Privacy groups have complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Google is encroaching on user privacy through a policy change in June that allows it to combine personally identifiable information with browsing data collected by its DoubleClick digital advertising service.
The complaint, by Consumer Watchdog and Privacy Rights Clearing House, alleged that Google has created "super-profiles" as it can track user activity on Android mobile phones, with an 88 percent market share of smartphones worldwide. The information can also be gleaned "from any website that uses Google Analytics, hosts YouTube videos, or displays ads served by DoubleClick or AdSense," according to the complaint.
The combination of data is in contrast to Google's pledges not to combine users' personally identifiable information with DoubleClick's browsing data when acquiring the ad serving service in 2008, according to the complaint filed Thursday but made public on Monday. In October this year, ProPublica reported that Google "quietly erased that last privacy line in the sand" by its policy change in June that allowed the DoubleClick database of web browsing records to be combined with personal user data.
On June 28, Google users were informed of some new optional features introduced for their account that would give them more control over the data the company collects and how it's used, while allowing the search giant to show more relevant ads. As part of the changes, Google struck out the language in its privacy policy stating that it would "not combine DoubleClick cookie information with personally identifiable information unless we have your opt-in consent," according to the complaint. Existing users were presumably given the chance to opt out, but for new users the combination of personal and browsing data was done by default, it added.
[...] Describing the June move as highly deceptive, the groups said the announcement "intentionally misled users," who had no way to figure from the wording that Google was in fact asking users for permission to link their personal information to data reflecting their behavior on as many as 80 percent of the Internet's leading websites.
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Friday December 30 2016, @07:38PM
As much as I'd like to see the FTC do something about Google's privacy policy change... Good luck with that. In the meantime, I'll stick with the uBlock Origin and Disconnect extensions on the desktop, WARP Browser on Android, and Brave on iOS.
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Friday December 30 2016, @08:53PM
Add Privacy Badger to your list. As I also use these and others, if you ever do any Apache/nginx admin and read the server logs, you'll know they can still track you there. Ever click a google result link? It always takes you to google.com, then to the actual site. I wonder why they do that? Could it be that they're just trying to see how effective their search results are? Sure, but they also know you and that you clicked that link. It all gets aggregated, cross-correlated, shared and aggregated, and you're watched. Similar article up today about FB aggregating data and building profiles, including for people who don't have FB accounts. I don't, won't, but I'm a bit scared to check and see what they've compiled on me.
(Score: 2) by Celestial on Friday December 30 2016, @08:57PM
Huh. Thanks for the advice about Privacy Badger. I was under the assumption that it was pretty much redundant with uBlock Origin and Disconnect. I'll look into it.
Regarding Google search results redirecting, that's why I use Startpage as my primary search engine and DuckDuckGo as my secondary search engine.
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Friday December 30 2016, @09:12PM
You're quite welcome, and I forgot to add umatrix too. Yes there's redundancy but can you ever be too safe? :-}
I was using Ghostery but a few months ago they made a huge update / major change that seemed to "phone home to mommy" and I removed it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 30 2016, @09:01PM
I had problems with Privacy Badger in the past, but now I don't even notice it is there (I am often fiddling with uMatrix instead). It is blocking cookies from 6 domains on the BBC, for instance. Good stuff.
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(Score: 1) by RS3 on Friday December 30 2016, @09:23PM
Yes, I forgot to mention uMatrix- I have it installed but temporarily turned it off.
Privacy Badger needs a lot of fiddling. It seems to green-light many domains I don't consider safe (trackers) so I keep uBlock origin and uMatrix going when I'm ever on more troubling websites.
I usually use Old Opera with javascript and cookies turned OFF and many trackers in the "Blocked Content" list. If a particular site doesn't work well, Old Opera lets me turn on cookies and javascript on a per-site basis. In other words, whitelisting. I've never understood why Old Opera (v12 and back) did not catch on strongly with tech-types.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday December 30 2016, @09:48PM
At the end of the day, if you know what you are doing you need a script blocker like uMatrix more than the cookie blocker. Any fiddling around with uMatrix is offset by the time saved loading less ads and other script crap, and that fiddling goes down as you visit less new domains.
I used to use Opera v12 long after the expiration date for a few isolated domains. I think I stopped around a year ago. Chrome is my main browser and I split between Firefox Dev Edition and Firefox Portable for other stuff. Vivaldi may be a potential replacement for Opera v12 but I haven't paid too much attention to its development. I think I only use it to comment on NextBigFuture, and rarely. It didn't launch with all the features Opera v12 fans wanted but there have been some major updates since.
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(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Friday December 30 2016, @10:53PM
On the subject of Opera12, do try Otter Browser, it has a very similar interface (incl the F12-menu) and you can turn javascript on/off as needed and do per-domain-settings (and has the blocked content feature).
One quirk with Otter is that the F12-menu only affects current tab (and any tabs you subsequently spawn from it).
