"Microsoft this week updated its services agreement with subtle, yet potentially significant changes to its policy on privacy and dispute settlement. The company notified users of the changes in an e-mail sent Friday, informing them that the new Terms of Service would go into effect on October 19th. Apparently taking its cue from Google, Microsoft's revised policy allows the company to access and display user content across all of its cloud properties." Microsoft said, when Google announced an identical policy change: "Google is in the midst of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products. Those changes, cloaked in language like 'transparency', 'simplicity', and 'consistency', are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services." Let me guess: no outraged blog posts from the usual suspects this time around.
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Member since:2007-09-22
That is exactly why I've been able to stay away from this, by not getting an Android phone.
It is currently one of the only two reasons I don't use/have an Android phone right now. All the other problems are fixed.
The release of Jelly Bean was the last round that solved some of the previous reasons.
I want to love Google, but they are and always will be privacy problem waiting to happen.
They even offered me a job, I could probably be making more money and have a bigger house or do even more technically interresting work.
But this was one of the reasons I didn't talk to them.
I think free services sponsored by advertising is a great thing. Websites like OSNews for example are great.
I even run a website is sponsored by advertising. Alexa claims OSNews is in the top 30,000 most populair websites worldwide, our site is in the top 40,000.
But I don't want my data analyzed. Google already does that when I do a Google search, but at least that is some what anonymous.
Edited 2012-09-03 16:54 UTC
Member since:2011-01-28
kurkosdr,
"even prepaid credit cards have real names"
I've used some prepaid credit cards, you can buy them as gift certificates over the counter without any questions... Admittedly the last time I used one was in high school, so I guess it's possible that the patriot act has since outlawed untraceable cards?
More to the point of the topic though, google stores a tremendous amount of indirect personal data. The geolocation service built into firefox 3.5 sends google data any time ANY WEBSITE invokes a geolocation query.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Using_geolocation
"Firefox 3.5 includes support for locating you based on your WiFi information using Google Location Services. In the transaction between Firefox 3.5 and Google, data is exchanged including WiFi Access Point data, an access token (similar to a 2 week cookie), and the user's IP address."
In theory, it would be feasible for google to invoke the firefox geolocation API programmatically from their own google analytics and adsense services deployed throughout the web and view the user's proximity to specific WiFi access points.
Opinions may differ as to whether this is a valid privacy concern, however one thing is certain, most users are not aware of how they're being tracked by google even on 3rd party sites (like osnews).
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Member since:
2011-04-11
"that make me glad I don't mix my RL, with my online persona in any meaningful way."
They have a fix for that: Want to buy some apps from our Market? We need you credit card. Now they have you (even prepaid credit cards have real names).
Then there are always carriers that will happily hand over details if it's for their benefit.