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Comment by mda | Hacker News Reader

It is fast, responsive, has much better security history and architecture than all others, super convenient if you have multiple computers. I have absolutely no problems with Chrome, I already trusted my information with Google, so I always stay signed in as well, never had any issues.

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Caveat: if something’s “free,” you’re the product. Google wants to pull as much metadata from you as possible. I don’t trust anyone who gives me something for free. I therefore limit how I use it.

I made my choices carefully and consciously. As I said, I entrusted Google with my data, my emails, pictures, history. I know that my data is never sold to anyone and always kept secure. Google is probably one of the most careful companies when dealing with private data in the world. I can delete or take a copy of it if I want as well. Needless to say, I disagree with the "you are the product" polemic.

>Google is probably one of the most careful companies when dealing with private data

>private data

Ah, the fabled "metadata is not data" defense. Sadly, given the scale and pervasiveness of Google, observing meta-data and cross-referencing your activity with others' activities is good enough to deduce most of the valuable information about you with reasonably good reliability. And this data, both by itself, and also aggregated with other users', is "good enough" for any privacy-busting use.

tl;dr: you are the meta-product.

Sorry, but what you say doesn't make any sense. What meta data are you talking about?

Firefox is free as well. You're not making your point very well.

I know, but you can donate to them. Chrome, you can’t.

So if Chrome added a donate link, you would be okay with them..?

> Caveat: if something’s “free,” you’re the product.

Always great to see this opinion on free news sites.

What browser do you use then?

Arachne for DOS

Firefox primary on MacOS and windows. Chrome only for work related tasks. Firefox or Safari on iOS, depending what I’m doing. Firefox in Debian.

You can donate to Firefox. Not to chrome.

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