It is qt5-based, so blink as its engine (and works on bloated pages [but with css-animations in currently displaying tab being a cpu-hog])
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Friday December 30 2016, @10:56PM
Err. Uses webkit, not blink (I always mix those up)
(Score: 4, Informative) by urza9814 on Friday December 30 2016, @09:32PM
1) Go to dnsdumpster.com
2) Type 'google.com' to get a list of all servers and subdomains
3) Put that list into your firewall blocklist, along with the Level 2, advertisers, Microsoft, and whatever other lists you may want from iBlockList.com
(Score: 1) by DmT on Friday December 30 2016, @10:45PM
What are the best add-ons for Pale Moon? (Ghostery and Privacy Badger seem not to work anymore in the latest version, so now there is only Adblock Latitude left, but I think something else should also be added against tracking scripts ... )
(Score: 1) by purple_cobra on Saturday December 31 2016, @10:36PM
uBlock Origin and uMatrix worked for me as of 27.x, but it kept losing the buttons for each on Windows; after a few attempts at diagnosing it I gave up and went back to Waterfox. Seems to work fine on Pale Moon for Linux (Manjaro, FWIW) without the button-eating behaviour so it's either peculiar to my profile or the Windows version.
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Friday December 30 2016, @09:07PM
I may be rare but I often read "privacy" agreements. Many (most) should be called "we will expose you" agreements. Some are truly good, but only as good as the corporation/LLC they're based in. Once that is sold/dissolved, your privacy goes... who knows where.
Let's say, for a moment, that's OK, that corporations are allowed to do what they want as long as they adhere to what was agreed on. What needs to be fixed is "agreements" which state "we reserve the right to change this agreement". Wait a minute- if you change it, it is no longer what I agreed to and should not be legal.
My hope is that We The People can, through our otherwise feckless Congress, get strong laws passed making it unenforceable and even illegal to write any contract or agreement which has a "we reserve the right to change this agreement" clause. While we're at it, also make "shrink-wrap" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrink_wrap_contract [wikipedia.org] licenses/contracts not only unenforceable, but illegal to write.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 30 2016, @09:21PM
This came as absolutely no surprise, and is a good comparison to NSA spying powers.
For awhile Google and others identified "otherwise unidentified" users by (among other things) their IP address, although were relatively subtle about it because back then enough average Joe Shit the Internet Surfers would have been creeped out by it and stopped using the service.
Google, like the NSA, is sitting on a fuckhuge treasure-trove of data. Sure, Google and others like them may not be going ultra-creep mode with that data now but like the NSA with their fat Utah datacenter they get greedier (as Jews inevitably do) and go further and further with it.
Fortunately, since the election, Google has shed any remaining pretense of being neutral and apolitical, so I predict more and more will ditch their services.
There is some humor to be seen with Google though -- First, log in and log out of a Gmail account but keep the browser session open. Navigate back to Gmail and the login screen will show your username. If you want to log in under another Gmail account, you have to jump through the hoops of "removing" the account you previously logged into ("I thought I was logged out?") and logging into the new one. Thus, Google are not only creeps, they're assholes. I'd expect no less from a company run by Jews.
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Friday December 30 2016, @09:59PM
Oh man you're stepping in it! I don't know whether to be amused or scared!
Re. google accounts: I smelled a rat long ago and refused to establish a google account. I had a youtube login before the google takeover. Google dissolved the youtube logins and wanted you to create a wonderful google login for all they watch you do, I mean all your computing needs. I don't miss the youtube login. RIP.
I also very much wish people would shed their google accounts. Realistically I have no faith that sheeple will recognize how much they're being tracked or how bad the outcomes can be. Nobody seems to learn from history. I've tried to convince people I know (in direct human interaction) and they all say things like "it's inevitable" and "you can't stop it". It's so sad that people don't understand how powerful their collective vote is- in favor of being tracked and spied on. I guess most people feel they're on a roller-coaster and can do nothing but ride and wave arms. Wait until we go into a very tight tunnel.
I know of some "professional" interactions / clients I have who make me feel like an outcast idiot because I don't have a google account and can't get their stupid google drive / google docs. Waaaa, it's so hard to attach a document to an email. Waaaa.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday December 30 2016, @10:37PM
I use Google (and facebook) for business and spam catching only. They get no real peal personal information. For those purposes and the free advertising they can't be beat, since I want them to spread as much info as they can.
As far as getting the government to protect your privacy or any other civil rights, forget about it, especially since you-know-who won. That function no longer exists. The people have spoken.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @05:33AM
We are the jews... and we won.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 30 2016, @10:53PM
Stop using Face Fuck. It was a kinda cool idea, years ago. The cool idea was mildly abused for awhile. Then, Wall Street, and IPO. Face Fuck is not your friend. Face Fuck is a tool with which Wall Street hopes to extract value from your dead ass. Learn that. Understand it. Accept it. You are not the customer - you are the product. You are chattel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @04:34AM
uhhh they do it too but this is google...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 31 2016, @05:58AM
Whoops - I screwed that one up. Yeah, Google too. People can learn to block a lot of Google's crap. I don't see Google advertising, because ad servers are blocked. I've blocked some of Google's services, java script runs only selectively. Yeah, Google still tracks me, I'm sure, but if they do, they have to work at it. And, they don't get totally free reign to monetize me. They don't get paid for adverts that aren't seen, much less clicked.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 31 2016, @01:49PM
NOW would be a great time to stop using any and all google services. They already know way too much about you.
Just fucking do it. Be a man.