Letting Google take over your entire life ( Snowden )

Paco Dennis said:
Must watch (14 minutes)

Click to expand...
I haven't watched the video yet, but a few months ago I looked into what it would take, and to be honest, I was not willing to go through it. Google is like a "super octopus" with what seems like billions of tentacles reaching everything internet ;( I know I exaggerate, maybe, but just overwhelmed me at the time. Still does just to think about it. I know I don't have much info anyone would want, but it's "out there" for the pickings, if anyone wanted it, already.

I think if you've kept your personal stuff offline you are a lot smarter than I've been (banking, opinions, photos of family (thank God no children though, ever). I'll go look at the video, then read some other replies ;)
 
I haven't watched the video yet, either, but my online life is pretty much Google-centric. I use the Chrome browser, gmail, I store a bunch of information on Google Drive and use Google Docs for all sorts of things. My phone uses the Android OS, which is open source, but developed by Google.

I'm just too lazy to use other software and I don't really do anything where I care if they have my info, as long as they protect it, but they do sell my browsing history as evidenced by the ads that show up whenever I do a search for some product.

I'll watch the video this afternoon.
 

Yes, lazy factors into my decision not to change at this point. It's just a huge undertaking to change to all the other resources which I don't recall at this time, but it was, really, a massive job.

There's also the "monopolies" we see happening when new alternative arise and next thing you know, they've been bought out, or at the least, linked up with the biggies in the tech world. After all, I think a lot of people are ready to sell out if the price is right.
 
One thing you can do is use the duckduckgo search engine. They are very strict about privacy.

On my phone, I use the duckduckgo browser. You can put some sort of block on each website you visit, so they don't take information from your phone or put it on there. Unfortunately, it is only for phones. Google Play Store is where I got it.

On my laptops (both Windows and Ubuntu), I use bleachbit to clean my computer. It is pretty amazing how much stuff is on there from visiting even a single website. Now, don't go crazy with it if you don't know what one of the options means. I basically clean Firefox and my system and Thunderbird, plus Ubuntu trash after they update. You can also have data overwritten so it cannot be retrieved. Apparently, according to bleachbit's website, Hilary Clinton used their program on her computers.

I also use the free version of CCleaner on my phone and Windows laptop. I've been using it for years, and it has never harmed my phone or computer.

This is not the end of it. I saved a couple of articles from the Washington Post about things to do to secure the privacy of one's computer. I am one of those people who thinks that privacy when online should be guaranteed, unless one opts out (without any punishment -- like being blocked from websites).

I do have a VPN, after researching which ones do not report their data to the US and other country's governments. I need to find one more suited to ubuntu. Mine works great on Windows. I am the next step up from Ubuntu illiterate - I only know what I figured out. I'm actually going to have to break down and read the directions (books for beginners).
 
WheatenLover said:
One thing you can do is use the duckduckgo search engine. They are very strict about privacy.

On my phone, I use the duckduckgo browser. You can put some sort of block on each website you visit, so they don't take information from your phone or put it on there. Unfortunately, it is only for phones. Google Play Store is where I got it.

On my laptops (both Windows and Ubuntu), I use bleachbit to clean my computer. It is pretty amazing how much stuff is on there from visiting even a single website. Now, don't go crazy with it if you don't know what one of the options means. I basically clean Firefox and my system and Thunderbird, plus Ubuntu trash after they update. You can also have data overwritten so it cannot be retrieved. Apparently, according to bleachbit's website, Hilary Clinton used their program on her computers.

I also use the free version of CCleaner on my phone and Windows laptop. I've been using it for years, and it has never harmed my phone or computer.

This is not the end of it. I saved a couple of articles from the Washington Post about things to do to secure the privacy of one's computer. I am one of those people who thinks that privacy when online should be guaranteed, unless one opts out (without any punishment -- like being blocked from websites).

I do have a VPN, after researching which ones do not report their data to the US and other country's governments. I need to find one more suited to ubuntu. Mine works great on Windows. I am the next step up from Ubuntu illiterate - I only know what I figured out. I'm actually going to have to break down and read the directions (books for beginners).
Click to expand...

@WheatenLover, You're certainly on the right track, using duckduckgo instead of Google, Linux instead of Windows etc. Ubuntu is very user friendly, most operations can be done within the GUI, just like Windows. A VPN is important, as is a secure browser. TOR is the most "paranoid" browser out there, I'm installing Brave web browser on my Linux machines, my one Windows set up is not allowed on the internet...I have disabled the Ethernet driver.
I see you use Bleachbit, that does find and overwrite the "deleted" data and the tons of web bits & pieces stored on your drive. One utility that is launched in Terminal is Testdisk, which can be used to recover files. I'll run Testdisk sometimes to check and see if Bleachbit missed anything.
 
I use duckduckgo and have for a long time now. But I still use Google for certain things and for maps. And I certainly don't use Microsoft products if I can help it.

It is too late for me to worry about what Google has about me as I have been writing blogs since the first ones came out on Yahoo. I have sold online on many different sites and wanted to promote my products and blogs. I am an open book as far as Google goes. Now if all they want is to sell me stuff, I don't even care.

I will watch the video later. Thanks for sharing it though.
 
Nathan said:
One utility that is launched in Terminal is Testdisk, which can be used to recover files. I'll run Testdisk sometimes to check and see if Bleachbit missed anything.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip. I'll start using it, too.

My cheap Windows laptop is only for using Quicken and TurboTax. I hardly ever go on the internet from it. I tried using various Linux programs instead of Quicken, but they were not nearly as easy to use as Quicken is. I have not updated the data in Quicken for over a year, though, and I doubt I will do so in the future. Now that my husband is mostly retired, it is easy to do his accounting by hand.
 
Paco Dennis said:
Must watch (14 minutes)

Click to expand...
Why's it snowing in the video? :unsure:

I forgot to list another platform where Google is taking over our lives. It's the one hosting the video! Google owns YouTube!

Here's an example of someone getting screwed from saying something stupid on line, although she deserves it. This woman said there's no way she's going to jail for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection because she's blond and white. The judge gave her two months! :ROFLMAO:
https://www.politicususa.com/2021/1...-her-out-of-jail-gets-2-months-in-prison.html
 
Irwin said:
Why's it snowing in the video? :unsure:

I forgot to list another platform where Google is taking over our lives. It's the one hosting the video! Google owns YouTube!

Here's an example of someone getting screwed from saying something stupid on line, although she deserves it. This woman said there's no way she's going to jail for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection because she's blond and white. The judge gave her two months! :ROFLMAO:
https://www.politicususa.com/2021/1...-her-out-of-jail-gets-2-months-in-prison.html
Click to expand...
Lol, another entitled "genius". Too bad she didn't get more than just a light slap on the wrist.
 

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