do know a manager at Google. From recent discussions (within the last few months), they are still working hard to do things (that I consider a violation of my privacy) and avoid detection.
How many other companies are doing it? Tons. But Google has never been able to cover up the basic fact that they are mostly an advertising company. Other companies have been able to. So, for companies like Apple, not violating my privacy aligns with their interests around their reputation.
But, I'm only talking about trust in the protection of my privacy when using a company's tools. Probably all companies do things I don't like for the sake of profit. Apple's choice of Google as the default search provider is an example. But, I can just switch to a different search provider and use my iPhone without suffering that damage. When I use Google products I don't see a way to avoid damage.
It's not just that Google itself works with your data, but they facilitate other companies in doing it. I remember a particularly egregious example that I experienced personally. I made the mistake of having my browser session logged into Facebook. I did a Google search for something. One of the results was some company's Facebook page. I navigated to it. Facebook received the entire search query that I had done in Google that provided the link to that Facebook page. Whenever I then logged in to Facebook, I got ads about the topics related to that search. That's such an extreme violation of trust in safeguarding my privacy. Of course, companies were paying for that information. That's an example of the conflict of interest that is hard to ignore. I can't confirm it's happening anymore since I don't use Google or Facebook.
And I do know a manager at Google. From recent discussions (within the last few months), they are still working hard to do things (that I consider a violation of my privacy) and avoid detection.
How many other companies are doing it? Tons. But Google has never been able to cover up the basic fact that they are mostly an advertising company. Other companies have been able to. So, for companies like Apple, not violating my privacy aligns with their interests around their reputation.
But, I'm only talking about trust in the protection of my privacy when using a company's tools. Probably all companies do things I don't like for the sake of profit. Apple's choice of Google as the default search provider is an example. But, I can just switch to a different search provider and use my iPhone without suffering that damage. When I use Google products I don't see a way to avoid damage.
If you are in the EU, the Google is Google Ireland Ltd, so that company has to comply with EU laws, especially with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All kinds of data protection laws might be different for those, who live outside the EU.
Ah, so outperform in a new way the word has been used. Because in the way it usually means, the Pixel 9 is not even outperforming the iPhone 12 Pro.
It’s not even outperforming the iPhone in sales. Woops.
What you mean to say is “I prefer it” not “it’s outperforming.”
But that would destroy your argument because frankly no-one gives a damn.
how is it benign when they actually collect more like audio and video and location and use it to advertise?
You are right, I treat all companies like Google the same.
I said "relatively benign" and it is compared to information other companies may collect and have.
There may be more companies "like Google" (or worse) than you realize. As I said, as far as tech is concerned, if you are hesitant to use Google products due to privacy or security concerns, you should also be hesitant to use Apple products, Microsoft products, Meta products, etc.
you are right, I do not . I use Apple because they have higher sense of trust since they do not have advertisement business which is the main income source for Google & Meta and Microsoft has an advertisement arm (Bing.com). I am on the privacy train and for people who are looking for alternatives:
Ad-Free Privacy Tool/Service Recommendations - Privacy Guides
A complete list of the privacy tools, services, software, and hardware recommended by the Privacy Guides community.
www.privacyguides.org
Best Privacy Tools & Software Guide in in 2025
The most reliable website for privacy tools since 2015. Software, services, apps and privacy guides to fight surveillance with encryption for better internet privacy.
www.privacytools.io
Ads is a $3 billion revenue market that Apple is steadily growing. You think all the effort Apple is going through to prevent cross app tracking is all for your benefit? Yes and No, they are trying to disrupt Facebook and Google ability to aggregate data on iOS so only Apple can get access to the data. Data is big business, and Apple has one of the largest consumer data on the planet.you are right, I do not . I use Apple because they have higher sense of trust since they do not have advertisement business which is the main income source for Google & Meta and Microsoft has an advertisement arm (Bing.com). I am on the privacy train and for people who are looking for alternatives:
Ad-Free Privacy Tool/Service Recommendations - Privacy Guides
A complete list of the privacy tools, services, software, and hardware recommended by the Privacy Guides community.Best Privacy Tools & Software Guide in in 2025
The most reliable website for privacy tools since 2015. Software, services, apps and privacy guides to fight surveillance with encryption for better internet privacy.
Ads on the App Store - Apple Ads
Promote your app where it matters most. Learn how Apple Ads helps people discover your app across the App Store.
Ad Placement Options - Help - Apple Ads
Explore and compare the different App Store ad placement options available with Apple Ads.
Advertising on Apple News and Stocks
Introduction to advertising on Apple News and Stocks.
support.apple.com
Apple taps infamous Taboola to sell ads for Apple News and Stocks - 9to5Mac
Apple has entered a new partnership with Taboola, the ad firm known infamously for ‘chumbox’ ads, to sell ads for Apple News and Stocks.
9to5mac.com
Go to your setting you would see a toggle there to block personalized ads. Yea thats Apple advertising.
Control personalized ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks - Apple Support
Learn how to limit the personalization of ads delivered by Apple on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac, and how to turn off location-based ads delivered by Apple on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
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I haven't used anything Google in a while. Has Google added such a toggle to their tools?
