Google Tracking, Podcast, You Can Turn Off Your Activity Being Recorded

https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout?pli=1

that link in your browser should become your profile.

Dave

There is no place left to hide David.

I have been shying away from google and some social networks, as well as really thinking about what I do and don't do online or electronically for the past year or so.

I recently saw a documentary called, "The Creepy Line" that really made me pull away from most of the google products I had been using.

It's a catch 22, I need to be found by my customers so going off grid is not an option. On the one hand some of us spend lots of money to advertise our warez to the world and on the other we are looking to be anonymous or untraceable.

It's more of the cost of doing business and we pay with less privacy.

I sometimes wonder if my life would be better if I spent virtually no time on the internet at all. It's become an addiction that just consumes my time.

Long before the Internet was something everyone uses, I worked in the direct mail marketing (junk mail) industry. That creepy line was crossed when the first credit cards were issued and someone figured out that they could take the sale and user data to create demographic profiles. Even if you never used the Internet and had no cell phone, you can be easily tracked. So unless you use cash only, never use a store loyalty card, and live entirely off the grid, there is tons of data out there about you that you have no control over. They know what you buy, where you buy it, how often you buy it, where you live, your age, sex, probable health issues, your phone #, rough income, what industry you work in, etc. Far more than most people realize.

And even if are able to hide yourself from Google, every router and every ISP your traffic goes through leaves a trail of where you've been.

This falls hermit collection has come out of the woodwork.

Dave

DB, I could argue that the internet has turned many of us into hermits. I wouldn't even call this "conversation" we are having right here "social" in the true sense of the word.

DK, you are right. The word "social" used in the online context is certainly an oxymoron.

DK,

The alternative would be to do what many of our dads and granddads did, smoke Lucky's in a doughnut shop while kicking each other around.

I think things are getting better in comparison.

Dave

Is the cup half full or half empty?

Or is half a cup more than enough?

If you want a cheaper cup of coffee, I would understand.

Dave

The cup is.


___________
Susan Maxwell Schmidt
So-so Group Moderator,
Sometimes Board Moderator and
Artist Extraordinaire

If my Dad wasn't working he was reading the newspaper, more or less the same with my Grandfather except add family activities and watching football. Neither one hung out at donut shops, coffee shops or bars or whatever, so from my perspective I feel very lazy and unproductive in comparison.

As for the cup, it's neither half full nor half empty, it's simply oversize for requirements.

Requirements are ever changing.

Dave

I'd assume that Google actually has to track you to know not to track you. Otherwise how do they know not to track you? DOJ should have stepped in to stop the DoubleClick acquisition 20 or so years ago. Unless I can find an alternate analytics program it might be time to give in and finally use some Google services. Won't using a proxy like the one built into Opera or a 3rd party plugin proxy help keep you somewhat anonymous online or at least your location?

To a degree Adam. If you are using something on your personal machine your IP address is what identifies your location. A VPN is far better at making you more anonymous. But the hard reality is that even then, at least some online activity is tracked somewhere and can potentially be collected.

BTW, does anyone get together with friends or family and play cards anymore? We honestly haven't done that in years.

Requirements are ever changing.

That is a hard thing for a lot of people to accept. We're all creatures of habit. Change messes up our world. But change is inevitable.

"BTW, does anyone get together with friends or family and play cards anymore? "

Our family used to play board games a lot but it's been a very long time. We see each other on holidays long enough to have dinner, that's about it.

Over Thanksgiving we played a word guessing game with a timer and cards with words and the words you could not say, a sort of pantomime.

My youngest nephew imploded the game at the end. His humor. We were about two hours into it. Three teams, he was leading a last chance tiebreaker. No winner. We went off to sleep.

Dave

Adam,

Google knows I have an android phone. With tracking shut off, Google is not tracking it through time. Google is not wasting its resources. The main reason why? Because we are a country of lawyers.

I maybe lazy at times, but I know a few lawyers who are not lazy.

Dave

David, my family still gets together and plays board games and cards. But my generation is disappearing on this earth, and the next generation is all electronics, I still use a track phone, and buy minutes when I need them. Not that it can't be tracked either. Times have changed. I believe we are born into the generation that suits us, I do not want to be here for the next one. I work on the computer for a couple hours, and than I must go outside. Away from the city, travel while there are still places to travel to.

There is Tor browser for those who need to feel more anonymous and Tor makes it harder to be tracked but it also has it's limitations. Using a vpn to access Tor ads additional layers and makes it harder but still not 100%. I'm pretty certain the US intelligence agencies and law enforcement have it covered, remember Silk Road?

Control is an illusion.

As an artist, control is technique.

Dave

Often the best art happens when the artist loses control