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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy You Suddenly Need To Delete Google Chrome
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Why you suddenly need to quit Google Chrome
While Facebook steals the headlines, Google alarming new update that hasnt yet made headlines puts Chromes 2.6 billion users at risk of surveillance, manipulation and abuse.
Why You Suddenly Need To Delete Google Chrome
Billions of users warned to quit Chrome as new tracking nightmare comes true...
forbes.com
6:16 AM · Oct 2, 2021
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2021/10/02/stop-using-google-chrome-on-windows-10-android-and-apple-iphones-ipads-and-macs/?sh=6d81630a2f30
An alarming new update from Google that hasnt yet made headlines has suddenly put Chromes 2.6 billion users at risk of surveillance, manipulation and abuse. If youre one of those users, this nasty new surprise just gave you a reason to quit.
Chrome has serious issues when it comes to protecting your security and your privacy. The worlds leading browser has issued one urgent fix after another this year, as high-risk exploits have been found in the wild; and just a few weeks ago, Google finally admitted it had accidentally allowed millions of users to be secretly tracked.
Google says it wants to change, to put your privacy first, that web tracking is now out of control and has resulted in an erosion of trust. But as DuckDuckGo warns, its all noise until Google actually agrees to collect less data and do less behavioral targeting.
The latest tracking nightmare for Chrome users comes in two parts. First, Google has ignored security warnings and launched a new Chrome API to detect and report when youre idle, i.e., not actively using your device. Apple warns this is an obvious privacy concern, and Mozilla that its too tempting an opportunity for surveillance.
*snip*

Dawson Leery
(19,424 posts)MineralMan
(148,885 posts)I notice in that article that no details are provided regarding exactly how this new update makes Google more dangerous.
Why is that, do you suppose?
ancianita
(40,314 posts)And wonder, too.
lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)ancianita
(40,314 posts)I've used Microsoft, Firefox, Chrome, and am now on Safari. It's really not the browser, just the user. I'm clear of ads but had tracking; now that I'm on a newer OS with Mac Air I'm apparently, though not certain, I'm free of tracking.
I'll look into Linux and bravo.
lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)I am impressed how lightning fast, how free of algorithmic "suggestions" that tend to be way off the mark anyhow: sick of seeing the likes of "since you're interested in politics look at this FOX NEWS, NEWSMAX or OAN snippet!!" one after another. Screw that game of whack-a-mole. Google's browsers had it's heyday, but I'm through.
Frankly I don't care what information they "collect", nothing to hide here. But the algorithmic profiling designed to sell you crap has gone way out of hand.
I agree it's not specifically "dangerous", just annoying and rendered my site-linked email address useless, flooded with SPAM lock stock, barrel. I created a new "professional" email to keep relatively clean, and relegated the old one as a "shopping" email, Let it flood, I can bulk "delete". But I need to find really important professional stuff without sorting through hundreds of ads hourly. That's the "danger" they're referring to. Sorry, lost the link to that info, it was over a month ago, prior to wiping out my OS and Chrome.
LeftInTX
(32,761 posts)I had it for awhile, but I have some tech skills
Pinback
(13,161 posts)I use it on Mac and iOS. Firefox ismuch better than Chrome for privacy as well.
I've een avoiding Google and Chrome for years, ever since I found out the extent of their surveillance. For those are willing to invest a small amount of effort, it's fairly easy to improve online security and privacy.
LeftInTX
(32,761 posts)I'm having problems with Firefox. It's turned into a resource hog. When I shut it down, it takes almost 15 minutes to get it going. again. Once it starts going it's great, but then if I go to site like google maps or any GIS site Firefox slows to a crawl, then eventually won't load pages. I've been with Firefox for 15 years, but I've been using Chrome more and more because certain websites are loading slowly in Firefox.
AnnetteChaffee
(1,980 posts)i like chrome, and don't want to delete it if there is another way. I wonder if there is any place that shows you how to opt out of the tracking, and other violations of privacy?
ismnotwasm
(42,631 posts)Maybe I should get a private server .oh wait
dalton99a
(88,239 posts)Google Drive suggestions in Chrome could raise antitrust red flags
That hasnt stopped Google from still trying anyway. It just announced yet another integration between its Chrome browser and Google Drive that, on its own, looks pretty harmless. Building on an announcement in 2019, Google is now showing suggestions to Drive files in Chromes New Tab Page. The idea is to save end user time and mental load to navigate to relevant files, as long as those files are on Google Drive.
