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Comment by kops | Hacker News Reader

Should I be worried about the branding? Or the fact this behemoth of a company is buying it's way into every corner of my life. Close your eyes and imagine a few drones trying to see everything you do in your apartment. That's what it is. This ain't the internet I ordered :-(

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You don't have to own or use any of Google's products.

Unless they manage to monopolize communication products. Snail mail has been doing well for me, I guess.

If your friends & family own or use Google's products, that's already a lot of overlap onto your life.

People were using Fitbit, not Google, and now their data is in Google's hands without their consent. Even if they stop using their devices immediately, Google still has the data Fitbit collected previously.

It's a good lesson about being willing to share data: even if you trust the company you're sharing with, a company you don't trust may end up buying that company and getting your data after all.

If you're privacy-minded, the only safe option is to treat all companies as untrustworthy.

You can download your data [1] and delete your account [2]. These are two things I always check for before trusting anyone with my data.

[1] https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1133

[2] https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1285

but now that could change

Google does a pretty good job allowing you to control and delete your data on their products.

Much better than the average tech company out there.

What you can’t do is delete the data that Google is collecting on you without an account. Data your family gives them. Data from your emails that land in gmail inboxes. Data from the umpteen thousand cookies that lead back to Google.

I’d like to see what Google has on me, but without an account I can’t.

If you text people with Android phones, Google can read your text messages even if you don't use their products.

While that sounds like a logical argument it’s becoming more and more difficult and will be impossible soon. It’s like saying you can live without electricity. Sure you can and there are people who do but that’s not the point. The point is a single company owning so much information about so many people without proper oversight. In such world it doesn’t matter if YOU are not a google user. You’ll suffer the consequences regardless. Start with how such a society is going to vote in elections and move from there.

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