Technology

Is that a quote from the article? I feel compelled to add that, wrt mobile devices, it is possible to live without Google Play Services.

Twinsies

I dont understand... Its describing what android does. How can that be rage bait?

Nobody will rage over any of this. Its common knowledge already. Its the same thing that has been discussed for years.

Yeah this is what passes for tech journalism nowadays

This is a good tip, but what will stop working or start acting up and is this guaranteed to survive reboots, upgrades?

Are these the only packages Google uses for this purpose?

Doing this Bricked my phone.

Part of the problem with this stuff is that the corporations using it are very hush-hush about what exactly they use it for. The privacy policy just lists what they may collect (everything) and what they may use it for (anything).

I disagree that we need to find mismanagement first.

Never mind that Google is 100% opaque from outside and is not subject to inspections by its users.

Even if Google had an open door policy inviting and empowering any and all citizen auditors, I would still disagree that Google gets the benefit of doubt by default, and only after something blows up can we begin asserting our interests.

I think we can assert our interests any time, for any reason, and for no reason at all, with arbitrary aggressiveness, limited only by our own practical considerations.

Instead of waiting for things to go wrong, we can protect our interests before there is even a chance of things going wrong.

Can.

Will we? Each person has to consider their situation pragmatically, but if they considered everything and decided to assert themselves, we would be idiots to insist Google gets the first dibs, they have the initiative, and so how dare we want to limit Google in any way without first PROVING harm. Horse. Shit.

I take the same view toward any monopolies in general. We should not bother proving harm. We should break all monopolies as a matter of principle, even if they are "harmless."

And Google shound be given as close to zero information as possible. As a matter of principle.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

When you open the maps indoor you get immedieate location. This is not from GPS but from Wifi and cell tower data. This is only possible because your phone constatly transmits your location and network data. You can also call it surveilance because its 24/7 logging and processing of your location data.

Is Google Play Services sampling your location so that it can send it in to Google HQ as part of a secret location tracking operation that runs without user consent or knowledge, or so that it can detect if the device has been stolen by the cops and use its proprietary ML model to activate anti-theft mode to protect the user’s privacy?

They're the same picture.

If we can actually show mismanagement of user data by Google Play Services, we need to shout it to the hills

We can, and many have been for many years.

If you don't collect the data in the first place, there's nothing to mismanage.

Rather than users having to prove that Google is mismanaging OUR data, Google should prove it has a need to collect, aggregate, and sell access to that data beyond surveillance capitalism.

The default option should be that only fully anonymized data that is essential to device functions should be collected, and this should be validated through an independent audit. Everything else should be opt-in.