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flibby3655
MAGA
Premium Member
join:2004-12-19
Lompoc, CA

flibby3655

Premium Member

[Help] Tired od Google

It seems lately, Google only wants to sell you something. When searching for auto or for the most part, anything? What do you guys do?

hortnut
Huh?
join:2005-09-25
PDX Metro

hortnut

Member

Firefox + Adblock + Ghostery + may have some other addons and see no ads.

Just tried some random search strings in IE10 with Adblock plus disabled and enabled.

Just remembered am also running a program called PeerBlock in the background that just found out about on a security site. »www.peerblock.com/

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeerBlock

Hope this helps.

ChargerMike
Premium Member
join:2001-06-10
Edgerton, WI

ChargerMike

Premium Member

said by hortnut:

...

Agreed, haven't seen an ad in years, almost like stealing the interwebs

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed to flibby3655

MVM

to flibby3655
said by flibby3655:

It seems lately, Google only wants to sell you something.

Of course they want you to see ads - that is how they make money.
alphageek911
join:2007-08-10
Fresno, CA

alphageek911 to flibby3655

Member

to flibby3655
Here's a quote I liked from Bruce Schneier, who knows a thing or two about security and privacy...

"Google's 2013 third quarter profits were nearly $3 billion; that profit is the difference between how much our privacy is worth and the cost of the services we receive in exchange for it."

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

justin

Mod

that's a cute quote but not correct. The two things are unrelated and maybe even not correlated, you can have a total private search engine that makes a profit, or a privacy leaking company that makes a loss.

But his larger point is clear, that google makes a lot of money by selectively revealing aggregated data on you to their main customers: their advertisers. Do you own any shopper rewards card? are you a member of Sams club? two more examples where the discounts you get are not free discounts, you've sold your privacy to get them and the privacy you sold is worth more to the company than the discount they offer.

Funnily though when I ask people who are very anti online services and eco-aware and so on, why they use reward cards to get a 5% discount on the bill they say: I don't care that they know everything I buy, what problem is that for me? that information is useless, who cares that they know I pick an own brand ketchup over heinz.

And yet churning that information over and mining it in order to better sell you stuff is a gigantic business.

hortnut
Huh?
join:2005-09-25
PDX Metro

hortnut

Member

said by justin:

Do you own any shopper rewards card? are you a member of [edit-changed to:] "Costco"? two more examples where the discounts you get are not free discounts, you've sold your privacy to get them and the privacy you sold is worth more to the company than the discount they offer.

Data mining, an interesting topic.

Yes, have those and credit cards. At least with the Kroger card I get coupons that I can use for stuff I actually buy. And of course they do throw in some that they want one to try new things. I resisted for a long time, but then thinking about it, I probably add up to a very boring customer. I am probably throwing off there profile of me, as I am a sandwich generation - buying for kids and their grandparents, who no longer can do their own shopping. But if they are savvy they have taken that into account as that is not rare here. Even using Ghostery comes with a price. I am providing them with data. They do not even take donations/payment for that addon and are quite open as to how they make their money. It is all a matter of choice, hopefully informed.

Also, I am quite certain you are running some Web Analytics on this site to see who comes here, where they go, where they are from, how long they stay at any one place and much, much more. There is even an Professional Association for that. And that is quite alright, if it is used properly, it can improve a site.

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031
Billion BiPAC 7800N
Apple AirPort Extreme (2011)

justin

Mod

like most sites google analytics runs but I haven't looked at the data for ages let alone acted on it.

you can also use the notrack option to disable that.

if you are a member then I think the data trail you leave here is smaller than every other site on the net: no third party widgets no data sharing or marketing agreements and soon not even a virtual server the NSA could image without me knowing it. even ssl has forward secrecy on if you care to use it that way. session cookies are encrypted in the db too.

all for what? nothing really it's just a forum. just for completeness I guess.

nevertheless i do feel a gradual unease about google they really are capable of turning into big brother but the alternatives are at best like google was when it started, and so much less functional. so what can one do.

hortnut
Huh?
join:2005-09-25
PDX Metro

hortnut

Member

I am not concerned about data left here. It is a site I trust and visit several times a day.
said by justin:

nevertheless i do feel a gradual unease about google they really are capable of turning into big brother but the alternatives are at best like google was when it started, and so much less functional. so what can one do.

I use a lot of Google products, but I too have an unease with them, especially their new commenting and some other changes with YouTube and G+. But I log in and log out.

justin
..needs sleep
Mod
join:1999-05-28
2031

justin

Mod

I wrote a big reply then realized this is the auto forum lol

grobinette
Southeast of disorder
MVM,
join:2001-01-27
22152-1106
·Verizon FiOS

grobinette

MVM,

I think we will just have to cut you some slack today justin See Profile.

Remember one of the ten things Google knows to be true is "You can make money without doing evil."

flibby3655
MAGA
Premium Member
join:2004-12-19
Lompoc, CA

flibby3655

Premium Member

My point was more of the benign type searches. How do I fix my AC, window regulator, etc.

I was not complaining about the ads along the side of Google searches.

Sorry I wasn't clear.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

rjackson

join:2002-04-02
Ringgold, GA

rjackson

What is your problem with Google then if not ads?
tcope
Premium Member
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

tcope to flibby3655

Premium Member

to flibby3655
Huh? You search for auto related topics and since Google has a lot of auto companies paying for ads, you see a few auto related ads in the paid section of the search.

This is news?
intok (banned)
join:2012-03-15

intok (banned) to flibby3655

Member

to flibby3655
Also, use Google only as a last resort »duckduckgo.com/ has progressed quite nicely over the last year and have not done any of that dicking around with user data collection.
intok

intok (banned) to hortnut

Member

to hortnut
I block everything, and I don't have Flash installed. The only Google service I use regularly is Youtube, but even that I use the FlashGot Fierfox extension to download the video in .WebM or .MP4 in 1080p even though the site always complains that I need to install Flash to watch the video.

flibby3655
MAGA
Premium Member
join:2004-12-19
Lompoc, CA

flibby3655 to intok

Premium Member

to intok
I like, thanks!