Google to allow ‘device fingerprinting’ by advertisers

[jesusbuiltmycar]

Yet more crap from the poster boy for ‘enstification’

https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/23/uk_ico_not_...

I can only hope that Apple will add further obstacles to frustrate them.

[tangerine_sedge]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

Yet more crap from the poster boy for ‘enstification’

https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/23/uk_ico_not_...

I can only hope that Apple will add further obstacles to frustrate them.

Whatever happened to 'do no evil'?

I've pretty much decided to move away from the Google/Microsoft tech stack over the next few years because of this enforced 'enstification' in which my devices seem to be used for the sole purpose of monetising me and punting adverts that I don't want or need.

I'll likely go Apple for mobile devices and Linux to replace my desktop. That likely means that I'll lose some useful features/apps, but I'm tired of having to reverse/turn off/opt-out of all the tracking/AI st that I don't want whenever I patch/upgrade a device. Both companies seem to have forgotten that the OS is just there to enable the real software/apps to add value to me, not to them.

[grumbledoak]

tangerine_sedge said:

Whatever happened to 'do no evil'?

...

They dropped that claim a long, long time ago.

It's no suprise. Google's entire business model is spying on you.

I decided to migrate off Google a couple years back. It is painful. I still get emails to the old gmail address.

[Condi]

I thought this had been around and in use for years anyway.

[Corso Marche]

It has been.

I try to prevent it as much as possible.
I'm sure there'll be legal intervention to enforce opt-outs.
It's a never ending game of cat and mouse.

[NDA]

Google is the largest media company in the world - they'll do anything to capture your data to sell. This is true of pretty much every other 'free' online service.

I don't mind ads being tailored to me, but I do mind intrusive advertising - YouTube being a good example of ads that ruin the experience. Luckily they're reasonably easy to block.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

The issue is not just Google & Facebook - Microsoft are just as bad - a fresh install of Windows 11 connects to a huge number of data brokers straight out of the box - at my last client (a list x site) some staff even had adverts on the Lock Screen

Brave Browser, Duck-Duck-Go (which is basically Bing) and Apple help - (Apple’s core business is in selling their own ecosystem of unrepairable devices instead of advertising)

I am currently converting all my ‘Internet of Turd’ devices to HomeAssistant and plan to ditch the NEST cameras which have also been enstified ( they now have so much latency even on a fttp connection that they are useless).

Also looking to run either ADGuard Home or PiHole in a VM to block adverts at home. Linus Tech Tips had a series of videos on how to ‘de-google’ … unfortunately YouTube removed them.

[TuonoPants]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

.....

Also looking to run either ADGuard Home or PiHole in a VM to block adverts at home. Linus Tech Tips had a series of videos on how to ‘de-google’ … unfortunately YouTube removed them.

I've run a PiHole for several years and it's brilliant, a great addition to my home network. I would recommend having two so there is a back-up in case of a failure, using an external DNS as the secondary doesn't work as most devices will default to that and avoid the PiHole.

[NDA]

PH has a large number of trackers - it's how it's funded.

[bitchstewie]

I think Apple are broadly better at this than Google but even then I wonder how many people buy the cheapest phone imaginable with little thought to how many built-in apps are sending what data back to the manufacturer.

Realistically I'm not sure this is a big deal.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

bhstewie said:

I think Apple are broadly better at this than Google but even then I wonder how many people buy the cheapest phone imaginable with little thought to how many built-in apps are sending what data back to the manufacturer.

Realistically I'm not sure this is a big deal.

Don’t forget that’s clean install of Microsoft Windows immediately connects to multiple anonymous data brokers the moment it is started!

So called ‘smart tvs’ already have adverts on the pause screen, I have also read that Roku was looking into ads when you pause anything (including your own blu rays / action cam footage etc)

[Funk]

bhstewie said:

I think Apple are broadly better at this than Google but even then I wonder how many people buy the cheapest phone imaginable with little thought to how many built-in apps are sending what data back to the manufacturer.

Realistically I'm not sure this is a big deal.

It's a big deal for those who take privacy seriously - fingerprinting is actually very difficult to avoid and able to uniquely identify your device very accurately. Once you're device is fingerprinted it's really difficult to become anonymous again - in the same way you can't change your actual fingerprints.

This is very bad for privacy.

[bitchstewie]

Kind of my point though.

I get it some people really do take their privacy seriously and are willing to pay to maintain in.

But I think a lot of people moan about privacy whilst using the cheapest sttiest no-name Chinese Android phone they could find on Amazon.

[CloudStuff]

I DGAF, but then again I'm highly regarded.

[NDA]

I have to confess to being a bit nonplussed by the whole privacy thing... what's the worst that could happen?

I assume this is, to a large extent, about browsing history rather than security of banking information.

[119]

I literally couldn't care less.

I mean, it's not as if they haven't been doing it in one form or another for years anyway.