356
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Peruvia@lemmy.ml to c/youshouldknow@lemmy.world

Why YSK: Because you deserve to have peace of mind. Your privacy can mean your safety. I found out about this today, and in this comment I mentioned it and said I would make something more detailed.

I bet you heard that Google tracks you, as have I. But it's insanely daunting to see every movement, app and thing you have interacted with on your device for the last 8 years just laid out in front of you neatly. When you add your google account on your phone(or any device), it tracks this, with a timestamp, including:

-any app you used(including Contacts, Calendar, Phone, and when you pressed your home screen button-it is regarded as Samsung UI Home etc.)

-apps you viewed on google play

-map area on maps(you don't even have to search a specific place in order for it to get logged)

-if you called a place from maps(if you press the call button from maps to call a place and make a reservation, for example)

-images you saw and searched for on your browser

-location, video and voice notes and more

It is mentioned that if you log in on another device, it can keep track of this on that device as well.

#What can you do?

The first thing you can do is turn it off. Log on your google account, press the icon on the top right, then press on "Manage your Google Account". On the left side you will see a panel, choose "Data and privacy", and scroll on the center of the screen to see History settings, and press on My activity. You can choose to turn it off if you want. Make sure to stroll around to manage your advertisement settings, location settings, subscriptions and so on.

I also recommend switch to Proton Mail if you can.

I assume most people here probably already know this, but I just wanted to pass this along for awareness purposes. I knew that I wanted to have random stats at the end of my life to like, review and read, but not like this.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] tallwookie@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

eh, i realized a long time ago than the only privacy that exists is between your ears.

[-] magmaus3@szmer.info 26 points 1 year ago

it's possible to have privacy with technology, you need to use alternatives

[-] ShustOne@lemmy.one 18 points 1 year ago

Yeah it's just hard sometimes. I try to strike a good balance between privacy and not making my life waaaay harder.

[-] smitten@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago

people who care about privacy are trying hard to make it easier. Hopefully in the future privacy will be the easiest option

[-] BrikoX@vlemmy.net 4 points 1 year ago

Not really, it's possible to reach it online, but it comes with compromises to user experience. That's not something most people will ever want, but everyone can easily minimize the data being collected about them without harming user experience.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Turning off your history in Google is about as useful as using the incognito mode in Chrome. It just hides it from you, but you can be sure Google is keeping their own copy. Don't use Chrome, gmail, Google docs.... Use custom ungoogled roms (GrapheneOS, LineageOS). Switch to Linux, use privacy friendly dns, or even your own... The path to privacy is a long and arduous constant fight, full of inconveniences.

[-] pickles@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 1 year ago

The path to privacy is a long and arduous constant fight, full of inconveniences.

You got that right! Especially when rooting your phone is the best option. I never did figure it out, that shit is hard!

[-] iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't root my phone these days anymore. It makes a whole host of other issues with banking applications and the like, plus a nasty app might take advantage of the elevation as well. Either a full rom, or going the path of adb disabling system apps. Not pretty. Using GrapheneOS these days.

[-] iturnedintoanewt@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I don't root my phone these days anymore. It makes a whole host of other issues with banking applications and the like, plus a nasty app might take advantage of the elevation as well. Either a full rom, or going the path of adb disabling system apps. Not pretty. Using GrapheneOS these days.

[-] pickles@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 year ago

Good point! Yeah I couldn't even unlock my bootloader on my Oneplus 😭 so i disable what apps I can these days

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] dekatron@lemmy.fmhy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

I turned off my activity history, and I've noticed a needlessly degraded experience on some Google apps, like in Maps where it no longer labels your home location as "Home", but it's a saved location anyway.

[-] Altomes@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Dumb question but what are your thoughts on just using iOS

[-] overload@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 year ago

It's closed source, so how can you really know what Apple are or are not doing? I don't know if publicly available external audits are done on Apples software, but I doubt it.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] slush@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 year ago

My moment of realization was when gdpr was introduced and I pulled all data Facebook had on me. Found call logs, every picture I had, sms conversations etc from my Sony Ericsson phone and all of my android phones. They scraped everything of every phone I ever owned and used Facebook on. Some sms conversations were from when I was 10 years old. Very strange feeling and that made me delete Facebook and over time move away from big tech in general.

