Google goes bye bye

[synsei]

As from today I have stopped using all of Google's products, including my Android phone, as I am incensed that Google is forcing G+ on its user base. I popped on to YouTube today only to discover that I can no longer comment on videos unless I link my YouTube account to a G+ account. What utter bollocks!!! G+ is more intrusive than Facebook, which I consider to be the spawn of Satan incidentally. I do not want to share my every move with the entire planet, I like to pick and choose how, where and what I comment on and with whom, be it on a forum such as this or YouTube as it once was, without having to worry about who's damned Circle I might appear in. Once upon a time giving customers a choice was very important to commercial concerns, Google have pi**ed all over that ethos with their latest antics it would seem. :steam:

[Firebottle]

I rather agree with that Dave, I think I can live without commenting on Youtube videos.

:cool: Alan

[synsei]

Not being able to comment on YT videos is not so much the issue, it's the fact that yet again Google is taking freedom of choice away from the user, this time in a huge way. It's just as well Joe McCarthy isn't still around as he would probably haul Google's execs up before his committee.

[Audioman]

Just tried posting a comment to try this. There is a tick box option that you can remove if you don't want to share on G+. Not compulsory but have to be careful to opt out. This should be an opt in choice! Unfortunately all software downloads are the same - you have to look carefully that you don't download a load of crap you don't want. All this is based on the knowledge that most people are pretty cavalier with privacy and security unlike those of us who are more knowledgable. Agree about Facebook and Twitter. Hope the fad suddenly collapses and the shares drop to F All like a number of other highly hyped internet companies in the recent past. People who invest in hot air should get what they deserve.

Not using any google products is going to rather hobble you Dave. What about Google maps etc and can you live without youtube? Wouldn't buy one of their phones anyway as much as wouldn't touch an Iphone or Chrome computers. Simply because you pay over the odds for being tied into a brand. Bad enough having to put up with Microsoft (for convenience and practicality).

Paul.

[Tim]

Thing is though Dave, you don't 'pay' in the literal sense for Google, but we do pay in other ways . . . you can opt out of most things, or just use a 'joey' account ID by signing up for a new G+ ID.

Like it or not, if you use the internet and its so called 'free' services, there is a price to pay. Google is a highly motivated, innovative and aggressively competitive profit driven company, that's what they do and and they do it extremely well - lets be honest too, it is The Matrix ;)

How Google snoops on your email: (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2487660/Google-snoops-email-uses-private-details-sell-adverts-Microsoft-claims.html)

I don't really have an issue, its annoying, but there are many more positives and I just learn to control it as best I can, my life would be a lot less convenient without Google, as I suspect it would be for most AoS users. Made me chuckle too reading the 'are we being spied on' post . . . don't folk know how the internet works, I mean FFS they spend half their life on it :lol:

[synsei]

The thing is Tim it's not as if I'm a technophobe, I've been into computers since the 1970's and have owned, used or built many diverse models, some of which are very hard to find now. I have managed to keep abreast of innovation in computers, software and the internet for years up until fairly recently. I am beginning to feel as if I am being left behind as I find it harder and harder to understand the tech. Now if someone with my background is beginning to lose touch with developments in this area, how must it be for those who have little knowledge in the field? Chastising such people for their lack of knowledge isn't going to fix anything either, it just leaves those doing the chastising looking like arrogant twats. I also find the 'deal with it' attitude very unhelpful too, as do many like me who are in the same boat, in fact it is somewhat offensive as we would deal with it if we understood it. It should be becoming easier to operate computers and software not harder, after all that's what we were promised when I was a kid.

[mimoser]

[…]I am beginning to feel as if I am being left behind as I find it harder and harder to understand the tech. […]

you are becoming amish, like we all do sooner or later. Follow Cory Doctorow and read it up here (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2003/07/09/amish_qwerty.html)
;-)
Michael (1967 vintage)

[synsei]

you are becoming amish, like we all do sooner or later. Follow Cory Doctorow and read it up here (http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2003/07/09/amish_qwerty.html)
;-)
Michael (1967 vintage)

Sounds about right... :)

[Tim]

Ouch that was a rather strong response, hope it wasn't directed at me, as I wasn't chastising anyone :scratch: just making comment.

