# google an oogle..or bing a bum?



## Strangeandsolo (Oct 5, 2019)

Google has suspended its controversial ‘field research’ that allegedly scanned homeless people - https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/4/20899612/google-suspend-pixel-4-facial-scan-atlanta-randstad 

so the short seems app developers offered cash to scan your face. specifically targeted underprivileged and the inexperienced . no mentions of who has the data


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## Older Than Dirt (Oct 5, 2019)

best recent thread title winner!


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## train in vain (Oct 5, 2019)

This is like... the tip of the iceberg. I dont really have time to hunt down links at the moment. Im not really paranoid about these things Im just a very private person so Ive been keeping track the best I can foe years with the little factual info that trickles down. When i get on one people give me that HES A WINGNUT look but the shit i say is facts not some shape shfter ufo conspiracy theory fantasy shit. I wish i had more time...
How do yall really feel about your face being scanned in public places? Or by your phone? Im curious because a lot of people i know dont seem to care at all.


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## Beegod Santana (Oct 6, 2019)

When I got my first laptop about 10 yrs ago the very first thing I did is put electric tape over the webcam, and people wonder why I never take selfies.


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## mouse (Oct 12, 2019)

train in vain said:


> How do yall really feel about your face being scanned in public places? Or by your phone? Im curious because a lot of people i know dont seem to care at all.



Well, there's no expectation of privacy in public so there's not a lot one can do about it. There are countermeasures but I am not that interested. I spend most of my time in the desert or in forest.

I think the whole idea is analagous to the use of shopping rewards cards. Am I willing to share my shopping habits with a store for a discount? Yup.


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## Spazz (Oct 14, 2019)

I've had the same experience, @train in vain. 

I've gone from self-identifying as a "free software activist" to protecting the private personal information of my preferred operating system and internet-connected device.

To make a short story long, I know these facts too and neither of us are surprised, but both of us are at risk of being labeled "paranoid schizophrenics" by those we love and care about enough to try to help.

You can't help anyone from jail or a mental institution. It's all drugs these days, not sitting on a couch telling some stranger about your relationship with your mother.

Google isn't your friend and it is also not a verb. Here's a search engine that doesn't track you if you want to look shit up:

https://search.disroot.org/
an app store where you can download shit without logging into your google account:

https://f-droid.org/
and a VOIP provider that's sort of like the google instant messenger program where you could make calls over wifi when you couldn't pay the bill and your service got cut off:

https://ossguy.com/talks/20171022_radical_networks/
but I need my tinfoil to wrap these burritoes so all y'all are just going to have to make your own hats.


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## mouse (Oct 14, 2019)

noordinaryspider said:


> I've gone from self-identifying as a "free software activist" to protecting the private personal information of my preferred operating system and internet-connected device.



The two ideas don't have to conflict. 




> ...both of us are at risk of being labeled "paranoid schizophrenics" by those we love and care about enough to try to help.



It's a losing battle worthy of Sisyphus. Good opsec/comsec requires understanding, interest, and discipine. Most humans lack those properties. There is a saying about teaching a pig to sing: it accomplishes nothing and annoys the pig. 




> Google isn't your friend and it is also not a verb. Here's a search engine that doesn't track you if you want to look shit up:



I'd say Google is a _partner_, for those who want it. I use duckduckgo.com as default search engine. 




> and a VOIP provider that's sort of like the google instant messenger program where you could make calls over wifi when you couldn't pay the bill and your service got cut off:



I use Google Voice for text/voice over IP, but I understand that's not a good suggestion for folks in this thread.  

Some projects like Serval Mesh don't require an internet backhaul but will use it if it exists. Users can communicate even if local cell towers are disrupted, destroyed, etc. IIRC, it does store&forward so it would be a good tool for folks who get around geographically. Like FidoNet over personal wifi, in a way.


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## Spazz (Oct 14, 2019)

I'm curious how many of you would log on to a Pirate Box?

https://piratebox.cc/faq
and what it says about our society that nobody would trust their neighbour but "all" of us trust Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc.

My music teacher says the new Apple update trashed his battery so bad he has to buy a new phone. I reminded him that the offer of a Librebooted X60 running Trisquel 8.0 still stands but it annoys him just as much as it does the singing pig.

After awhile, you stop sharing and start grunting and saying, "Something like that." and it gets easier to notice that nobody calls your comrade a tinfoil hat nutter when they say things like:

"Text me instead of calling because I left my iphone on the roof when I got gas and trashed the microphone!"

and

"Sorry I didn't call you back! My battery died!"

So you stop trying to explain and you stop trying to help and you just parrot their words or say "Apple updates" and shake your head the next time everybody assumes that everybody already googled it and everybody has to use a smartphpone


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## Spazz (Oct 14, 2019)

But for /u/mouse and anyone else who might be interested in a freer fork of Android:

https://www.replicant.us
< cringe > 

/tinfoil hat nutter


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## mouse (Oct 26, 2019)

I'll try to remember the quote in Dangerous Liasons: "What I'm _saying_ is given certain elementary precautions you can do it (or not) with as many [pirateboxen] you want in as many ways you want".  

I don't have any particular insight into why people trust corporations more than people. Protection in a large herd instinct, maybe? 

I'd never heard of replicant; I might play with it on a backup phone. My devices usually end up on AOSP derivatives like AOKP, LineageOS (nee cyanogenmod) The only downside I see to this kind of firmware is you lose some powersaving optmizations that manufacturers make on specific devices. I prefer them to stock device Android for greater configurability and lack of bloat. I really, really hate bloat. I use cheap older phones with less RAM and lower-powered cpus -- having a simple/clean install really helps them get along. 

I run linux for similar reasons. On my older hardware linux (debian + openbox) fuh-reaking flies and Windoze crawls. My laptop dualboots to linux and win8. Linux updates and upgrades are trivial; windows updates are a death march by comparision. I have no idea why people pay money for such abuse.


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