Google/Android Privacy Concerns

F

fromthegroundup

New member
Google has been known for a long time to perpetually store all searches by IP, with the ability to assemble a shockingly complete picture of people by what they search on. Recently the Google CEO regurgitated the Bushinista view that, "If you're not doing something wrong, you have nothing to worry about." (look it up)

Well I like Android and the development excitement, as I've used Debian exclusively for 12 years. But I am gravely concerned about privacy issues were I to buy an Android. I've hardly even used Google as a search engine. (Clusty)

Has any research been done on this? Does no one else share this concern?
 
You should be worried more about the security of your desktop OS. Windows, Internet Explorer, MacOS are hardly the most secure things in the world.
 
Please ask rather than assuming. I've run Debian exclusively for over 12 years, secured with the NSA procedure.

I am trying to find out what kind of hooks Android may have that may cause it to store information unjustifiably and/or send it back to the Mother Ship. Of primary concern is the OS, and secondary is Google apps.

Has any research been done on this? (I am aware of the HTC leak, which was squashed by Cyanogen)
 
That's because the difference between a social network and a phone---which is a social device---has blurred in terms of what you call, a social platform. In fact, a social network and phones are increasingly integrated.

A mobile social networking app or service is the most intrusive app you will ever install on a smartphone. You will understand that if you see your Android/WP7/Palm Pre sync Facebook with your contacts.
 
The best info I can determine is that Android itself has been extensively studied, and in and of itself is not a concern. There is an HTC app that phones home, and all the G**gle apps are privacy hazards.

So many have blithely handed over all their personal information, their complete computer backups, their contacts, their web of friends, their messages, and in fact their very voice calls to that-search-engine-everybody-uses, the world's greatest data mining company ever built. It astounds me how much they trust G**gle with everything, when it deserves no trust at all given Schmidt's many admissions.

I don't trust them. I have a beautiful Nexus One, but run the Cyanogenmod firmware --and have removed all G**gle apps (most of which have open-source analogs)-- and lock it down with Droidwall so no app communicates unless I allow it. And I have used ixquick.com for years, a meta search engine which is every bit as good as G**gle.
 
Back
Top