Google reportedly ignoring Safari users' privacy settings to better track its ads [u]

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post


    Actually, there's a very good reason -- Apple has been innovating long before Google even existed, and Apple's real competitor is Apple itself. They must outdo themselves. The fact that they are outdoing Microsoft and Google on product quality and user experience is merely a side-effect of their own high standard. They are not compelled by third-party competition to perform and achieve excellence. It's in their own DNA.



    Your logic is askew, Apple has only recently ever been close to being a dominant player, prior to that they always had to innovate or they would have died off, as they very nearly did.



    You simply cannot suggest Microsoft was not their real competitor for a few decades and their primary reason for innovation, that is a clear non sequitur.
  • Reply 22 of 106
    mauszmausz Posts: 243member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    While the cookies were set to expire with a day or two, the report states that a "technical quirk in Safari" subsequently "allows companies to easily add more cookies to a user's computer once the company has installed at least one cookie," resulting in "extensive tracking of Safari users."



    You can spin this story as much as you want but it starts with a 'bug' in Safari. If Safari just did not have this 'technical quirk' there would have been no problem.



    It's like blaming a hacker for using a weakness in the OS. Sure it's not nice of him/her to use it, but the real blame is with the OS vendor.
  • Reply 23 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cy_starkman View Post


    What's that anagram.. um.. FUD, yeah, FUD



    Apple knows everything i do but ah, don't need to make a buck of it, cause people buy things off them.



    Google sells everything they know that i do to other people, for whatever they can. Cause that is how they make money.



    I don't have an issue with privacy. i have an issue with people harvesting and selling what they collect because they don't have the brain power to actually think anything cool up that people would be willing to pay them for.



    Unsolicited adversiting is illegal, stalking is illegal. and Google does what exactly?



    Actually to try to help you understand, Google do not sell your information and never have. They sell advertising to users based on interest. There is nothing personally identifiable provided to the advertiser about you, that just simply doesn't happen.



    The reality is that most people like using Google's search because you get the results you want, but if you don't want advertising on their services you can purchase a Google Apps for Business account and have the adverts removed for $50 a year. But getting things for free thanks to advertising is great for poor people like me who don't care and is in NO WAY AT ALL comparable to unsolicited advertising or stalking. Think about it.
  • Reply 24 of 106
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthropic View Post


    I see someone who is ignorant yet still attempts to be condescending.



    You're looking at your navel again.
  • Reply 25 of 106
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthropic View Post


    Actually to try to help you understand, Google do not sell your information and never have.



    Right. But Google knows who you are--because they've got enough information to personally identify everyone of us by now. The claim that the data they collect are "anonymous" is complete b.s. The data are personal.



    Google doesn't sell the information, but they can manipulate it to their own ends: twisting reality to maximally monetize ad revenue. This allows an occasional Google employee to snoop. Sometimes they get caught. I'm sure more often than not, they don't get caught.



    How secure is your personal information with Google? What exactly does Google know about you?
  • Reply 26 of 106
    v5vv5v Posts: 1,357member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mausz View Post


    It's like blaming a hacker for using a weakness in the OS. Sure it's not nice of him/her to use it, but the real blame is with the OS vendor.



    WHAT?! Are you fucking kidding me? So if a bully beats up a kid half his size, the fault lays with the victim for being younger, smaller, and therefore vulnerable?



    Geez I hope you don't live close to me. With ethics like yours I'd worry about my car still being around in the morning.



    .
  • Reply 27 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post


    If you are being lied to, you are being controlled



    If you are being controlled, your are being lied to



    Nothing every changes , what do people who have power and control want?

    Answer: more power and control



    Let them have their fun, we are all damned



    LOL.



    My favorite comment on AI, to date. I agree, mostly.
  • Reply 28 of 106
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    If you turn cookies off, a lot of sites malfunction or get stuck in infinite loops. Nearly the whole web (with the exception of a few sites with paywalls) is paid for by ads, so basically as soon as you open your web browser except to be tracked and profiled and pigeon holed and all those other things advertisers like to do.



    If you don't like the sound of that, remove Safari from your Dock and do everything with apps screened by the App Store, and be sure to buy the ad-free versions. The OS has a lot more insight in to what apps are doing (it knows what APIs they call) vs a Javascript website so can control things a bit better.
  • Reply 29 of 106
    mauszmausz Posts: 243member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by v5v View Post


    WHAT?! Are you fucking kidding me? So if a bully beats up a kid half his size, the fault lays with the victim for being younger, smaller, and therefore vulnerable?



    Geez I hope you don't live close to me. With ethics like yours I'd worry about my car still being around in the morning.

    .



    I don't see how this comparison can be made.



