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Comment by open-source-ux | Hacker News Reader

Don't forget that ChromeOS is an operating system (OS) that tracks everything you do. To use the OS to the full requires a Google account, so you aren't even anonymous while you use it. (As a reminder, your Google account = your name, your date of birth, your location, your gender and mobile phone number i.e. some of your most private and personal details.)

We've seen Microsoft criticised, quite rightly, for introducing tracking of users in Windows 10 (euphemistically labelled as telemetry), yet Google gets no criticism. In fact we get the opposite, people rush to Google's defence. The double-standard is hard to understand.

Presumably, if you think it's fine for ChromeOS to record everything you do in the OS, you equally think it's fine for Windows/Mac OS/Ubuntu to record everything you do too (non-anonymously of course).

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I'm not at all defending the practice, but I think it has to do with the legacy. Google is (somewhat) up front about tracking, and has always required an account. There was never a Chrome OS that didn't track you.

Windows didn't used to do this, so it feels like they're changing the rules after you've agreed and bought into the platform. If Microsoft had instead called "Windows 10" something completely different, and similarly was up front about what it was doing, I suspect there wouldn't be the same backlash. Some people would still disagree with it, and would be unhappy they were moving to replace Windows with this other thing, but it wouldn't have the same impact that acting like it's just another major version upgrade does.

No, it's just that the volumes are still not comparable.

Everyone at some point has had a Windows machine, including the privacy-conscious and the paranoid -- simply because, at the time, there was no realistic alternative. Once you reach 90% penetration, any special-interest group with a pet complaint will be sizeable.

That's not happened with Chromebooks and it's unlikely to ever happen. Privacy-conscious users now have NSA-hardened Linux and "won't-let-FBI-in" iPhones, they will never have to deal with Google if they don't want to. They are not forced to use any of their services, since there are alternatives for pretty much everything -- even superior ones, in most cases. The only service that used to be unmatched was Search, and sure enough, plenty of people still complain about tracking searches.

Funny how I can block in-app ads and trackers on Android even without root. Although that's more thanks to Linux than Google I'm sure.

> To use the OS to the full requires a Google account, so you aren't even anonymous while you use it

What can't you do without a Google account? There's a "browse as guest" option.

And if you toss the device into developer mode you can give it a root password and have an account that saves.

And win10 has a local account option, no MS account needed to access all the features.

ChromeOS is for people who are not technically inclined and don't care much for privacy. The majority of users I am sure.

> if you think it's fine for ChromeOS to record everything you do in the OS, you equally think it's fine for Windows/Mac OS/Ubuntu to record everything you do too

nit: It's reasonable to not fret about one additional way that proprietary OSs can abuse their users, but still not want to see surveillance culture normalized on a Free software distribution.

It's not reasonable, it's short sighted if you consider the long train of such "acceptable" abuses pursuing invariably the same end goal

Yes, even though the user does consent to the tracking through an EULA, the average user will not be aware of it (or understand what it means practically), so it is very reasonable to call this software spyware, on some level.

Question: can you install your own OS on this machine without hacking?

There's always the GalliumOS project if you want to swap out ChromeOS. Compatibility with chromebooks overall is pretty fair.

I had a collegue who got Arch linux for Arm working on a Chromebook with some caveats.

Of course, the average user isn't going to swap the operating system.

In no way are your name, DoB, location, gender and phone number some of your most private and personal details.

Firstly you can lie.

Second: turn off sync, turn on Do Not Track, turn off Manage Passwords, autocomplete, prediction, malware protection, spellcheck, diagnostic data and drm id.

Or stop caring about such minor problems unless you're a spy

>Or stop caring about such minor problems unless you're a spy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_to_hide_argument

That's about government. As I said, you can turn off all the tracking and lie about all the questions they ask, you can use guest mode, whatever you want, it's not really a problem if you care.

And your DOB isn't massively personal information, get a grip. Not like they're asking if you believe in the state religion, who you voted for, are you loyal to the party, which of your friends you have suspicions about, do you have more than 1 child, do you love someone of a different religion, have you seen anyone with more resources than they should have, is there anyone hiding in your attic, etc etc

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