Comment by eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7 | Hacker News Reader

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eMGm4D0zgUAVXc7

> but honestly you have no idea how good you have it right now.

Do me a favor: Grab an Android phone with all the Google crap still on it, factory reset it, and actually read the obnoxious ways in which Google asks you to give it permission to track you.

"We want to improve your search results!!! Click yes!" The small print: and thereby enable us to log EVERYWHERE you walk, drive, commute ALL DAY LONG.

And that example is rather poor, I can't even properly reiterate how brazenly they lie into your face when they make up reasons for those confirmation dialogs.

The last time I did this, I actually had to laugh at how shameless the text was worded. Everything is phrased as if it were 100% to your benefit even though it is 1% to yours and 99% to theirs.

It's straight up manipulation.

And do not forget the fact that you cannot delete any of these apps, and IIRC Gboard (Google's keyboard) requires Internet access, does it not? In any case, I disabled all Google apps and replaced it with alternatives. I should just root my phone and delete all of it, but sadly I need "Courier Services" and whatnot. Google is everywhere, you cannot even get rid of it.

Though there's little you can do to escape Google if you are using Android, what gives me some sort of peace is blocking internet access to apps like gboard. (AFAIK it's the only keyboard with support to inline autofill; this is literally the only reason keeping me from torching the app)

https://github.com/ukanth/afwall

Yeah, you can block Internet access, although still... I try to avoid such apps. I am using "OpenBoard". It has the same functionality from what I gathered, and it is open source IIRC. You can get it from F-Droid.

You do get better search results with location tracking though...

If I want (which I don't in general!) Google to serve me location specific results I will just enter the desired location into Google Maps along with the keywords.

No need to be tracked for that all day and possibly get implicated into random crimes because I happened to be near them.

That's an insanely disproportionate cost compared to the effort it spares of having to enter a location into Maps once every few weeks.

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