Lately I hate Google

OMG, the ad's are just insane. Every mouse movement loads another set of ad's even if you opt out. I have a relatively fast system and pipe but it keeps seizing the page. I am so done with using Google........................

 

Their increasing data/history recording and inability to unlink services is what pisses me off. For example, I can't delete my youtube account, it exists because I have a google account. Youtube also doesn't have the ability to disable video history. Also I can't delete services from my google accounts page. The only one removable is Gmail and even if I used one of them once a long time ago it is forever there (I'm looking at you google docs, calendar, ad sense, chome sync, and like 10 others). Location-aware ads and search results by default are annoying as well, and sometimes you can't disable them. I vpn out to other countries' IP's alot and google insists on sending me to google.nl sometimes even when I set my home country to US. Not being able to turn off google instant easily is also annoying. Them trying to sync everything, calendars, contacts, mail, maps/lattitude (that's a whole other issue) is also annoying. But they know they have a lot of users who have been with them for a while when these features to "provide a better service" weren't forced upon them and most, including myself find it a hassle to find alternatives so we're stuck with it. The constant adds to use igoogle, google plus and all that crap is also annoying. Their search results aren't as raw as they used to be. Chrome automatically adding search engines without a way to disable it is also annoying. If it weren't for android I would delete my google account. The only thing I really use is Gtalk and Gmail, and checkout for android marketplace. The rest is all useless but forcibly included.

 

I use it on the android as it is pretty much required. I have removed it from the PC....................

 

glad i don't have an android device, then but yes, i'm more and more moving away from them. hating them? no. hating the direction they go to? yes.

 

My problem is that I hate where they have gotten too already and they aaer just heading deeper down the rabbit hole...............

 

for me, they lost me with google+. they had me with google wave. as they now spread google+ troughout their own products, they lose me with each of those.

and no, i'm not against social. i love fb and twitter. but that's the point: i want more unification, not more split closed systems. at least windows live allows me to integrate all social networks instead of bringing yet another own one on the table.

 

I thought google wave was awesome, I wished it had caught on more. I'm all for integration, I think it's useful. Syncing my contacts and gmail to my tablet are important to me. I just think all/other services should be optional, and not default and often without the ability to disable. Google keeps on taking away the ability to turn off features we don't use, then saying it's for a better quality experience. It's insulting and annoying. The real reason is so they can cross reference user data across multiple products, providing more accurate data to ad-vendors. I would even be ok with them having a paid-for section that grants the ability to control your services more uniquely and frees you from the ads.

 

The Google+ launch really struck me as a celebrity, invite only event, as if Google's entire goal was to make sure Paris Hilton signed up. Overall, the concept wasn't bad, but the initial flap didn't do much for the brand. Google+ might have bulldozed other social networking platforms. Maybe it still will.

Now we've got this really odd EULA warning. Yeah, I get that Google is primarily an advertising company. Fine. If I search for paper clips, I don't mind seeing paper clip ads. Maybe I'll click on one. Maybe one will lead me to a great deal on paperclips. Heck, even if I email someone about how excited I am about paper clips, I don't mind ad in Gmail, I guess, although it would be a little creepy. But what's up with all of strange warnings? What does it all mean?

I think that the abiguity is what's bothering people. If every Google+ users could simply log in and see all of the user data that Google is storing on them, I think that opinions could be based on facts, rather than interpretations of a vague statements.

What exactly is going on at Google?

 

https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa...rKnOCg&usg=AFQjCNGYlFzcnYDiGgTv3V1hmnlNcorgjg

People go nuts about Google because lots of online articles write a lot of BS trying to stir up controversy and get lots of views. Most of what you hear is flat out crap, some of it actually has some bearing but is usually just misunderstood, and then some of it could definitely be seen as "evil."

The problem is it's hard to tell which is which. In terms of Google stealing your info or whatever, it's all right there on dashboard.

 

Ah, you mean Dashboard, the place where before March 1, 2012, there was always an "opt-out?"

Again, there's a lot of information that's gathered from Google Analytics, and it sure isn't at Dashboard.

