I’m finding that enjoying Google products and services on Lemmy is a hot take. Personally I use a Pixel phone and use nearly all Google services from Gmail to Keep.
I’m finding that enjoying Google products and services on Lemmy is a hot take. Personally I use a Pixel phone and use nearly all Google services from Gmail to Keep.
Like it or not, Lemmy is a bit of an odd, fringe community with a lot of fringe ideals.
I use Google products and don’t give a shit about FOSS services or intense privacy. It’s an unpopular view here in Lemmy, but it’s actually how the majority outside of it seem to behave.
I didn’t join Lemmy because of FOSS or privacy nonsense. I joined it because spez got rid of my Reddit app and I don’t want to use some cancerous app with a zillion ads plastered everywhere.
Look, don’t get me wrong…I am against the idea of megacorps as a whole, but not enough to stop using something that makes my life a zillion times easier and doesn’t actively hurt me.
I mean, if you think its not actively hurting you, then you’re willfully not paying attention at this point.
but you do you.
Just don’t come back crying “how could anyone let this happen?!” and begging for help when the hens come home to roost.
Can you elaborate on what doomsday scenario you’re referring to? I don’t hear many arguments outside of “Google bad, they’re gonna do a bad thing” without any evidence or description of what the big bad event is gonna be. And before you say “they sell your data,” I know. So does literally everyone else. And I have no intention of living off the technological grid to mitigate that.
I am not a eloquent or verbose person, So I’ll just give you this link as a small example into why the problem is far far more than “google bad”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/22/google-csam-account-blocked
Mans child had swelling in its diaper area. Doctor requested pictures to study before virtual appointment. They took pictures and sent to the doctor.
Google declared the man a child pornographer, and sent the police after him, while also deleting his account (Which means he lost 10+ years of emails, photos, contacts, his phone number, etc)
Despite the doctor saying the pictures were medically necessary and requested, despite the police investigation saying there was nothing untoward happening, despite every single piece of evidence pointing that google was wrong…
google refuses to admit it was wrong, and just keeps pushing the argument that the mans a child pornographer and wont give him his account, or his data, back.
and when pushed about it, they dug through his entire data history to find a photo of his wife laying in bed, undressed, with…I think it was a previous child(You know, the kind of photos that almost all parents had before the digital era…), to hold up and go “AH HA, YOU ARE A CHILD PORNOGRAPHER. NO ACCOUNT FOR YOU, GOOD DAY SIR”
The only hope anyone has to fight against this kind of abusive and recklessly carelessness is the hope that public opinion can be inflamed against them, and honestly googles so big (and has so many blind fanboy supporters), that even that doesnt really work against them anymore.
And this is just part of the reason why Google Bad.
Theres more arguments to be made to further fill things out, like how google has disproportionate control over the internet, and is slowly trying to lock the internet down with shit like its “Web Integrity” DRM, Where only “approved” browsers can access compliant websites. Basically to make adblocking impossible… And yes, they did technically announce they killed that project, but it shows the kind of mindset going on at google and I doubt very seriously this is the last we see of such things.
I would argue that you are already living off the technology grid. Before starting my FOSS journey, every software I used was a dull ‘Just click here and let the algorithm do it’s job’. By beeing conscious about the software I am using now, I accidently found a lot of joy in technical things, feeling a lot more ‘on’ the technological grid than before.
I am not the commenter above, but my greatest fear with all those data hungry companies is the control and power we give to not elected entities. Knowing all about every person in a state and knowing how to use this data for targeted ads, targeted video recommendations, targeted search results,…, could make a difference in elections and law making. It is basically undermining democracy, and I am a big fan of real democracy.
I agree with your last bit, and I know plenty of people who are clearly manipulated by their news feeds and targeted advertising, but I’m not one of them. I don’t use ad blockers because it’s a valid revenue mechanism - I have friends who pay their bills through advertising. But I’m blind to them, I’ve never clicked on an advert and actively avoid suggestions.
I’m worried about the societal consequence, but doesn’t that issue need to be addressed by engaging in the politics, not by me using Google less? Data harvesting is unavoidable without huge inconvenience, and life is hard enough.
I feel the same way about climate change - I can reduce, reuse and recycle all I want, but I see my neighbours driving and flying everywhere and filling their bins every week, I probably sacrifice to make zero difference.
I agree. The answer to those concerns is to build a stronger society.
deleted by creator
Yes, your tone will surely motivate OP and other people to take another look at their online privacy.
You’re part of the reason people look at the privacy community in disgust.
You sound like my mother with how desperately you try to twist shit to make other peoples choices and actions somehow magically my fault.