Google and all your data are belong to us

  • Thread starter Thread starter LiE
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Gigabit said:
How strange, I was just thinking about this issue.

I've become a bit privacy-conscious as of late, I think it was Apple's approach at WWDC that has spurred on my trying to remove myself from the Google ecosystem. Admittedly it isn't that difficult as I use mainly Apple products. Switching my email to iCloud is pretty easy - except the iOS Mail App seems to be crap with notifications - and things like Photos crossed over fine too. The only thing is search. I've tried DuckDuckGo but it's just a bit pants - I guess that's the amount of data Google has though.

The only thing I can't live without from Google, is Waze. I'm too locked in to how good it is.

Can I trust Apple? No, probably not. But their business model is not making money from you via advertising so I feel I can trust them more than Google. What I find most frustrating about Google is how you can't seem to selectively opt out of anything, it seems to be all or nothing.

I work in Software Engineering so I'm aware data is needed for AI, etc. but I do sometimes feel the amount Google has is unnecessary. Apple seems to have far less and yet most of their services seem to work far better, except Siri of course.
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You can opt out of each category separate.
 
LiE said:
I've covered this above. They provide services to you that are funded by your data.
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They are funded many ways advertising being a big one, as for providing services why do collect so much data from your phone? you have purchased that phone.
 
itchy said:
You can opt out all you want but the will be a bit stream reader active all the time.

It could be base 2,10 or 16 but you can be assured its getting looked at. ;)
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I have no idea what you're on about.
 
I'm always surprised how much data google does have on many people - with a few simple tweaks they have about 37KB on me mostly profile pictures while several real life acquaintances it runs into the 100s of MB or even GB of all kinds of data.
 
itchy said:
VPN is not safe mate as the will be a specific code that connects you to the internet.

All VPN providers say its safe and secure but its not. Nothing is totally secure these days unfortunately. :(

Tor is ok-ish as it moves you around the world but even that can be compromised.
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This is just wrong. Sure, certain protocols have their weaknesses, but PPTP is not the only game in town. NordVPN use openvpn by default, which does not suffer from the same issues you're talking about. Although you're right in saying that nothing is breach proof, using the proper algorithms, with correct implementation (strong passwords) , is safe, in that with current and near future technology, it is unbreakable in anything close to a realistic timeframe (talking, millions of years). The only thing that can really get around a decent VPN is a compromised device.
 
Zefan said:
This is just wrong. Sure, certain protocols have their weaknesses, but PPTP is not the only game in town. NordVPN use openvpn by default, which does not suffer from the same issues you're talking about. Although you're right in saying that nothing is breach proof, using the proper algorithms, with correct implementation (strong passwords) , is safe, in that with current and near future technology, it is unbreakable in anything close to a realistic timeframe (talking, millions of years). The only thing that can really get around a decent VPN is a compromised device.
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Anyone can packet sniff with the right hardware and software nothing is safe.

A packet analyzer (also known as a packet sniffer) is a computer program or piece of computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic that passes over a digital network or part of a network. ... A packet analyzer used for intercepting traffic on wireless networks is known as a wireless analyzer or WiFi analyzer.

Am out as I am tired.
 
itchy said:
Anyone can packet sniff with the right hardware and software nothing is safe.

A packet analyzer (also known as a packet sniffer) is a computer program or piece of computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic that passes over a digital network or part of a network. ... A packet analyzer used for intercepting traffic on wireless networks is known as a wireless analyzer or WiFi analyzer.

Am out as I am tired.
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I know exactly what a network analyzer is, I work in IT and I passed a Cisco cybersecurity exam yesterday. Being able to capture and analyze the stuff going across your LAN in wireshark means nothing on its own, the fact that you believe this is somehow an important point shows that you don't really grasp the concepts that you need to to understand the whys and hows of how this all works.

I suggest googling a bit further about asymmetric and symmetric encryption. Understanding these will help you realise that proper use of these techniques (such as those used in decent VPNs) will protect the confidentiality of the communication from the endpoint all the way to the VPN provider.
 
Zefan said:
This is just wrong. Sure, certain protocols have their weaknesses, but PPTP is not the only game in town. NordVPN use openvpn by default, which does not suffer from the same issues you're talking about. Although you're right in saying that nothing is breach proof, using the proper algorithms, with correct implementation (strong passwords) , is safe, in that with current and near future technology, it is unbreakable in anything close to a realistic timeframe (talking, millions of years). The only thing that can really get around a decent VPN is a compromised device.
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Yeah I use OpenVPN, I think pretty much every provider offers OpenVPN. You can create a VPN connection with OpenVPN to your own personal dedicated server, this has the benefit of not being detected as a VPN by websites like Netflix so you can still stream videos.

itchy said:
How can I phrase it?

Keep peeling an onion and eventually you get to the middle so to say.

Obviously its only if you up to naughty stuff, porn and the odd none PC post on a forum is nothing. But you can be tracked no matter what.

Its called PPTP Point Tunneling Protocol, its the connection port your PC is using and can be traced back.

found a good link. ;)

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2547058/networking/10-tips-to-secure-client-vpns.html
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I won't address your comment on PPTP as Zefan has already made a good explanation but "naughty stuff" now includes looking at consensual porn under the "extreme porn" law which basically oppresses the gay community and has seen people prosecuted for having sex in tiger costumes. The politicians in government are zealots who want to impose their moral views onto the public, I think it is mental not to use a VPN service in such a hostile state.
 
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Zefan said:
I know exactly what a network analyzer is, I work in IT and I passed a Cisco cybersecurity exam yesterday. Being able to capture and analyze the stuff going across your LAN in wireshark means nothing on its own, the fact that you believe this is somehow an important point shows that you don't really grasp the concepts that you need to to understand the whys and hows of how this all works.

I suggest googling a bit further about asymmetric and symmetric encryption. Understanding these will help you realise that proper use of these techniques (such as those used in decent VPNs) will protect the confidentiality of the communication from the endpoint all the way to the VPN provider.
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Yeah that user seems a bit lost. With a VPN or something E2E encrypted like WhatsApp (whether you trust Facebook at the other end is another story), you can see data is being transferred, just not what is being transferred. Heck, even HTTPS traffic would not be identifiable with Wireshark.

This is why the Government wants to "ban" encryption, precisely because they cannot look at data in this way.
 
Zefan said:
I know exactly what a network analyzer is, I work in IT and I passed a Cisco cybersecurity exam yesterday. Being able to capture and analyze the stuff going across your LAN in wireshark means nothing on its own, the fact that you believe this is somehow an important point shows that you don't really grasp the concepts that you need to to understand the whys and hows of how this all works.

I suggest googling a bit further about asymmetric and symmetric encryption. Understanding these will help you realise that proper use of these techniques (such as those used in decent VPNs) will protect the confidentiality of the communication from the endpoint all the way to the VPN provider.
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Right sniffer and algorithmic software you can grab anything.

As for asymmetric that's incorrect information as for symmetric its the same. 1 key or 2.

Steganography is the way but its bloody hard to put together so to say on the internet.
 
itchy said:
Right sniffer and algorithmic software you can grab anything.

As for asymmetric that's incorrect information as for symmetric its the same. 1 key or 2.

Steganography is the way but its bloody hard to put together so to say on the internet.
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You can grab it all you like, but when it was pre-encrypted on the sending device with AES256 or above, what are you going to do with it, exactly?
 
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