This, however, is just the latest in a series of new features, both official and still in testing, that put Googles other services and products at the forefront of the Chrome browser experience. Google just announced the integration of Lens and more Search features into Chrome on desktop and mobile. There are even clues that Chrome would soon offer a Search side panel as an incentive to use Search with Chrome rather than other search engines.
The Chrome and Drive integration will even be enabled by default for all users, including Google Workspace customers as well as those with personal Google accounts. While convenient for many users, there will be rival companies and regulators that will argue that Chrome as a Web browser shouldnt be intricately tied to Googles other products or at least offer the same access to rivals like Dropbox, Bing, and the like.
MineralMan
(148,885 posts)in its cloud. Google wants me to store things in Drive. I don't use either. I have a 1 terabyte hard drive on my desktop PC, and a 128 gigabyte thumb drive I use for backup purposes for important files. I also have a 1 terabyte external drive that I copy my entire PC drive to once a week. I don't store anything on my phone, except long enough to send it to my PC. I have a couple of tablets, but I don't store anything on them, either.
I have no use for anyone's cloud, so I don't use any of those. I don't use DropBox, either.
It's my PC and my data. That means that security is my job. I don't trust third parties with it.
Does Google track my Internet usage? Sure. I find that pretty useful, actually. My Internet usage is really, really boring.
ancianita
(40,314 posts)thumb drives, too. No password storage or service, etc. It's about my privacy on my terms.
ShazzieB
(20,274 posts)I've been using Chrome for years now. Originally switched when one of my favorite websites stopped working properly on Firefox. I can't even remember what the problem was now, but I had been a loyal Firefox fan up until then.
Once I tried Chrome, I liked it so much that I started using it for everything and have never looked back. At this point, it would take a lot more than the vague threats in that article make me consider switching back. You'd have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands!
LeftInTX
(32,761 posts)I'm switching gradually.
Every time I close Firefox, it takes forever to load, so I open Chrome and do my business. 15 minutes later, Firefox is working..LOL..So, I go back and forth. However, it seems that many sites are just plain old slow on Firefox and then eventually moves to a crawl pace.
Star-Thrower
(309 posts)the cloud. As for Chrome I abandoned all things Google years ago. I use Firefox as my browser and Duck Duck Go for searches.
LeftInTX
(32,761 posts)I had turned it off in January, but then after a Sept Windows Update, it suddenly turned on. Then my files all disappeared from my HD, gosh...nothing but a headache. I think I'm figuring out how to retrieve my files from One Drive and keep them local and stop the sync but it's such a headache and time consuming! Instructions are not the easiest.
Of course the One Drive is already full at 5 GB and it's a huge resource hog. I hate it.
LeftInTX
(32,761 posts)Last edited Sat Oct 2, 2021, 09:41 PM - Edit history (2)
What an ordeal...
One Drive had put a bunch in my Recycle Bin and restored those, but those were from 2017-Nov 12, 2020. They have a modified date, but no created date.
Then, I had another group from when I reinstalled Windows on November 13th, 2020 - March 13th, 2021. They have all have correct created date, but are all modified on Oct 2, 2021
Then another group from March 13th until today. They have correct modification dates, but all show they were created on Aug 20, 2021 or Oct 2, 2021...
So I've got three folders...
What a mess!
And if stupid One Drive is enabled, you can't do local back ups..
What an ordeal...I hate that thing. And you don't notice that it's on, unless you work on documents etc. Even if it gets turned on accidentally for one minute, I will have to go through this ordeal all over again.
Maeve
(43,207 posts)I have FBPurity for Facebook and never go to links from it, so my "track" is sort of stopped in its tracks
CloudWatcher
(1,990 posts)Coincidentally, a DU thread talking about the low quality of Forbes
Forbes is now owned 95% by the Chinese and they post repeated bullshit on Youtube
https://democraticunderground.com/10113189
Remember the media is all about alarmist clickbait.
All of the browsers have had issues, the ones that are maintained are getting security updates pretty often.
lindysalsagal
(22,649 posts)Someone will know the truth.
I was gonna post same. Thanks
Maru Kitteh
(30,043 posts)bluewater
(5,420 posts)"They" will know.
Shhhhh.
It's smarter to keep Google Chrome and use it to do searches like "Why I love the Defense Industry"
Champp
(2,114 posts)Q is definitely either in front of or behind this, and also maybe the GooGx47 permutation. You could bet on it if you wanted to. I've heard that many people are saying this.
Pas-de-Calais
(10,093 posts)Snarkoleptic
(6,118 posts)For add-ons, I've got AdBlock Plus, Ghostery, and EFF's "Privacy Badger".
