I suspect that it's because, for most users, Google stays in the background. I mean, Google hasn't been very successful at social media. Sure, many (even most) people interact with Google-managed ads, use Gmail, search with Google, use Google Docs, and so on. And Google gets tons of data from all that. But there's nothing like Facebook or Twitter. Where people share, influence, and get influenced. Google's impact is subtler. You maybe see different ads on sites. You get different search results. Also, Google has done a far better job at hanging on to its data
Google being subtle actually should be more of a concern to users who value their privacy. Seems to me they have their "tenticles" everywhere you go on the web. DNS servers, web browser, email, videos,(Youtube) Multi-scan engine, (Virus Total) Search engine, Google Maps, apps, Docs, Google Analytics and the list goes on and on. Question is Why would you want them hanging onto your data in the first place?
Hey, I was just riffing on "so why aren’t we talking about [Google]" I agree that it's a concern. But then, that's why I compartmentalize, use nested VPN chains, and so on. One reason, anyway.
Chaining VPN's. How are you paying for these VPN providers while remaining anonymous? Cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, gift cards or some other way. Your also assuming that the VPN provider is being completely honest about their logging policy. AFAIK you cannot set up recurring payments when using an anonymous payment method. You have to pay manually each time a payment is due to the VPN provider. Google should be on everyones radar about their tracking methods and the data they collect. Same goes for Facebook. Got a laugh when I saw "How to protect yourself from Google Data Collection" in a search. Link led to forum where moderator posted all you need to do is watch this Youtube video with the link to Youtube.
Don't forget Google has also infested Android devices with their spyware. If you pull up any of the built apps in settings/apps to view it's permissions and click on the three little dots to show ALL permissions, you will realize the entire device is set up to be nothing but a spying tool that also functions as a phone. Google people are human filth. The lowest of the low.
I pay with Bitcoin. Thoroughly mixed for anonymity. It's all explained in my IVPN how-to guides. Basically, I pay each VPN from a distinct cache of Bitcoin. Each Bitcoin cache is isolated from the others by two different mixing services. Each main Bitcoin cache, and also each mixing stage, lives in a separate Whonix instance. As you can imagine, I have many Whonix instances. No, I make no assumptions about the honesty of VPN providers. That's the whole point of chaining VPNs. Let's say that I connect through a nested chain of three VPNs. Any one of them knows where my traffic comes from, and where it goes to. But in order for adversaries to connect me to my online activity, they would need to gain cooperation from (or compromise) all three VPNs. That's the same idea as Tor circuits. Except that nested VPN chains are static, of course. But then, I don't count on nested VPN chains for substantial anonymity. Or indeed, for anonymity at all. Just for pseudonymity, as in Mirimir. For deeper pseudonymity and anonymity, I use Tor (that is, Whonix instances) through nested VPN chains. For extreme cases, I use Whonix instances that connect through different nested VPN chains. So if Tor leaks, adversaries don't see the same nested VPN chain that Mirimir, or another Whonix instance, uses. Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize That's true. So I pay annually.
@mirimir Probably a real stupid question, but how you chain VPNs? Also, I know you're not at all a fan or Browser extension VPNs, but can they also be chained?
Hey, I wrote the guides for IVPN to explain all that See my sig for a link. I use virtual machines (VMs) in VirtualBox. Basically, there's a pfSense VM running each VPN client. Plus a VPN client in the host, which is the first in all chains. In each pfSense VPN-gateway VM, the VPN connects through WAN, and LAN is outbound NATed through the VPN tunnel. That's just like you'd setup a physical router. To chain VPNs, you daisy chain pfSense VMs, attaching the WAN of #2 to the same VirtualBox internal network as the LAN of #1, and so on. It's just like plugging one physical router into another with an ethernet cable. That is, it's multiple NAT. You can also do it all in one machine, without VMs. Basically, you have iptables rules that handle all the NAT forwarding. That is, tun0 via eth0, tun1 via tun0, tun2 via tun1, etc. And also iptables rules to block all packets except those through the desired NATing path. I wouldn't try it with browser VPNs.
@mirimir From what I read Bitcoin isn't entirely anonymous as it's possible, though difficult, to track payments to wallets and match those wallets with your location. Also there may be no way to undo or cancel a bitcoin transaction. Isn't there also a transaction mining fee? Whonix may be more complicated to setup for the novice user and requires lots of ram and modern hardware that supports virtualization technology. Also requires admin/root privleges. Good choice though because of the isolation. If I understand correctly One VM runs the OS and browser and the other VM is responsible for running Tor and acts as a gateway to the Internet. If your system ever became compromized then wouldn't any stored data and/or browser activity be found? Although you could snapshot a clean VM image and clone a new copy for each use. Now where was I going. Oh yes, this thread is about Google and personal data. How do we tie this all together to keep on subject?
Yes, Bitcoin itself is not at all anonymous. All transactions using a given wallet are easily linked, in the public blockchain. That's why, for anything like anonymity, it's crucial to work through Tor. And to mix Bitcoin multiple times, through different mixing services. And yes, it's virtually impossible to cancel transactions. That's a feature, not a bug There are transaction fees. But now that most of the crazies have left, they're reasonable again, and transactions are faster. I guess that I'm no expert on "complicated". Using Whonix is easier than installing an OS. It comes as VirtualBox appliances. Which you just import, and then run. Yes, you need "modern hardware". But both quad-core Core 2 and i5 work fine. You can run a few VMs with 4GB RAM, but 6-8GB RAM is better. Whonix needs ~250MB for the Tor gateway VM, and ~1200MB for the workstation VM. If it's your machine, you have root. Except on macOS, but hey. Yes. So the workstation VM, with the browser, can get pwned, but the gateway VM will prevent adversaries from getting your ISP-assigned IP address. Unless they can do guest-to-host breakout, anyway. That's why there's nothing about my real identity is my VM hosts. And why I compartmentalize sensitive stuff in dedicated hosts. Some of which access the Internet through nested VPN chains on other hosts. Yes. And that's why my hosts are LUKS encrypted. Snapshots are very useful for testing stuff. Yeah, this is all overkill re Google etc
To me it's about the nature of a service. It's a no-brainer that Google probably monitors all of my searches and sites that I visit via Google Search. But apparently I'm cool with this because I still haven't switched. However, no company has any business trying to track all sites that I visit with sneaky tracking buttons, like Facebook does for example. Not to forget about certain anti-virus and browser developers who are also monitoring every site that you visit.
Google tracking through Firefox browser. Firefox Quantum switched from using Bing to Google as its default search engine. From Firefox 57+, each browser update will switch the default search engine back to Google. Google Safe Browsing extension built-in and enabled by default. This means that Google is constantly able to track you. When you visit a “location-aware” website you will be asked if you want to share your location. If you answer yes Firefox will send information about nearby wireless access points and your computer’s IP address to Google Location Service and then pass that information on to the website. (a random client identifier is also assigned by Google, which expires every 2 weeks).
If you care about privacy, your machine should not have a public ISP-assigned IP address. Or have any way of discovering it. And having WiFi enabled would be a really bad idea. Just sayin'
These are some interesting articles about data collection from Apple, Facebook and Google: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...e-everything-had-me-heres-what-got/558362002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...-all-my-facebook-data-what-learned/471787002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...ownload-google-data-how-what-found/473227002/
For some reason they are pushing hard for this location thing. It's like every app "needs" location information. Some even refuse to work unless it has location permissions even though it is not necessary to have location info to send someone a message and they are constantly trying to find extra ways to get location even though the phones already have GPS. Why do they need several different ways to get the internet users precise location unless it is to bypass the users informed choice to say no, and what is the reason for it? Why are they investing in researching new ways to know each user's precise location within 2mtrs? There is no innocent reason for that.
