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Comment by higherpurpose | Hacker News Reader

I uninstalled Photos right after I installed it. Why? Because as soon as you install it and you open it, it starts to indiscriminately upload all of your photos to Google's servers.

Now, I get that this is supposed to be a "cloud service" and whatnot. But I'd prefer if it was very clear when I choose to upload them to the cloud, and I'd also prefer to pick and choose which photos go into the cloud by default. If people want to upload everything by default to Google's server, that should be an opt-in feature.

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> it starts to indiscriminately upload all of your photos

It only uploads your photos if you check the "Back up & sync" checkbox when you first start the app. If you uncheck that box, it won't upload anything. Don't spread FUD.

And it’s still illegal in many countries to upload and process private data without explicit permission.

And, as previous cases showed, permissions granted through default-checked boxes, or permissions granted through fine print hidden in the ToS are legally not binding, meaning the uploading is considered a computer crime.

Thilo Weichert, data protection officer of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, did several law cases based on this against Facebook, and almost all of them.

What? Google Photos (just like before) gives you a FULL SCREEN question asking if you want to backup before it even lets you run it.

So, again, what are you talking about?

Default checked is still illegal. Even if it gives you a full screen of info. As someone who doesn’t read it and just clicks through the options should never lose any private data.

Everything that touches your private data has to be opt-in. Or it does not count as "explicit permission", meaning the upload, processing, etc is illegal.

I guess he's saying the box can't be checked by default. It has to be opt-in and not opt-out.

Whether or not this is true in Germany is something I don't know.

Don't try. There is no way to protect yourself from our absurd German privacy laws. (Except if you are the government, then nothing matters.) Even the local residents' registration offices simply sell your private data for next to nothing to cheap ad companies.

..but if you are an US company, we hate you for the votes.

Don’t worry, Weichert is suing the government, too ;)

And the parliament of SH relies on the fact that mass surveillance will have to be cancelled, too, as it violates several data protection laws.

The constitutional court struck down the mass surveillance laws already two times, they’ll do it again.

And yes, I was one of the people protesting on the street against the new laws regarding Melderegisterzugriff

Nah. Your average consumer wants backup to 'just work' without having to think about it. Having autobackup everything be the default option makes sense. Power users can always uncheck the backup option that is shown when you first start the app.

And it’s still illegal in many countries to upload and process private data without explicit permission.

Thilo Weichert, data protection officer of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, did several law cases based on this against Facebook, and almost all of them.

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