 

Its very frustrating cuz I feel like I'm losing all control over my internet life and the limits I put on who has access to my data. Its like Facebook all over again.

Constant changes that supposedly are "better" for us but yet make things more and more confusing.....

Its getting to the point where I just want to go with another email client and quit gmail completely.

 

i would love to quit gmail/google as well. plus i hate the new gmail interface. so big and ugly and unusable.

what other email services are out there? surely something new must come out to challenge gmail?

 

In a moment of quiet desperation I looked into Microsoft's hotmail and yahoo mail and just couldn't do it....

You'd think MS by now would have something better than Windows Live ID (which somehow is now connected to my gmail) but alas no.

And then for Apple I'm not sure how much space there is with iCloud for your mail and if it offers anything good.

 

Like what?

 

how about them telling you 45,000 times about there privacy policy. This stuff matters!

 

You're... upset because they told you about privacy policy changes?

Would you have been happier had they not mentioned anything?

 

45,000 times? Lets just say that you're right. Well what exactly is changing? Are there ways to opt out of all this "information sharing"? Who's actually going to see this information?

And of course there's the whole separate accounts issue....

I don't have time to read 100,000 words on how this new policy does "blah blah blah" and is somehow going to make my life even better because google says so. Especially when this large document is just meant to cover google's legal tracks

 

To be fair, on chrome there is a google analytics opt out add on, and ghostery and do not track plus do a good job of blocking nearly all analytics tracking. Even on NBR, it'll block analytics, quantcast, scorecard research, and comscore beacon.

Dashboard is pretty useless though. All it does is show me what information is collected and stored by google for each service.. I can't actually disable or remove the service. Why can't I remove tasks, reader, latitute, igoogle, docs, adsense, youtube etc..? I don't use most of those services, yet there's data associated with nearly all of them. I don't want that.

 

Their policy is very easy to understand. The only thing that has changed is that now instead of the tracking information being tied to individual services (ie: youtube searches for youtube, gmail for gmail, etc) the information is tied to your accounts. This means if you search for something in youtube and then later in Google Search the information can be cross referenced to provide more relevant results.

 

Google has been annoying me much too. Many times when I search for something I get rubbish. I get too many articles that are years old. Searching for a tech problem and getting articles from 2005. Also Google instant is not easy to turn off. I found out by going to https://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0.
I hate Google Instant because I have a script I use and it does not work with it running. Also with it on it only shows 10 results per page.

I do enjoy GMail. Hate YouTube aka CurseTube. I deleted my YouTube accout months ago but now it is intergrated with the Google+ service.

 

I like google+ just because I hate facebook and myspace so this gives me a small alternative without being spammed to play farmville.

But I LOVED google wave, too bad it never worked as good as they intended but it for sure brought new capabilities to our communication system and I honestly thought it was the better way of doing things and wish it had stuck around.

 

Imagine my surprise when I found all of the appointments and events in the calendar on Google's Calendar online service - after I explicitly disabled sync on my Android phone! I never even use Calendar and I think I removed it from my account as well, and thank God everything was set to private by default.

I switched to Pocket Informant since...

I also see a lot of Youtube and Google Plus results on the first page for a lot of searches - the better ones are now on page 2 ...

 

appending your search page with &pws=0 will disable personalized search results.

 

do people that worry about online privacy worry about security cameras as well?

think about it:

google knows:
-your age
-your basic profile information(birthday, home address - depending on how much you choose to give)
-when you login
-what products/media you're interested in(google searches for products, youtube videos, etc.)

security cameras know:
-your complete physical description
-your physical location at a specific time with no error margin whatsoever
-you're being looked at by a person some of the time
-what products you're interested in
-your credit card info when you pull your card out of your wallet
-everyone you talked to during your visit


who is with me for 'Occupy SECY CAM'??

EDIT:

do you honestly believe stores DON'T track which product displays you go to? the only difference is no one in google really gives a about you(you're honestly not that interesting ).

EDIT2:

its about 3 clicks to stop getting games request spam and newsfeed posts.

 

That analogy is wrong. Stores have always had surveillance. And it's primarily for security, and secondarily for indirect marketing. No store will send me coupons because they saw me go down aisle 5. Google didn't always have such detailed tracking. Then they added it. Then they removed the option to opt out of it. Different story.

