Research. Google sucks up more personal data than most people could imagine. Even when a Chrome browser is in “incognito” mode, shows new research form Vanderbilt University. Google denies it and tries to miscredit the professor behind. Get a list of alternatives on how to avoid Google.
New research from Douglas C. Schmidt, Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, shows that
- Even when you don’t use your Androd phone Google checks your location 340 times during a 24-hour period, or at an average of 14 data communications per hour.
- An Android device communicates with Google nearly 10 times more frequently as an Apple device communicates with Apple servers.
- Google has the ability to associate anonymous data collected through passive means with the personal information of the user.
- Likewise, the DoubleClick cookie ID—which tracks a user’s activity on the third-party webpages—is another purportedly “user anonymous” identifier that Google can associate to a user’s Google account.
- A major part of Google’s data collection occurs while a user is not directly engaged with any of its products.
The research also compares Google’s Android to Apples IOS, and it seems very true, that Apple takes privacy seriously, as we’ve written before.
Google is trying to miscredit the professor behind the research. It says, that Google takes issue with the report in general, according to AdAge, saying that he once was used as an expert witness on behalf of Oracle in a case against Google, and a spokesman concludes; “So, it’s no surprise that it contains wildly misleading information.”
If you want to get rid of Google, it is a heavy job and worse than getting rid of anything ‘made in China,’ but there are really cool alternatives to all Google’s services. Here’s a specific anti Google guide with some really cool alternatives. And we also have a broader guide to digital selfdefense.