Prolly should get a VPN, but this seems to work.
erronis
(19,094 posts)We read reviews and trust those reviews. Even some well-known sites are known to peddle junk.
The only way to know if your information is leaking to the outside world is to establish a permanent log in your firewall (we trust that, right?) and make sure that every connection seems to be legit.
However all packets are now encrypted so looking at data being sent to some mother ship is probably not possible.
And good spies will notice that you are monitoring traffic. Hold off on sending stuff until your guard is down. Switch recipients as needed.
Cat and mouse.
AllaN01Bear
(24,782 posts)cinematicdiversions
(1,969 posts)Browsers that remember things are useful they are tools if you use them as a tool that will be fine just keep that in mind.
IronLionZion
(48,533 posts)Brave is a good privacy browser if you don't want any tracking. It's always good to have options.
Scrivener7
(55,386 posts)IronLionZion
(48,533 posts)Scrivener7
(55,386 posts)lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)Soon you'll discover how annoying Chrome was getting with it's algorithmic ad-links unless you "buy out" of dozens of options. Trying to keep ahead of their "settings" game became whack-a-mole.
crickets
(26,158 posts)It includes a somewhat controversial ad program that will 'pay' you to leave certain ads on, but there's an option to disable and ignore that part of it, which I immediately did. After installing a few of the obligatory extensions (AdBlock Plus, Cookie AutoDelete, Disconnect, Enhancer for YouTube, and a couple of other little doodads) I feel good about the security level and I'm happy with how it works. Performance is fairly speedy, and Brave seems good about keeping security up to date. As browsers go, it's supposed to be one of the best in terms of privacy protection. There is no perfect browser, but I'm content with Brave.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)But isn't Opera linked to China in some fashion?
I wouldn't dream of using its VPN or Crypto-wallet or whatever in any case. I never use Cloud services either,
IronLionZion
(48,533 posts)but I haven't read about anything nefarious going on with the browser. I don't use their VPN and don't trust any crypto stuff from anywhere.
yaesu
(8,622 posts)of any one browser but they are all free to use, serve a purpose so if they want to know when I walk the dogs or take a crap more power to them.
Tommymac
(7,334 posts)Every browser out there tracks you in some way or another.
If you accept cookies, you are being tracked.
If you send an email, you can be traced. Emails exist a long long time out in the wild.
If you do anything at all on the WWW your are probably being tracked and traced in some form or another.
If you use a cell phone you can be traced.
Shop at the grocer using that little plastic rewards card and your detailed shopping habits ARE being tracked.
If you live in a cave, wash your clothes and bathe in the creek, grow your own food from wild seeds, trap small animals for food, make your own clothes and shoes and furniture...maybe you can stay out of view of the satellites in orbit or the planes flying over head that may take pictures for Google maps, and not be tracked.
I work in the IT security field. Browsers and the WWW are not meant to be private. They are usually provided free of charge, and financed by the advertising industry. Most use some form of tracking. Chromium based browsers are a dime a dozen...there are many that limit the tracking, but none eliminate all of it. Mozilla based browsers can be loose or tight security wise. Those who have the technical ability can harden all of these to some extent...but to lock them down 100% means that they will not work well.
Most of the tracking is not meant to identify you personally, but your shopping habits for ad placement. And face it, no one is really interested in the particulars of each of the 7 Billion or so who live on spaceship Earth. We greatly inflate our own importance.
The wired (or wireless) 21st Century is NOT the century of privacy. Learn to protect yourself as you can (VPN, 2-Factor authentication, learn how to spot the bad people, secure pass phrases, which cookies are safe and which are dangerous) and get over it.
erronis
(19,094 posts)but demographic and other information (birth records, hospital visits, car and driver licenses, rent/mortgage/utilities...)
Even those KGB/FSB spies with manufactured identities who are sent to dispose of putin's annoyances can be identified (many thanks to bellingcat.)
msfiddlestix
(8,036 posts)Been using chrome for years, despite all of the surveillance alerts which initially sent me a skittering, downloading duck duck go etc. complete waste of time and mental energy, it should understood by now.
I'm not an IT person on any level. but at this point I'm fully aware that all of our devices is being monitored primarily for commercial purposes, and they have that nailed to a science. On the other hand
Govt intel agencies, seem to be doing a really lousy job if the last five years hasn't revealed that much.
everything we do now is done electronically. I even have my proof of covid vaccination on my phone with Ca state verification QC.
The tech industry Surveillance ship sailed a long time ago, if anyone uses the computer, a cell phone or streaming Roku, this alert is pointless.