Apple's ads are super annoying when I'm reading in the news app (and I'm a paid subscriber). They do it to make money, those greedy rascals. But, other than the annoyance, and if that toggle is turned off as well as disallowing app tracking when asked, do you have any evidence of user information being leaked when using Apple products?
Yes, they do. Contrary to what some would have you believe google has been ahead of others in proving you with tools to see exactly what data they have on you and giving you ways to delete them.
I don't understand your question. I haven't made any such claim.
So, one concern about using Google's AI is the sharing of the user's personal information. I'm glad you're not saying that there's evidence of it from using Apple's products.
I did understand that you can ask Google to delete data. But, if they get it at all, it's too late. Their main business is to share that data with others and that's done rather immediately. Deleting it from Google's servers adds no safety.
I was asking whether there was something like Apple's toggle that would prevent Google from getting any personal information in the first place. Is there?
This bit is a little disingenuous. Google sharing their users' data is like giving away your secret recipe. They need to keep it close to their chest so that their competitors can't target ads as well as they do.
They don't share data the same Apple doesn't share data. They use the data to create an "anonymized" knowledge graph then advertisers can buy campaigns to target advertising to people based on the knowledge graph. If they shared the data, then they would have no more business.
Everyone collects data. This website you are on currently collects data on you using cookies. Every app you use collects data on you, that is a given. If you use iOS or Android, Apple and Google collect data on you. The question for me is, can I get access to those data, and can I delete them if I want to. Google provides extensive tools to do that, Apple does not, even Microsoft has some tools you can use to delete data they collect from you using windows.
The toggle doesn't prevent data collection at least not completely, it just prevents them from targeting advertising based on your personal data. It doesn't mean they can't target advertisement to you based on other data. Google does provide those toggles as well as ways to delete them if you use their services.
What you use for search?
Don't you watch youtube?
How Google helps you delete data from your account - Google Account Help
Our privacy and security tools are designed to put you in control of your data and protect it. Based on your Activity controls, your activity on Google products and services like Search, Chrome, and Y
support.google.com
Ads is a $3 billion revenue market that Apple is steadily growing. You think all the effort Apple is going through to prevent cross app tracking is all for your benefit? Yes and No, they are trying to disrupt Facebook and Google ability to aggregate data on iOS so only Apple can get access to the data. Data is big business, and Apple has one of the largest consumer data on the planet.
Ads on the App Store - Apple Ads
Promote your app where it matters most. Learn how Apple Ads helps people discover your app across the App Store.searchads.apple.com
Ad Placement Options - Help - Apple Ads
Explore and compare the different App Store ad placement options available with Apple Ads.Advertising on Apple News and Stocks
Introduction to advertising on Apple News and Stocks.support.apple.comApple taps infamous Taboola to sell ads for Apple News and Stocks - 9to5Mac
Apple has entered a new partnership with Taboola, the ad firm known infamously for ‘chumbox’ ads, to sell ads for Apple News and Stocks.
Go to your setting you would see a toggle there to block personalized ads. Yea thats Apple advertising.
Control personalized ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks - Apple Support
Learn how to limit the personalization of ads delivered by Apple on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac, and how to turn off location-based ads delivered by Apple on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.support.apple.com
Where does Apple serve me ads? all the apple ads they serve me is in the Apple App Store and its related to app searches. Google follows me across all websites,devices and apps serving me ads I do not care about via Google Adsense.
I use DuckDuckGo. Whenever I watch YouTube I have my cookies cleared (cleared every time I quit Firefox) and I'm not logged in.
Starting with an accusation. I guess that strengthens your argument. Thanks for that.
Google gets paid to disseminate or facilitate the dissemination of its users' information. It doesn't serve them to sit on the data rather than starting to earn money immediately.
Some of the following is a bit of supposition, but not disingenuous.
They don't open up their data stores to other companies since they would lose the business advantage of being able to continue to sell information derived from it. Requesting that information to be deleted does allow a user to temporarily stop the bleeding, but the damage is already done. Data brokers probably have access to the information within minutes of it being collected. Certainly the damage gets worse over time. The more data that's collected and correlated, the more information about a particular individual can be deduced. And it might not be Google's data that is the risk at all. Their tools and use of their products facilitate other companies in collecting your data. I gave an example in an earlier post of how Google search facilitated Facebook in collecting information about me.
I can think of two possible benefits a user gains from deleting their data: if Google develops new techniques to monetize user data, they'd have less ammunition without the full history of a particular user and it might be harder to correlate a user's information from before the deletion with the information from after it.
Regarding that latter, we shouldn't be so naive. As soon as data starts getting collected again, the aggregators just start soaking it up again. Big data techniques would probably make it trivial to correlate the data from before and after the deletion with a very high probability.
To allow a user to prevent the damage, Google would have to provide the same kind of toggles that Apple provides which stops the data from being collected in the first place.
Since I am guessing a bit, I do listen to responses to evolve my opinion. But, I have such a long way to go to feel comfortable using Google's AI.