this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 221 points 7 months ago (13 children)

Alternative title: People creeped out after woman discovers what tech literate people have been saying to do for a decade

[–] [email protected] 57 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Same can be said for any field, academic or not. For example, it won't do any good to dismiss cancer awareness campaigns because doctors have been saying about it for decades. It's for the public's benefit, and everyone deserves privacy.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (5 children)

In my country, we had been saying that the government was doing business with Israel, even though they were condemning on every public forum. It took only 1 journalist until the whole public saw the hypocrisy. 1 journalist against all TV channels and internet trolls. (Here 95% of all TV channels are sponsored by government).

I remember telling this years ago, yet this man, who also had to leave the country for his other journalist work said it at the right time with the right tools.

So, what I get this is, don't stop telling the truth. Even though nobody listens now, people will when the right time comes.

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 7 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 80 points 7 months ago (8 children)

I have all my histories turned off and once a year or so I go in and make sure they haven't added anything new for me to turn off.

Now the question is, are they really not collecting my data or have I just made it so I can't see what they have on me?

[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I would assume the latter until proven otherwise. No doubt they hide that.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

That's how I think about it too.

[–] Randelung 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They collected incognito session info, whose entire existence was 'not keeping a history', so almost 100% the latter.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It just not stores the session >_> Nothing was ever fully incognito about it beyond the icon looking like a spy.
Also it's made by Google. Not much of a surprise.

Now for Firefoy I would be interested.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

I never assumed that incognito mode did anything more than not save my history and searches in my browser. And maybe some other stuff like cache and cookies.

It took me a while to realize that less tech-savvy people wouldn't know about that stuff and assume that it meant that Google isn't watching you.

And unless you're very privacy-conscious, even your ISP knows where you get your internet porn from

[–] BertramDitore 16 points 7 months ago

I do the same thing, and always wonder that too. These companies have been caught lying consistently and repeatedly about what they collect and how, so even with all the right settings I’m very skeptical that they actually respect my choices.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Same here. Disabled it a year back.

[–] Crackhappy 5 points 7 months ago

Yep, same here. I turned off all that tracking a long time ago.

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[–] [email protected] 97 points 7 months ago (2 children)

To save you some time, it's Google's Ad Center, which the article doesn't even link to, as far as I can tell.

I'm not creeped out by any of the info I found in mine, but I am annoyed. "Yes, Google, I searched for [random thing] twice because I needed to know a little more information. That time has passed because I bought it or the event has passed or whatever. Reminding me about it just makes it weird."

[–] atrielienz 22 points 7 months ago

Mine's turned off. But thanks for saving me the read.

[–] Fredselfish 17 points 7 months ago

That was neat I could turn it off thanks.

[–] kennebel 74 points 7 months ago (1 children)

some people might like that it helps them get targeted ads - after all, the tech has crunched all the data, and can advertise things to you that you might actually want.

Hahahahaha Next best thing to ad blocking, is generic ads that you don’t care about and can ignore more easily, and you know that the company is getting paid less for those ads showing.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I much prefer random ads anyways. Targeted ads are 90% something You've already recently bought.

With random ads sometimes you see something interesting that you didn't even know you wanted because you didn't know it even existed.

If I'm looking for a laptop I don't care to see 1000 ads for laptops, I'm not going to just click an ad and buy one I need to research and deep dive into the kind I want.

[–] Buddahriffic 6 points 7 months ago

Yeah, that's the thing, the more I want something, the less interested I am in ads. Their whole point is to sell me their product or service, not inform me if it is worth buying.

And in the meantime, Amazon is trying to sell me a monthly subscription to once in a decade purchases.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I've had mine turned off for years, but it doesn't really matter, Google and all these tech giants will still collect whatever info they want regardless.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Also one or a few people turning it off doesn't matter much. The tech giants still get their demographic statistics from the ones who haven't (which is the larger percentage of the population). You could be spending money on things based on targeted ads for your demographic.

In other words, you are creeped out about wondering what they could do with your personal data if you turn it on. But you should be even more creeped out about how your daily decisions are already influenced by them using others data

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mean, you need the fucking money to buy shit in the first place. Lol

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's the funniest shit about this late stage capitalism. I just read somewhere that like a third of McDonald's customer base have been historically low income, and they just figured out a almost half of them have been priced out of their menu...

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 7 months ago

Even the article about how Google's tracking is bad is loaded with Google trackers.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 7 months ago

LoL, I clicked the link above, and EFF's Privacy Badger had replaced the TikTok widget. Thank you, EFF.org!!

[–] [email protected] 31 points 7 months ago (2 children)

lol it has almost nothing on me. Even has my relationship status wrong

ADHD - The ultimate Info Tracking killer

[–] boywar3 9 points 7 months ago

Same lol

Between that and the random shit it has listed as what I get ads for...it isn't a whole lot. I spend most of time looking up highly specific things on Wikipedia or out of immediate utility, so I suppose I'm just not that interesting...also ublock origin ftw

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I supply mine with fake info with the google rewards app :p
I answered the question as if I was a mother (am not and male) of 4 children, which has higher education, is into tech and fashion, has 4 children and a house.
So far I made 29,30€ in total in Play Store cash. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sadly some of the funds lapse after some time but I have used it for smaller apps and such.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Those same people will be shocked when their smart assistant has saved all past recordings of their requests. Lmfao

Then again, This article is on one of the cancers of the internet "unilad".

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[–] yokonzo 26 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Well I had it disabled on my main account, but to be sure I checked my other accounts, which weren't disabled. Turns out Google thinks I'm a high income female who works at a large real estate company. Kind of tempted to visit a bunch of weird sites to poison their data more

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I checked my throwaway/spam account. Apparently, I'm a high-wage tech employee at a large company, and I'm also a homeowner.

Damn, they think too highly of me.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago

I tried to check mine and was extremely glad but underwhelmed that all my accounts have personalized ads turned off. I'm sure Google has tons of info on me anyway though lol 🙃

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

I turned off my Google account entirely by deleting it in January of 2022. And I use add and tracker blocking DNS functionality on all devices on my network and primarily use open source software. So good luck. They may very well still know stuff about me, but the stuff they are going to know is going to be limited and or very old.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

The ad settings are so far off the mark it's not even a little concerning ... besides the fact they where on by default (fixed)

What is concerning is google activity. literally everything you do on your phone is tracked by default

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Doesn't tell me anything becasuee I would need to verify I'm over 18, but I'm sure it still collects all that information.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Went to check - had personalised Ads off on every account I have already, so I guess I won't be seeing what Google's got on me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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