Actually I've never used it that iI can remember. Not a Facebook guy either nor Instagram or Twitter. This and a few other blogs is as close as I get to online sociability.
I don't think anyone used Google+. It was a failure from the very start. I'm surprised Google left it up as long as they did. They're really good at canceling projects....even ones people actually do use!
So after suspending my account because I wasn't using my real name, but my online sobriquet, and getting into disputes with many, much more important persons than I over similar things, they're now saying that they compromised all that intimate data they insisted on.
I'd have given up, when they locked my account, except I had friends who were convinced it was the next big thing, and better than Facebook, so I needed to stay in touch with them. Also, being Google, it also affected my YouTube, Gmail, and other accounts I was already operating under that name.
According to the WSJ and Google no Google account data, or messages or posts or other info beyond the basic Google+ user profile was exposed to developers. Quoting: "...it didn’t include phone numbers, email messages, timeline posts, direct messages or any other type of communication data"
Still plenty bad enough and a really bad way of handling the discovery. All it accomplished is seeding more distrust in how transparent Google really is when these issues crop up, and they almost assuredly will again.
EDIT: More evidence of the sorry state of Google+: There were only about 400 developers who showed any interest in the platform, and fewer than 500K users of Google+ in total . On the plus side not many developers there so few had a chance to see those user profiles if they were aware they could.
Stupid and sneaky way of handling things in any event.
It's more the principle of the thing than any actual lost data. They were downright beligerent about "real names", despite there being numerous reasons people might not want to give them. Regardless of whether anything actually damaging to individuals was exposed, do you think people are going to trust them next time?
So after suspending my account because I wasn't using my real name, but my online sobriquet, and getting into disputes with many, much more important persons than I over similar things, they're now saying that they compromised all that intimate data they insisted on.
I'd have given up, when they locked my account, except I had friends who were convinced it was the next big thing, and better than Facebook, so I needed to stay in touch with them. Also, being Google, it also affected my YouTube, Gmail, and other accounts I was already operating under that name.
According to the WSJ and Google no Google account data, or messages or posts or other info beyond the basic Google+ user profile was exposed to developers. Quoting: "...it didn’t include phone numbers, email messages, timeline posts, direct messages or any other type of communication data"
Still plenty bad enough and a really bad way of handling the discovery. All it accomplished is seeding more distrust in how transparent Google really is when these issues crop up, and they almost assuredly will again.
EDIT: More evidence of the sorry state of Google+: There were only about 400 developers who showed any interest in the platform, and fewer than 500K users of Google+ in total . On the plus side not many developers there so few had a chance to see those user profiles if they were aware they could.
Stupid and sneaky way of handling things in any event.
It's more the principle of the thing than any actual lost data. They were downright beligerent about "real names", despite there being numerous reasons people might not want to give them. Regardless of whether anything actually damaging to individuals was exposed, do you think people are going to trust them next time?
It's very easy to leave most of Google's data-entrapment services and devices, but difficult to leave the company entirely. You* can certainly switch to Apple Mail or another end-to-end encrypted email service, you can choose Duck Duck Go as your search engine, you can get rid of Chrome or use a more-secure variant (with tracker blocking), use a VPN, and so on.
*"You" is being defined here as most ordinary and even power-users, save the most paranoid tinfoil-hat crowd.
I will be the first to admit that as much as I have reduced my Google usage without any significant pain, there is one aspect of the advertising company's tentacles that I cannot unwrap myself from: Google's Image Search is by far the best option I've found for that particular need (sadly Duck Duck Go doesn't replicate that functionality sufficiently for my needs, even in their own browser). All I can do is use that service under a VPN.
If anyone here has a recommendation for alternative image-search engines to check out, please let us know.
It's very easy to leave most of Google's data-entrapment services and devices, but difficult to leave the company entirely. You* can certainly switch to Apple Mail or another end-to-end encrypted email service, you can choose Duck Duck Go as your search engine, you can get rid of Chrome or use a more-secure variant (with tracker blocking), use a VPN, and so on.
*"You" is being defined here as most ordinary and even power-users, save the most paranoid tinfoil-hat crowd.
I will be the first to admit that as much as I have reduced my Google usage without any significant pain, there is one aspect of the advertising company's tentacles that I cannot unwrap myself from: Google's Image Search is by far the best option I've found for that particular need (sadly Duck Duck Go doesn't replicate that functionality sufficiently for my needs, even in their own browser). All I can do is use that service under a VPN.
If anyone here has a recommendation for alternative image-search engines to check out, please let us know.
If you don't log in to a Google account then the only thing to fear is a session cookie which doesn't collect personal data anyway. Sure Google could know the IP used for searches but that rarely is enough for very precise location. They wouldn't have anything to peg to your personally.
AFAIK You can safely use image search without fear that they're putting together some dossier with your name on it as long as you aren't signed into a Google account.
I've lost count of the Google services I've used, become important to me then had them close. Enough is enough, never again. Just wait till the EU changes the laws on responsibility for posts then the shit will hit the fan.