[-] Discola@lemmy.fmhy.ml 18 points 1 year ago

This is why I switched to Graphene OS, it's much easier than I thought it would be!

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Vendul@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Do you really think Google will stop storing those juicy records of you if you click a switch?

[-] Atemu@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

I'd trust them to stop storing it but I don't trust them to stop processing it.

Ingest -> Train various AI models -> /dev/null rather than Ingest -> Train various AI models -> store for future training

[-] nadram@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Yes. Failing which they will eventually fall for a class-action.

[-] polymer@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Shit, sorry! We didn’t know that these internal stores — which you cannot see — were still retaining your information after the removal request.

Jokes aside, all collected information is likely compiled as an aggregate (which ostensibly removes the personal aspect) that’ll have more uses for than just targeted advertisements, and not just on the data sources themselves. Pattern matching/guesswork for “filling in the blanks” with users they’ve less information on is one possible use case I could think of.

People like you and me can often be predictably unpredictable . . . I think it’s now (more than ever, what with all the quantity of data and extent of technology) the case of what they effectively know, instead of them explicitly having that information.

[-] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Realistically, google has no reason not to comply with a removal request. They get so much data, the people that decide to remove theirs is just a drop in a bucket. It's easier for them to simply automate the deletion process anyway. Not to say they'll stop tracking you, your name just won't be tied to it

[-] Kissaki@feddit.de 12 points 1 year ago
[-] sp6@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

For even more counter-measures, going to plug privacyguides.org, as well as the lemmy community (and instance) that is run by the owner of the site, !privacyguides@lemmy.one

[-] Bobsyouruncle@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

This is why I stay safe in my blanket fort at home.

[-] loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If there are no iron strings in your blanket, then Google is also tracking your fort

[-] Bicyclejohn@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Or if you are able to degoogling Is possible

[-] drascus@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

Yes and I will add to this... Just degoogle your phone and slowly stop using Google services. Even this is not a perfect solution but its better than doing nothing.

[-] silly_apples@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I have been very happy with my new email provider, with all the info being sent to my inbox now I didn’t want Google seeing it all before me. (mailbox.org is who I went with for the curious )

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] gimlithepirate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I wish Apple was transparent enough to have a real comparison of their privacy.

Personal guess, Apple is generating just as much personal data, just using it less offensively than Google. That's not good but it's betterish, I guess.

Main things I'm stuck using Google for at the moment are Gmail and Maps. Gmail, because my address I've had over there since Gmail was invite only. Maps, because they are one of the only decent sources for restraunt reviews these days (why did Zomato have to kill UrbanSpoon :( )

[-] mawkishdave@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I downloaded duckduckgo which blocks all the app tracking and it did shock me just how much data was being collected.

load more comments (5 replies)
[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I'd hate to be that paranoid tbh

[-] AToM_exe@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Wait until he finds out about Google Maps Timeline.

[-] AToM_exe@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Wait until he finds out about Google Maps Timeline.

[-] Audbol@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I don't think I could live without timelines. Makes tracking hours and miles a million times easier when invoicing people.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[-] bazingabot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I use a couple of counter measures and I am quite happy since years and hope to be as invisible as possible for tracking companies. I have a samsung phone, this is what I did:

  • on your pc install adb
  • when switching on the phone for the first time, dont connect to wifi, dont make or use a google account, press skip and all the fake "warnings" until you see your launcher
  • download a browser apk of your liking and install it via browser
  • activate developer mode for apk (you find the instructions online)
  • via command line remove all samsung bloatware
  • uninstall all google apps except the absolute must haves like "google play service" and so on
  • go into settings - apps in your phone and deactivate all remaining google apps that you dont dare to delete via adb
  • install an alternate app store via your newly installed browser
  • install wireguard and setup connection to your vpn at home
  • on my homeserver install pihole or adguard home to block google out completely
  • set a different search engine like qwant or so in your browser
  • install all the security add ins in your browser to your liking

As a result, I am almost google free, except probably for samsungs trackers. Sometimes apps or commerce websites dont work as they use google captcha or things like that.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] lav@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

I want to know if the proton unlimited subscription is worth it?

[-] mawkishdave@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I changed over to it and I am very happy with Proton. The only thing I don't use is the new password keeper.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
356 points (95.2% liked)

You Should Know

32152 readers
7 users here now

YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.

All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.



Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:

**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities:

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

Credits

Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS