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by tgv 458 days ago
By their own admission, "not only does Google collect your name and email address, Google also collects your physical address, your exact location, your contacts, advertising data, product interaction, search, and browsing history." [1] And that's Chrome (a Safari wrapper at that moment) on iOS. You may assume they collect at least as much on platforms they own.

[1] https://techstartups.com/2021/03/18/google-finally-revealed-...
1 comments
phailhaus 457 days ago
But Chrome is not "collecting" this information secretly. Users are voluntarily giving this information to associate with their Google account. Chrome "collects" your physical address because it gives you the option of saving what "Home" is to your account, and a lot of people like that feature, so they use it.
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tgv 455 days ago
That's not the point in this discussion, IMO.

Besides which, we probably differ a great deal about "voluntarily giving." To me, it sounds like the defense of the mob. "These people gave us their money voluntarily. Ask them!"

> Chrome "collects" your physical address because

Because it reads your IP address and Wifi access point, and can compare that to a list of known ip addresses and access points, which they collect with their Maps cars.

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consteval 456 days ago
Voluntary is a tricky word. Choice isn’t binary, in fact it’s not even discrete.

They’re subtly, in millions of ways, most predating the Internet, manipulated into making that choice. And, more importantly, believing they willingly made that choice.

Consumer behavior is complex and is the result of hundreds of years of technology and economic growth. If I plop some hypothetical human who is on his first day on Earth, he probably wouldn’t make that choice.

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phailhaus 456 days ago
At some point, the user has to take responsibility. If you ask Google to save your home address, you can't then turn around and go "Chrome is collecting my physical address!!"
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consteval 455 days ago
The responsibility can, and should, be spread between all responsible parties, not just concentrated at the end-point.

This requires a reframing of how responsibility is thought about in the US, but we do think this way sometimes. We kneecapped many industries we’ve felt have influenced poor choices in individuals.

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