Another complaint: It's called the WORLD WIDE WEB right? So why do I want personalized and geo-location based search results?! I have to go in and change my location, and if I clean my cookies, I have to do it again. There is no option to just NOT use it.

 

Uh, when did they remove the option to opt-out?

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbiekjoijknlhijdjbaadobpkdhmoebb

 

trust me, the very first 'wild west' general stores didn't have security cameras either, "then they added it." see how that works?

actually, theres no reason why stores wouldn't put you on a mailing list after you sign up for their membership(i think stores used to do this - not sure nowadays).


if you can't stand ads, would you rather pay a fee to remove ads? this is actually a question. people do this with mobile apps all the time; i've never seen data on whether people would do this for webapps though.

 

That's one tracking cookie/service they use, they use more than Double-Click. Also, that's browser-specific. I have to install it in every computer I use. Why can't they make this an account option? There are a lot of other things outside of the web-tracking, like the location aware stuff, that you just can't turn off. Where's the opt-out for that? Where's the opt-out for not letting them record my youtube history? Or the opt-out for consolidating my services history, why are they correlating my gmail contents with my social networking posts (if I used google+, which I don't)? Where's the option to remove services? Are they just tagging them on to my account hoping I'll use them to provide them with more accurate user behavior data? A bit insidious isn't it. A good example I read and tried: if you google Audi A6, and then search for Audi on youtube, it will prioritize videos relating to the A6. Where are the un-molested search results that made google big in the first place? Part of the beauty of the internet is the pseudo anonymity it provides. I didn't mind generic ads in my gmail. But this is going too far. You wouldn't let your mailman follow you around, snoop into your pictures, your letters, take notes on your activities, etc..

It seems like it's going from good free products and services subsidized by ads, to products geared toward ad-revenue, with the service as an afterthought.

 

I would! I do have a paid-for email service, I just have to have a gmail account as well for android. I think they have great products, but the inquisitiveness of what I'm doing online is starting to cross a line. I would gladly pay them a flat monthly fee to provide the same services, without all the 'hmmm I wonder what he's doing here'.

If google does implement it with out an opt-out (which isn't improbable, many of their google search modifications recently added have no opt-out) then I will have to create a junk account for my tablet, switch to firefox and start using my paid email service more heavily. I've had my gmail since 2005 so it'll be a pain, but 'nuff is enough.

 

Maybe you could try to be selective when it comes to jscript and cookies. I don't see any adds at all, just possibly the occasional link that google might push to the top for revenue earning.

 

hating facebook is moronic. it's a tool. you seem to not know how to use it. i never get game spam, for example. it was a one-time "deny everything from zynga", and gone.

and, you know, facebook works crossplatform. and allows (and wants to) work cross platform. google+ is focused on being google-only. there's a reason it's mostly only used by android owners. and that kind of lock in (similar to apples lock in behaviours) is what i hate about both google and google+.

there are zero reasons to switch to google+. there are, in my case, ~300 reasons to use facebook, though. i hate companies that don't care about interoparability. that should be illegal. remember how microsoft got sued for integrating ie into the os? so what's that, now? shouldn't google get sued for linking and forcing together all it's products, taking out support for competing products? isn't that the same, on a much larger scale?

 

I seriously don't understand all this fuss about the new google privacy settings thing.

I personally don't mind it at all, and I don't see any reason why being upset or worried about it, instead will be easier to manage.
I like to have all my contact synced with my google account, easier when I switch android device, or when I flash new roms to get my contact back.

If I don't like to tell google where I am, I just need to turn off the location feature, nothing too difficult.
I didn't give any address or any personal information in my google plus account, so I don't think I will be pursed by someone.

I personally really liked what Google did in the past years.

An open source free platform, like android, very powerful for tweaks and customisazion that works with powerful hardware, working with one universal account so I won't need to remember an infinite number of passwords combination.

