• MajorHavoc@programming.dev
    1731·
    2 days ago

    TL;DR - Google makes (arguably insane) claim that it previously acted responsibly with regards to fingerprinting, and says they will begin acting irresponsibility with fingerprinting in February.

    Practical take-aways you probably already knew:

    • Today’s Google may do or say anything to make an extra nickel.
    • Today’s Google, while it employs some excellent privacy minded engineers, has not demonstrated an organizational commitment to user privacy.
    • It is probably wise to assume that the next serious data breach at Google will end marriages, get politicians arrested, get famous people canceled, fuel successful scammers, and have every other privacy impact you can imagine. We know the Google data pool is massive, and we have reason to believe it is incredibly personal. I’m aware that Google has anonymozation solutions in play, and I do not believe those solutions will be effective in a breach scenario.
    • I believe that the average person will likely be better off ten years from now if they interact less with Google services.
    • Reddfugee42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      992·
      2 days ago

      Like Google maps:

      we anonymize your data before selling it. So it leaves your address every morning and goes to your office every morning but it’s completely anonymous.

      • Jolteon@lemmy.zip
        2·
        12 hours ago

        Huh, it’s a good thing there is no way to easily determine who someone is from that information.

      • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
        33·
        2 days ago

        Exactly. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that Google’s clever privacy engineering isn’t enough to keep any of us safe.

        Google’s expectation that we be okay with these practices feels like corporate gaslighting, to me.

    • DankOfAmerica@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      1 day ago

      It is probably wise to assume that the next serious data breach at Google will end marriages, get politicians arrested, get famous people canceled, fuel successful scammers, and have every other privacy impact you can imagine. We know the Google data pool is massive, and we have reason to believe it is incredibly personal. I’m aware that Google has anonymozation solutions in play, and I do not believe those solutions will be effective in a breach scenario.

      That would be an interesting experiment. Maybe cancel culture and public shaming will cease whene everyone realizes no one is perfect and lost people do shitty things from time to time.