Comment on How Google Tracks and Scans Everything on Your Android Device

the_q@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• hendrik@palaver.p3x.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I’d say that depends on exactly what you’re trying to protect. They’re both large American companies with control over your data and your data and metadata will end up in their respective clouds.

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• cabbage@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  There are some user friendly Android based alternatives out there, since it’s based on open source. Personally I’m running a device with /e/OS, which you can either install yourself or buy a phone with it pre-installed. There are also some other user friendly options out there such as the Volla Phone.

  But yeah, iOS is probably a better bet than stock Android, as Apple has a history of being abusive towards their customers in other ways than by selling their data. But crucially both Google and Apple are American companies, so you should avoid depending on their cloud services to whatever degree possible. There’s no such thing as safe data if it is stored by an American company.

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• chrash0@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  i’d say so. i was a professional Android dev for years, and security and privacy are definitely one of the reasons i prefer iOS. i don’t have time to play with my phone so much for my personal device. Apple is the lesser of 2 evils since their business model doesn’t depend on this kind of tracking (even if they do it as well albeit to a lesser extent)

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  • Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Their service line was growing much faster than hardware was a big part of their business. So their business model does depend on data collection.

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    • favoredponcho@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      You’re talking about services? That’s like Apple Music, TV, iCloud storage, etc. That’s different from Google scanning your emails to extract purchase information from order confirmations, logging all search activity, etc.

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      • Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        I am just curious, have you ever read Apple’s privacy policy?

        What makes you think they don’t log your searches?

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• chillpanzee@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Looking just at location… Apple is actually better at location tracking precision than Google, and you can’t turn it off (even powering off your phone doesn’t shut it off). Disabling location services doesn’t prevent the data collection by Apple, it only blocks apps from using it.

  Apple is probably better at not sharing your data with others than Goolge, but that’s a position of faith, not fact. If you trust Apple and are diligent about blocking location access to 3rd party apps, it’s better. But you should expect that if you’re giving location access to a free app (like Google maps, a weather app, a ride share app, a streaming app, etc.), you can bet they are selling your location data.

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  • Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The last time I read the Apple privacy policy it sounded like they pretty much collect everything and let themselves share this data with whoever they feel like.

    There was a lot of calming language, but it didn’t sound convincing to me.

    That being said, if you like the Apple ecosystem and UX, it’s a solid option.

    I personally believe their statements about privacy are nothing more than PR.

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    • themurphy@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      The only reason they dont share it with other apps, is because from a capitalist standing point, why the hell would you share information you want to sell?

      Them being the only one having access to a billion peoples location data is why they are the richest company.

      They very much do dell, and they very much share that data with the government they also pay a shitton of money in donations for ball rooms.

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      • Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        FWIW, from my last reading of their privacy policy, they openly stated that they do share PII with other companies who they consider to be their partners.

        They claim that they don’t share PII with third parties “for their marketing purposes”.

        That being said, you’re at the mercy of their definition of “partner” and interpretation of “for [the third party’s] marketing purposes”.

        I should honestly just re-read their privacy policy (and the same for Google and Meta).

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  • protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    AFAIK google doesnt share your data that much outside of being very permissive to law enforcement, their main thing is advertisement, kinda of a indirect sell, as in it is your data that brings value to their advertising since thats how they do their extremely invasive targeted advertising

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    • Geometrinen_Gepardi@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      This is the correct comment. Google sells access to user data, not the data itself.

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      • ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        From an actual privacy standpoint, what is the difference?

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• Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  You’re just changing the bucket which the data is dumped into and the interface used. It’s an unfortunate reality that you need to research and be willing to take charge of your devices to proactively prevent spying.

  GrapheneOS, /e/ OS, and other ecosystems are mandated to have complete data security. Google and Apple will never directly grant you the permission to turn all the data taps off.

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  • planish@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    But if a Graphene device takes a non-malicious approach to data management out of the box, can’t you just buy one of those instead of doing research and taking charge of your device to proactively prevent spying? Why not just let a trustworthy organization like the Graphene project manage it for you, instead of an untrustworthy one like Apple?

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    • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      “A graphene device” doesn’t exist. GrapheneOS must be installed after purchasing a compatible device (Currently the Pixel line, but soon to be expanded to another manufacturer).

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      • planish@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        You can buy a phone that arrives running GrapheneOS. This might not be advisable, because it adds another point of trust in the refurbisher who actually does the flashing, but you don’t need to have the skills or do the research to install it yourself to get access to a device that runs it.

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• BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Yes, but Graphene is even better. The downside is that Graphene doesn’t currently support non-Google devices.

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  • Typhoon@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    That’s my problem with it. I don’t want to support Google, so I avoid their OS. However the alternative requires that I support them and buy their phone.

    I’m looking forward to seeing which other manufacturer they’re aiming for.

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