LOL, but I suspect he gets emails from HQ directly.
Google shutting it rather than fixing reminds me of Monsanto selling out to Beyer (I still wonder if this was a fix or a dupe) a few years back. Get out with your money before they come after you for your sins.
I just deleted my user account and explained, when asked, that it was because Google sucks.
Here is how to delete the account for anyone that has one before Google shuts and keeps your data ...
How To Delete Your Google+ Account
Log in to your Google+ account.
Click the drop-down menu in the top left corner of the page and select Settings.
Scroll down to Disable Google+ and click Delete your entire Google profile here.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and check the box next to Required.
Sooo... Google "admits" all these issues - which they decided to NOT FIX all these years. Sounds more like a corporation-benefitting "feature" at the expense of the people using the platform, as per Google's usual.
They only "admit" these problems now to say they are shutting down the "service," to deflect from the real reason: NO ONE USES Google Plus!
Google thought they could be Facebook (only worse at privacy if you can believe that...), but they failed. Rather than flat out "admit" people just don't like their service, they do more damage in telling the world that no one should have trusted them to begin with.
Good job Google. Now Reorganize again, getting rid of all the ridiculous branches under Alphabete and streamline into search. That's what you are good at.
With Google+, you are the product, so effectively you're being laid off by Google because they no longer need you. I wonder if those effected will get some sort of severance package?
They can probably find something else for the three employees to do.
/s
They left years ago after writing an auto-pilot script to design the Facebook security and privacy protocols...
An internal memo from Google's legal and policy staff provided to the report advised senior executives away from disclosing the incident publicly, due to it most likely drawing "immediate regulatory interest," and would be directly compared with Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Wow.
Just … wow.
So they expose user data and then decide to keep quiet about it to save face and hide from the law.
And in one fell swoop they manage to sink to the same level of scuminess as Facebook … or perhaps lower if that’s possible.
Lets be fair though. Given the three or four people still using Google+ the security breach WASN’T that big. 😂
Well, true enough, but that's kind of the problem.
As security breaches go, this wasn't that big: hardly anyone uses the service.
And yet with such a small breach, Google's management thought that it was better to hide it from the public and the regulatory authorities to prevent repercussions.
So when they have a really big breach involving users, more publicity, and the possibility of more regulatory scrutiny, what is Google management going to decide to do then?
Well, given what's happened here, they're going to try to bury it even deeper.
That is, of course, assuming that they're not already sitting on a Facebook-sized breach of trust and are currently suppressing it.
Comments
Actually I've never used it that iI can remember. Not a Facebook guy either nor Instagram or Twitter. This and a few other blogs is as close as I get to online sociability.
Less likely today than it was yesterday.
Stupid Google decision.
*"You" is being defined here as most ordinary and even power-users, save the most paranoid tinfoil-hat crowd.
I will be the first to admit that as much as I have reduced my Google usage without any significant pain, there is one aspect of the advertising company's tentacles that I cannot unwrap myself from: Google's Image Search is by far the best option I've found for that particular need (sadly Duck Duck Go doesn't replicate that functionality sufficiently for my needs, even in their own browser). All I can do is use that service under a VPN.
If anyone here has a recommendation for alternative image-search engines to check out, please let us know.
AFAIK You can safely use image search without fear that they're putting together some dossier with your name on it as long as you aren't signed into a Google account.
Google shutting it rather than fixing reminds me of Monsanto selling out to Beyer (I still wonder if this was a fix or a dupe) a few years back. Get out with your money before they come after you for your sins.
I just deleted my user account and explained, when asked, that it was because Google sucks.
Here is how to delete the account for anyone that has one before Google shuts and keeps your data ...
They only "admit" these problems now to say they are shutting down the "service," to deflect from the real reason: NO ONE USES Google Plus!
Google thought they could be Facebook (only worse at privacy if you can believe that...), but they failed. Rather than flat out "admit" people just don't like their service, they do more damage in telling the world that no one should have trusted them to begin with.
Good job Google. Now Reorganize again, getting rid of all the ridiculous branches under Alphabete and streamline into search. That's what you are good at.
They left years ago after writing an auto-pilot script to design the Facebook security and privacy protocols...
Sounds familiar.....
When @Blunt said “a clown from the Netherlands”, I thought he meant “some random Dutch idiot”.
I didn’t think the bloke was an actual clown. 😳
Why is anyone listening to a clown’s opinion on social media platforms?
Why does that clown have a Porsche?
😂
Well, true enough, but that's kind of the problem.
As security breaches go, this wasn't that big: hardly anyone uses the service.
And yet with such a small breach, Google's management thought that it was better to hide it from the public and the regulatory authorities to prevent repercussions.
So when they have a really big breach involving users, more publicity, and the possibility of more regulatory scrutiny, what is Google management going to decide to do then?
Well, given what's happened here, they're going to try to bury it even deeper.
That is, of course, assuming that they're not already sitting on a Facebook-sized breach of trust and are currently suppressing it.