What a lot of people don't probably think about when it comes to using the nets so called 'free' services is that we are the commodity and what we do is currency. Every Gmail address is currency, every Facebook account, Twitter account, every play on Spotify, every scrobble on Last.fm, every loyalty card in your wallet, every YouTube video you watch and every Like you click online . . . currency. Tesco are going one step further and will use 'us' quite literally with face recognition technology to target us with gender and age specific advertising - we are all currency. Do I like it, no, can I change it . . . probably not.

[mimoser]

Did you ever wonder why some ads seem to follow you through every website using Google ad syndication?
- do you stay logged into your Google Analytics account?
- did or did you not disable your Google account surf and search history?
- do you use facebook connect?
- did you allow twitter into your facebook account?
- etc.
tbh I suspect Google Analytics to track our searches and movements through our complete surfing history. They are not allowed under European legislation, but the servers are hosted in the US, so wtf?
So the only thing you can do is deny cookies, session IDs and every tracking technology conceivable, even the non-deniable RealPlayer cookies and similar technologies. This will make surfing the net a pita. Webservers have Alzheimers disease by design, every request is disconnected to everything else. No forum history, no unread items, no back-button, no shopping cart, no nothing.
So either be fodder for data-mining algorithms or back to 1995s static html web-experience.
If we are lucky, the data is collected anonymously, if not they connect it to individuals.
The only thing you really can do is use different browsers for different things and delete your browsing history from time to time.
If you want an unbiased search on google, you will have to wipe your browser history and not be logged into your Google account, else the results will be "customized for your search history" as known to Google.
Whether this is convenient or a pita is up to your discretion …
brave new world …
=8-((
Michael

PS: Back in 2000 "better user experience" and "more consistent server behaviour" were the buzzwords we users would have sold our great grandchildren for. Now that these things are standard, we have time and leisure to contemplate about the nature and amount of data needed to achieve them. Unhappiness at a fairly high level i would say …
;-))

[Effem]

I was looking for an air filter for the wife's car last week and almost every web page I land on now has an advert lurking on there for . . . . . air filters :rolleyes:

My response is to take no notice whatsoever because I have bought an air filter and therefore have no wish to buy another, so all their covert scheming will come to nowt anyway now and if it pleases their tiny minds then so be it :ner:

[Macca]

Does it really matter? I was looking at gas fires on line the other day, now I get adverts for gas fires. It's not the end of the world. If I started getting phone calls from gas fire salesmen then that would be a bit much I suppose. A friend of mine once made a coupel of calls casually inquiring about hot tubs and was persecuted for a year afterwards.

The main reason the internet is so popular is because of the amount of free content so the advertising is the only way to generate any revenue, similar to commercial television. I think it is a small price to pay.

As for 'reading' e-mails, don't GCHQ do this anyway? Let's face it, if you are doing crime or terrorism and you communicate via phone and e-mail you have only got yourself to blame when Bodie and Doyle are kicking your door in.

[Stratmangler]

I can honestly say that I haven't got a Scoobie what's going on.
I don't get advertising rubbish following my every move on t'internet, or at least if I do I don't see it.
Try playing with your ad blocker - it works, and it stops the irritating pop-ups from appearing.

[Rothchild]

As well as not using the service you need to add all google properties to your hosts file to ensure no one using analytics, adsense of any of their other services on their websites aren't putting you in contact with them.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/

[Tim]

Does it really matter? . . . . I think it is a small price to pay.
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/greatgig/thumbsup.gif (http://s173.photobucket.com/user/greatgig/media/thumbsup.gif.html)

[Rothchild]

If you don't mind then it's fine, just carry on doing what you always did. If you do mind then there are tools and practices you can use to help you avoid it. Everyone is a winner.

[walpurgis]

I was looking at gas fires on line the other day, now I get adverts for gas fires.

Martin, seems like you and Frank need to delete your temporary internet files.

[Macca]

Martin, seems like you and Frank need to delete your temporary internet files.

I'm actually in the market for a gas fire so It's no bad thing :) Having to heat the room with a 3.2 kilowatt Trotec space heater is becoming a bit tiresome - and is probably quite expensive...

[walpurgis]

Andr'e, you can improve your PC security easily to avoid 'nasties' inflicting themselves on you.

Since the disaster I had last year with the wiping out of my operating system (I won't say where the bug came from 'cos I might get told off), I've become a bit paranoid and use some pretty stiff security measures now.