What The Heck, Google (Part 4)

Google Automatically Logs Users Into Chrome 😕

Read More: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

So these articles just keep becoming easier and easier to write. Every week there’s a new claim against Google and how it is letting its users down. I came across this post on Reddit earlier today:

This week’s issue with Google involves the latest Chrome update. Matthew Green, a cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University, explains that Chrome is now automatically logging users into the browser if they log in to any other Google service.

So if you are using Chrome and sign into Gmail, for example, you are automatically signed into Chrome. This presents privacy issues of its own, but the fact that it’s done automatically and potentially without user knowledge makes it worse.

“It’ll do this without asking, or even explicitly notifying you.”

Why You Shouldn’t Log In To Your Browser (Or Search Engine)

Logging in to any website or online service makes tracking you much easier. If you aren’t logged in, tracking involves more guess work and doesn’t link your activity to your name or email address. If you’re logged in though, not only can you more easily be tracked, all of the information can be linked directly to your profile.

If you log into Chrome it lets Google add all of your browsing history and search history on Google to your My Activity page.

Matthew Green’s post included:

While Chrome will now log into your Google account without your consent (following a Gmail login), Chrome will not activate the “sync” feature that sends your data to Google. That requires an additional consent step. So in theory your data should remain local.

…In theory.

Unfortunately with Google’s recent track record of very little transparency, it’s hard to know how Google uses your data. The company has billions of users, and has been using shady tactics to collect as much information as possible from them.

Data privacy is a big problem with Google — especially when Google itself is deceiving users into opting in to being tracked.

Data Privacy Concerns with Google_Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has a market cap of $712 billion. Within Google’s range of products, there are seven…_hackernoon.com

Use Alternative Products to Google

Rather than taking extensive measures to protect your data from Google, it’s probably simpler to just use different services. If you’ve been using Google’s products for a long time it may seem difficult, but there are plenty of reliable alternatives.

I Stopped Using Google As My Search Engine, Here’s Why…_So I consciously made the decision to stop using Google, partly as an experiment and partly because I thought (and…_medium.com

The Best Private Search Engines — Alternatives to Google_Private search engines have seen huge growth over the past few years. Until recently, it was unthinkable that anyone…_hackernoon.com

Thanks for reading!

Read Part 1, 2 and 3

What The Heck, Google? (Part 1)_So Google has a version of its search engine in the works for China. However, this version is/will be openly censored…_hackernoon.com

What The Heck, Google? (Part 2)_So last week I was concerned about Google creating a censorship-friendly version of its search engine for the Chinese…_hackernoon.com

What The Heck, Google? (Part 3)_I’ve written a couple of these stories before, unfortunately. But here it goes again._hackernoon.com