    I should trust the browser maker to not have holes like this in its product, instead of hoping the hackers won't touch it.



    You analogy with stealing cars is also a little bit strange, but still I'll go into that : If you only count on the ethics of others to protect your property you'll be in for a shocker. I lock my car and expect the law enforcement in my area to offer enough service to discourage potential theft. I don't rely on the fact every other person will respect my right of ownership.
  • Reply 30 of 106
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,822member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mausz View Post


    ...



    I should trust the browser maker to not have holes like this in its product, instead of hoping the hackers won't touch it.



    ...



    Hackers, as opposed to an upstanding, impeccably behaved company that embodies the highest notions of trust, faithfulness and honesty!



    I know, I know, I'm joking too.
  • Reply 31 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by coolfactor View Post


    Actually, there's a very good reason -- Apple has been innovating long before Google even existed, and Apple's real competitor is Apple itself. They must outdo themselves. The fact that they are outdoing Microsoft and Google on product quality and user experience is merely a side-effect of their own high standard. They are not compelled by third-party competition to perform and achieve excellence. It's in their own DNA.



    Exactly. MSFT become bloated and weighed down by bureaucracy.
  • Reply 32 of 106
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Google, don't be Google.
  • Reply 33 of 106
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mausz View Post


    You can spin this story as much as you want but it starts with a 'bug' in Safari. If Safari just did not have this 'technical quirk' there would have been no problem.



    It's like blaming a hacker for using a weakness in the OS.



    So Google is a hacker now. When was the last time you trusted a hacker?
  • Reply 34 of 106
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthropic View Post


    Actually to try to help you understand, Google do not sell your information and never have. They sell advertising to users based on interest. There is nothing personally identifiable provided to the advertiser about you, that just simply doesn't happen.




    That's what they claimed. They also claimed something about this fiasco, didn't they? And how it turned out?
  • Reply 35 of 106
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mausz View Post


    I don't rely on the fact every other person will respect my right of ownership.



    In other words, you think everyone is just like you?
  • Reply 36 of 106
    I've just punted Google from my iPhone recently. I've nominally put yahoo on search.



    But I'm using 'start page' for my searches now.



    I've also punted Google from my desktop. Long overdue.



    What took me so long...



    Arrogant snakes.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 37 of 106
    I started using duck duck go a couple months ago, I wish they had an image search though. I need to find a paid email and dump gmail once and for all.
  • Reply 38 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anthropic View Post


    Competition is awesome, if Google wasn't around Apple would stop innovating and release new features even slower cause as we all know Microsoft stopped innovating a decade ago when it had no competition, there's no reason to think Apple wouldn't do the same. We need Google and even... *gulp*... Micro$oft, in order to help Apple be all it can be!



    Google is a competitor for Apple?? Seriously? Do you REALLY believe that?

    If Yes to all 3 I suggest you Wikipedia what competition is?. And maybe learn a thing or 2.
  • Reply 39 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post


    Right. But Google knows who you are--because they've got enough information to personally identify everyone of us by now. The claim that the data they collect are "anonymous" is complete b.s. The data are personal.



    Google doesn't sell the information, but they can manipulate it to their own ends: twisting reality to maximally monetize ad revenue. This allows an occasional Google employee to snoop. Sometimes they get caught. I'm sure more often than not, they don't get caught.



    How secure is your personal information with Google? What exactly does Google know about you?



    Correction: It is extremely hard for even senior employees there to access user information, they simply can't let it happen as they can't allow the sort of fiasco that AOL experienced when employees started befriending Tom Hanks and other celebrities!



    I can say that have done the research and talked to relevant people to understand their data storage mechanisms and procedures, so trust me, as a computer systems architect for a global telecommunications group, their systems are the best in the world and among the hardest of any company on earth for employees to snoop!



    With your Google dashboard you can see a copy of all the data they have about you all in one place. You can even request they delete it. But once you understand how beneficial it is to the services they provide it just makes sense.



    I don't really follow your non sequitur about twisting reality for money leading to snooping, but I hope what I wrote cleared up some of the misinformation you have held previously.



    Facebook pays a lot of money to PR firms to try to make your opinion about Google the negative one it has fabricated, sometimes Google do make mistakes, about as many as most IT companies, but sometimes it is worth finding out for yourself. After all, we live in a world where if you want free services you give over information. It is basic capitalism.
  • Reply 40 of 106
    Cookies are only part of this tracking issue, there are also Local Shared Objects (LSO), aka Flash cookies. These ignore browser settings and secrete themselves in the Flash player folder in your library. I use Firefox as my main browser and the add-on 'Better Privacy' deals with them - as of today it has removed 5,138 of them! All placed there without my knowledge or consent.
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