Because I play/learn a very specific genre of music, I'm really glad google/youtube has a handle on my personal interests saves me a lot of time hunting certain things down.
ironflange
(7,781 posts)I'm a Firefox boy.
If you like Chrome, Vivaldi is a good option.
SergeStorms
(19,584 posts)seemingly forever now, and I've had no reason to change.
Whenever I visit some site and get a pop-up that asks if I'd "like to switch to Chrome" I just chuckle and close it.
I also use McAfee VPN, which raises hell with my frequently visited sites because they can't track me, but it's a small price to pay for a little privacy.
KentuckyWoman
(6,951 posts)Forbes fell for that rusetaking Fred Trump off the list and listing Donald alone.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2019/05/08/why-we-took-trump-off-the-forbes-400-during-his-decade-of-tax-losses/?sh=2c51fd4033d9
Not exactly top journalists. I think I'll keep my Chrome for now.
msfiddlestix
(8,036 posts)me too.
Xolodno
(6,950 posts)...where an author of one article confused the law of Diminishing Marginal Returns to the theory of Returns to Scale.
Xolodno
(6,950 posts)...in talking with a number of vendors, one thing I realized, we have no privacy and everything we do online is tracked. One may not like it, but on the flip side, it also protects you.
hunter
(39,453 posts)NullTuples
(6,017 posts)I still habitually use it for quick lookups of info when I'm in CLI.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)It's built off Chromium, as are nearly all browsers now, but puts an emphasis on user control, but without being overly complex (unless you want to poke around). It's a really nice balance, in my opinion.
usaf-vet
(7,459 posts)byronius
(7,705 posts)And upthread -- Forbes. It would make sense that they'd push this hard.
Right-wingers use Duck Duck Go because it theoretically doesn't track your surfing. But that's the big trap, right? Appeal to the paranoid, pull them into a 'safe' space and then do exactly what the article accuses Google of doing. I don't trust the Chinese to be concerned about my privacy -- or any profit-seeking entity full of sociopaths on the board. It's all a swamp.
I don't know, man. It's a choice the way gas stations are a choice, or telecom providers are a choice -- without serious government regulation, the lowest common denominator rules. Corporatacracy reigns. And corporations don't have a moral compass whatsoever -- if child labor was legal in the US, 89% of US corporations would use child labor. Comcast probably has white papers for this eventuality. In fact, Comcast probably does it already -- there's a perfect example of an insane, ruthless, inhumane beast lunging at the already-weakened rusty bars of convention.
It's not about which corporation to trust. It's about how we deal with our emerging Rollerball culture.
#1 -- all money out of politics. Publically financed elections are a start. Hand counted paper ballots and rigorous devotion to democratic principles -- i.e. forbid gerrymandering, caging and hostile foreign-owned media posing as patriots.
Until then -- expect every major player to play dirty.
usaf-vet
(7,459 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)
If it's not Chrome it's Facebook.
If it's not Facebook it's Amazon.
If it's not Amazon it's Uncle Sam.

RussBLib
(9,862 posts)I don't think I mind all that much. I'm old with nothing to hide. I used to care about the skeletons in my closet. When I was young.
lambchopp59
(2,809 posts)And discovered how annoying Chrome algorithms one can be free of.
ShazzieB
(20,274 posts)It's like people being afraid the covid vaccine contains something that can be used to track them. OF COURSE IT DOESN'T, but even if it did, that fear is absurd,, because we're all being tracked already, in tons of different ways, including many we'll never be aware of.
I have to laugh at the ad tracking on Chrome. They show me the same exact things, over and over. Sometimes I get two identical ads on the same page at the same time. Chrome really doesn't have much imagination.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Talk about tracking !
Champp
(2,114 posts)Can there be no peace, no privacy, no avoidance of corporo-fascist personal info & nut-grabbing?
Get your wretched corporate nose out of my digital bunghole.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek !
RussBLib
(9,862 posts)And I wonder if Chromebooks would be susceptible to the same issues as the Chrome browser?
Wouldn't a Chromebook use the Chrome browser?
So many stories about the Chrome browser, and they never seem to mention Chromebooks.
hunter
(39,453 posts)I allow advertising on sites I frequently visit if they don't offer subscriptions that make the ads go away.
Anyone who uses a cell phone suffers similar privacy intrusions.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I'm a 75 year old flat chested guy.
I think Chrome needs to work on their data in my file.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)if you want a decent Chromium-based browser I recommend Vivaldi.
ananda
(31,519 posts)
Polybius
(19,782 posts)Good 'ol Netscape Navigator.