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I would say that we have different definitions of 'abuse' in the case of Google. Of course, Google doesn't sell your data directly to anyone, allow anyone to get your metadata, or allow anyone to view your data. In that sense, I also completely trust Google to be good stewards of my data.

That said, while I agree that Google does not 'abuse' my data by giving it to others in any form, Google absolutely does use my data to try to sell me things. From my perspective, this is abuse. Google is using data that I generated to psychologically manipulate my behavior.

When Google Search, gmail, and other like services from Google were released, Google was a tech company first and foremost. These properties/services were offered for "free". At the time, most people didn't realize that "free" meant paying with your data. Now, Google is an advertising company and I do not want them to have my data because of that fact. In a similar vein, if The Trade Desk or another adtech company provided a "free" email service it would likely not be widely adopted as it would be well understood that users are paying with their data.

PLEASE DON"T USE ANY GOOGLE PRODUCTS. Problem solved.

And I don't, but some people are more or less forced to use either Google or Microsoft products by their employers. I really wish the solution was as simple as that.

The solution is as simple as: Go into your privacy settings, and turn off ad personalization. Takes like three clicks.

https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated?hl=en

I have it off for both my personal and Google corporate accounts. (Disclaimer: I work at Google.)

If you don't want to be signed in at all, you can install a Chrome extension.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/iba-opt-out-by-goo...

That's really cool, but didn't you guys got sued for tracking people even after they opted out?

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-sued-for-allegedly-tracking...

If I remember correctly you were also tracking logged out users. Are you still doing that or how do I opt out if I don't have an account? Do I have to install Chrome?

Everything below is my opinion, or information to the best of my personal knowledge. I don't speak for Google.

That lawsuit alleges that Google was tracking people (with analytics) during incognito mode, which is different from opting out of ad personalization. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23552967 for HN discussion on the topic.

If you use Firefox, you can install https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/interest-adve... to also opt out of ad-personalization.

Turning off ad personalization doesn't turn off tracking; it just prevents that data from being used in ads. If you want to turn off data collection altogether (for your Google account) you can manage activity altogether https://myactivity.google.com/activitycontrols. (I don't know whether this affects analytics; I assume it does, though.)

If you want to disable analytics tracking when you're logged out, you can install another extension (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout) or just install a content blocker like uBlock Origin that blocks the analytics.js/gtag.js scripts altogether.

fwiw I do not work at Google and I believe opting out of ad-tracking (via your Google account) is independent of general data analytics.

The stronger fingerprinting technology becomes (whether browser and/or network based) the more irrelevant a Google account will be for PII tracking.

[this is my opinion, take with grain of salt]

More like a pinch :D

Though I do agree with your logic. Google won't need your login info to profile you any more than Facebook does.

Your browser FP (such as hardware device info), IP address, frequent search terms (browsing habits) and distinct pattern will be sufficient enough to identify you without logging in. Metadata is everything in locking down targets.

The linked article has five trackers from Google-owned domains. You don't have to use Google products for Google to track and profile you.

Does Netflix with its recommendation engine also "psychologically manipulate" you into watching movies you like?

..yes.

No, it manipulates me into seeing things it thinks won't make me kill the subscription, just like youtube doesn't suggest a good video, it suggest a video that I am likely to click on.

My problem is different, I was all in with google, and with all my data of 20 years, they couldn’t recommend me a good next video on YouTube or better search for long tail keywords for which I did found site on their very own search engine.

> but honestly you have no idea how good you have it right now.

Do me a favor: Grab an Android phone with all the Google crap still on it, factory reset it, and actually read the obnoxious ways in which Google asks you to give it permission to track you.

"We want to improve your search results!!! Click yes!" The small print: and thereby enable us to log EVERYWHERE you walk, drive, commute ALL DAY LONG.

And that example is rather poor, I can't even properly reiterate how brazenly they lie into your face when they make up reasons for those confirmation dialogs.

The last time I did this, I actually had to laugh at how shameless the text was worded. Everything is phrased as if it were 100% to your benefit even though it is 1% to yours and 99% to theirs.

It's straight up manipulation.

You do get better search results with location tracking though...

If I want (which I don't in general!) Google to serve me location specific results I will just enter the desired location into Google Maps along with the keywords.

No need to be tracked for that all day and possibly get implicated into random crimes because I happened to be near them.

That's an insanely disproportionate cost compared to the effort it spares of having to enter a location into Maps once every few weeks.

And do not forget the fact that you cannot delete any of these apps, and IIRC Gboard (Google's keyboard) requires Internet access, does it not? In any case, I disabled all Google apps and replaced it with alternatives. I should just root my phone and delete all of it, but sadly I need "Courier Services" and whatnot. Google is everywhere, you cannot even get rid of it.

Though there's little you can do to escape Google if you are using Android, what gives me some sort of peace is blocking internet access to apps like gboard. (AFAIK it's the only keyboard with support to inline autofill; this is literally the only reason keeping me from torching the app)

https://github.com/ukanth/afwall

Yeah, you can block Internet access, although still... I try to avoid such apps. I am using "OpenBoard". It has the same functionality from what I gathered, and it is open source IIRC. You can get it from F-Droid.

My worry is that one day Google may decide that they are going to severely abuse my data. If they build up the idea over the years that they have your data then the jump to abusing it will be much smaller.

Then ask them to delete it all. You, like most people, probably won't ask - because it's extremely convenient to have Google store all of this data. But if you think the upside isn't worth the risk, just ask and they will destroy it all for you. You don't even have to claim you live in the EU or California or somewhere else with at data protection law.

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7660719

To be specific, that only gets Google to delete personal data associated with an account, not any shadow profiles they’ve built up.

You don't even have to request it every time you see a privacy post online. The control allow you to set up an auto deletion policy (min is 3 months).

You'll probably have the choice of abandoning your account or consenting to let them use at least the new data. I know a lot of people who have decided they've had enough only to realize that so much of their life has been integrated into their Google/Apple account that they can't actually leave.

I don't doubt you are correct. So Google, let me turn the data collection off.

You pretty much can, and they'll drop what data they have stored as well, if you ask.

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/7660719

You can, but you obviously lose features [like most Google Assistant functionality if you turn off 'web and search activity' 1] or anti-features [can't view youtube or search ads if you install an ad blocker] by doing so.

1: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/54068

false dichotomy

I never understood why an individual would go out of their way to defend a corporation. Otherwise, found a "google engineer".

The issue most people have with it is the amount of data collected unnecessarily, rather than the practices around safeguarding it. Many "small startups" wouldn't collect it in the first place and it would be a non-issue. Even when "small startups" are collecting more information as they should, it's not in one basket and has less value without context.