I created a google takeout and in that zip file I found some files containing a ton of data about me. It has logged every single page I visited while using the google search engine and chrome browser. It even logged every single time I opened an app on my old android phone. It even has VOICE RECORDINGS of me and a log of every time I used google assistant. This is just some of the data and I’m very sure there is even more data they have.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. It’s the same with all the big data companies. Everything you type, say or do gets logged and never deleted.
It could be they are collecting and hiding the data, but what they publicly disclose they have certainly varies. My de-google-fication really started when I used google takeout (like the OP here). Excluding things I wanted backed up (e.g. photos), Google still had more than a GB of textual data (this was 7 years ago or so—my memory may be wrong). I use Apple a lot so I went to their “takeout” page. They had a few MB of data pretty much all of which I considered innocuous. I don’t think they are equivalent.
I do agree Facebook probably collects as much data as Google, but I gave that up long ago.
That’s why I’m still in doubt wether to use my fingerprint to unlock my phone. Would be convenient, but where is it stored, who can access it?
Stored locally
are you sure about that?
Anybody with access to your finger, which means they don’t need you to be conscious or even alive to access your phone.
If they have me dead or unconscious my phone is the least of my concerns.
Needing a password/pattern instead makes them want to keep you alive tho. Good opsec.
Totally. I’m not saying it’s better security just that in a situation like that I’m not really worried about what’s going on with my phone.
Thats kinda fucked up. So you dont mind if all the conversations with your friends get published publicly?
You’re not a good friend.
My friends don’t want to use end to end encrypted platforms so it’s one data leak from being public anyway.
Depends if you wanna be remembered as John Smith instead of “Ah Yeah, John Smith the furry midget lover”
Maybe that’s my kink
Smart for many reasons as people listed here. Your fourth amendment rights to your phone also go out the window when you use biometrics like fingerprint. PIN/password is protected, fingerprint/face scan is not. Backwards world we’re in, huh?
Its not everything. Thats hyperbolic. Metadata is usually more profitable then the data itself.
Not literally everything. But if you’re sending unencrypted data via internet, even data you may not be aware of. It’s likely being stored by some company.