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Comment by maccard

1 day ago

If google really cared about privacy, they wouldn't have moved maps away from a subdomain. now if I want maps to have my location (logical), I need to grant google _search_ my location too.

It's not all-or-nothing; sometimes some people at Google push for some things to improve privacy. Rarely happens when revenue is at stake.

Android used to ask you "do you want to alllow internet access?" as an app permission. Google removed that, as it would stop ads from showing up. Devastating change for privacy and security, great for revenue.

  • It's not great for revenue, it is their revenue.

    People act like Google products are a charity that had been free forever, and then this mega-corp called Google came along and started harvesting the data of innocent people who just want to get directions to Starbucks.

  • GrapheneOS still does this -- allows controlling internet access on a per-app basis.

    • For those of us stuck on normal android, is there a way to achieve that? I know it used to work with some firewall apps but nowdays they all require root access.

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    • iOS allows this, but only on mobile data, which is pretty infuriating. Why should I not be able to also restrict apps from dialing home/anywhere just because I'm on a Wi-Fi network (which isn't even necessarily unmetered)?

      3 replies →

    • It's one of the big reasons I advocate for graphene even if one chooses to install Google services afterward.

      Also notable: as of last year, OnePlus allowed mobile and WiFi network toggle, effectively doing the same thing.

Google doesn't care about privacy, but its easier for them to keep collecting your data if they can also keep it from getting unintentionally leaked to others. The last thing Google wants is for people to start thinking about the amount of data they're handing over.

Google has your location either way. What difference does it make?

  • You can lock down their usage. Limit it to three months storage and minimize sharing. They still report an old address for home and work for me since I dialed up the restrictions years ago. They have the data but it is less exposed.

    • I honestly don’t understand the scenario you’re defending against. Google still knows where you actually live and work trivially. If you don’t trust Google you should just de-Google completely.

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