Warn all you like. The majority of users simply don’t care about their privacy until they get compromised. Then they look for someone to blame, not themselves. Chrome is by far the most popular web browser on the planet. How did it get to be?
Beats me, even someone with a cursory familiarity with Chrome knows that everything that it’s used for is transmitted to the mother ship. But one day I went into work, at my previous job, and found that all other browsers, DDG, FF, whatever were disabled and Chrome had been pushed out to everyone’s desktop (Windows systems on a Domain Controller). There was an e-mail from the brass saying that henceforth only Chrome was allowed on company machines. It went on to say that they had taken this move for reasons of security, Chrome was, in their view, more secure than any other browser. After I had a good laugh about that I just shrugged. I had left the IT Department a year before because I got fed up with the head being an idiot with his head up his a**.
Don’t forget that regulatory agencies in the EU and other jurisdictions want to force these points of inroad onto your devices, or otherwise degrade privacy protections through “interoperability”.
The EU trolls here like to laud initiatives without broader context, even though it takes a just a little research to show that it’s no privacy utopia there.
PS - For those of you that recall, Google always intended Chrome to be a stealth operating system on top of the host OS, in order to subvert any privacy controls, and to erode mind-share from competitors.
For this same reason, I’ve never understood the rabid brainwashed advocacy behind web apps as a substitute for native apps. The whole point of web apps is to track you across multiple endpoints and to loosen OS level protections. Do you really think these entities are handling your data ethically?
My anti-Google feelings run as deep as anyone's, but here's the thing: can you really blame Google any longer? You'd have to be an idiot living under a rock not to know their business model by now: Google gives you software and you pay for it with your privacy in a multitude of ways known and unknown. They've consistently lied over the years about their *cough* "privacy policies," stepping egregiously and repeatedly over the line, but they've got their response down pat when they get caught: apologize, blame it on some oversight, the proceed to do it again. And again. Google long ago replaced "Don't Be Evil" with "There's A Sucker Born Every Minute" as their corporate mantra. Google will not change until people who use Google software decide that their privacy is worth something.
I'm not a big fan of Microsoft either, but if you're trying to decide between AI-assisted search engines, Bing seems like the better choice to make. Why? Google search is a critical cash cow for Alphabet, so to the degree that they can use AI to further compromise and monetize your privacy and data, they will undoubtedly do it. (I would argue that Alphabet has already ruined Google search by prioritizing advertising above delivering the best search results.) For Microsoft, search isn't a source of significant income, nor does it need to be: Microsoft can win simply by hurting Google and taking market share by insuring that Bing is the better search engine. Google has left itself vulnerable in terms of both privacy and useful search results -- I hope Microsoft sees the opportunity they have here if they play this right.
Sometimes I have to use Chrome as it’s the recommended web browser for certain websites to upload images that don’t load correctly on Safari. But even when I use Safari and have Prevent Cross Site Tracking enabled I receive emails from LL Bean for example asking me if I want to go back and purchase the shirt I was just looking at on their website.
My life and browsing habits are a master class in mediocracy. Google used to spy on me but then they stopped because they said it was giving their algorithm depression.
Reminder Apple collects detailed information even when tracking is turned off. For which Apple is currently facing class action lawsuits. That and Safari kind of sucks compared to Chrome. Doesn't work cross platform, doesn't support multiple profiles. That alone pretty much rules out Safari.
I do not like WebKit browsers, which is why I’ve been using Firefox for years. I used to use Safari but the changes they made a few years ago, turned me to use FF full time. Even on my i devices.
That's a pretty general comment. Which changes did they make to Safari "a few years ago" that turned you away?
Regarding Firefox on i-devices ... sorry to break it to you, but they all use the WebKit rendering engine. They are trying to force Apple to change that, though. You've been using WebKit, so what isn't working for you? WebKit is a solid, modern rendering engine.
Sadly there are websites, eg some smaller streaming platforms, that work perfectly in all other browsers, but don’t work well with Safari. So I need to use some alternative to Safari…
You are free to use multiple browsers, even at the same time. There's no rule against having just one browser. Yes, you must specify your "default", but nothing stops you from manually launching any browser at any time. The "default" just tells the system which browser to open when clicking links outside the browser, such as in documents, emails and messages.
Reminder Apple collects detailed information even when tracking is turned off. For which Apple is currently facing class action lawsuits. That and Safari kind of sucks compared to Chrome. Doesn't work cross platform, doesn't support multiple profiles. That alone pretty much rules out Safari.
Oh look, brand-new account from a troll using a false equivalency. Here’s a few tips to help you differentiate so you don’t make the same mistake again:
- Google gets 80% of its revenue from advertising. Apple gets about 1% (hard to tell because it’s so small Apple doesn’t break it out). - Google gets data from embedded trackers in millions of websites around the world. Apple doesn’t. - Google tracks you across their many services, websites & Android devices. Apple doesn’t. - If Google lost their advertising revenue they’d cease to exists as a business. If Apple lost their advertising revenue it wouldn’t even warrant an announcement. Tim Cook has more loose change in his couch.
Comments
The EU trolls here like to laud initiatives without broader context, even though it takes a just a little research to show that it’s no privacy utopia there.
Take a look at https://digitalcourage.de/en for starters.
PS - For those of you that recall, Google always intended Chrome to be a stealth operating system on top of the host OS, in order to subvert any privacy controls, and to erode mind-share from competitors.
For this same reason, I’ve never understood the rabid brainwashed advocacy behind web apps as a substitute for native apps. The whole point of web apps is to track you across multiple endpoints and to loosen OS level protections. Do you really think these entities are handling your data ethically?
I'm not a big fan of Microsoft either, but if you're trying to decide between AI-assisted search engines, Bing seems like the better choice to make. Why? Google search is a critical cash cow for Alphabet, so to the degree that they can use AI to further compromise and monetize your privacy and data, they will undoubtedly do it. (I would argue that Alphabet has already ruined Google search by prioritizing advertising above delivering the best search results.) For Microsoft, search isn't a source of significant income, nor does it need to be: Microsoft can win simply by hurting Google and taking market share by insuring that Bing is the better search engine. Google has left itself vulnerable in terms of both privacy and useful search results -- I hope Microsoft sees the opportunity they have here if they play this right.
That and Safari kind of sucks compared to Chrome. Doesn't work cross platform, doesn't support multiple profiles. That alone pretty much rules out Safari.
That's a pretty general comment. Which changes did they make to Safari "a few years ago" that turned you away?
Regarding Firefox on i-devices ... sorry to break it to you, but they all use the WebKit rendering engine. They are trying to force Apple to change that, though. You've been using WebKit, so what isn't working for you? WebKit is a solid, modern rendering engine.
Reminder: using Chrome on a Mac defeats Apple's privacy features
Fixed that headline for ya.- Google gets 80% of its revenue from advertising. Apple gets about 1% (hard to tell because it’s so small Apple doesn’t break it out).
- Google gets data from embedded trackers in millions of websites around the world. Apple doesn’t.
- Google tracks you across their many services, websites & Android devices. Apple doesn’t.
- If Google lost their advertising revenue they’d cease to exists as a business. If Apple lost their advertising revenue it wouldn’t even warrant an announcement. Tim Cook has more loose change in his couch.