 

Why? What a naive question... The answer is that Google wants to maximize their profits, and that is all there is to it. Google couldn't care less for any of that touchy-feely stuff you see thrown around in this thread and elsewhere. If it makes them money it's good. If they find that it doesn't, it isn't. Simple as that. Google has no interest in "helping" their users, or in making the ads they show more "helpful" or any of that BS, other than via the effect their offerings have on their bottom line.

The solution is simple as well. If you don't like Google, then don't use them. I don't use any of Googgle's half-baked cr@p, other than the occasional use of their search engine (but I mostly use Bing, which is my default), and the embedded YouTube video every now and then, but not because I would hate them. It's just that I don't find their stuff terribly useful, by and large.

A tool? And here I was, thinking it was a website whose main goal is to sell information you provide about yourself to various companies in order to make a profit. In exchange you get to look at random pieces of information that others provide about themselves. Sure, if you find that useful, or interesting, or just mildly amusing, feel free to use it. I have no use for it. But, no, I would not invest any emotional energy into companies like Google or Facebook. They're just companies.

 

Google instant is what gets me. And boy do it get me mad.
Worst thing is that everytime I delete my browser cache it is back

 

Are you from the future?


Also, AdBlock Plus and Beef Taco.

 

You can turn it off if you want :

Preferences

 

I know, but I have to do it again after each time I clear my browser cache or am I missing something?

 

I found it useful to be honest so I've never try, but, do you have a google account?

If you do, it is very likely you can disable "instant" permanently, since google will save it in your settings...?

 

Exactly. So they should tell it like it is instead of shoveling corporate double speak poop in my face, which is so contrary to their "don't be evil" slogan. This has NOTHING to do with an improved user experience, and everything to do with marketing data. Clearly, the lack of an 'off' button is proof of this.

Setting complete=0 in your search engine url or google home page url will disable instant. ie) https://encrypted.google.com/webhp?complete=0

 

Thaaanks. Finally a solution. Yours was great too yukinok but I have to log in again to my google account when I delete history. So its the same

 

It's amazing how some people actually believe that a companies profits and user experience are mutually exclusive.

Guess what, they aren't.

 

Uhhh, Google+ Can be used on any browser on any OS lol and there's a Facebook app for Android.

I agree taht Facebook is just a tool though.

 

If they were just another company with some BS slogan/motto/attitude, then it wouldn't matter, but their facade of 'we protect your info and we're not a bad data mining company' directly contradict their behavior, and that's more egregious than a company that doesn't play the good-guy role doing those same actions. It's pretty much a proven fact that honesty and integrity are valued by customers and shareholders alike; and although it's not quantifiable or on a balance sheet somewhere, the effects of unethical behavior can be traced to future losses. If they can't earn a profit within the constraints they set for themselves, and are forced to move their boundary line of privacy/profitability, then they should say it so their actions match their words. There are numerous corporations in existence who stick to their mission statements, it's not like it's a shocking and infrequent occurrence. Studies have shown that companies that go against their own rules often suffer the financial consequences. In that MSN money research thing recently, facebook was the number one hated company by stakeholders. Facebook is still making money, but a lot of the other companies on that list are feeling the financial hurt, American Airlines, AT&T, Goldman, Best Buy, BoA, Netflix. The nature of the ad business is different so profit pains may not be felt directly, or immediately, but if they push peoples buttons too often n too far, it'll catch up with them.

 

How do they not protect info? No information is given to advertisers/ 3rd parties (unless the gov't requests it and even then they will deny it/ there is 100% full clarity) other than "You got X number of hits on your ads." All of your info stays "in-house."

What makes them a bad data-mining company as opposed to a good one? Can you give an example of a good one?

 

Google data has been compromised in the past, including such data as names, phone numbers, home addresses. There was a recent one concerning Google Checkout in Japan. Google likes to save CC info by default, instead of asking if you want to save. I have to go back each time I buy an app and delete my CC info, and it's deleted from my end on Checkout, but who knows if it's truly gone from their servers. I'm supposed to take their word for it?? An example of a bad company that I don't mind so it's 'good' is doubleclick, it existed before google acquired it, and was hated on for it's cookie use, but it was plain and simple, they do internet advertising/marketing. 24/7 is another one, but they're viewed as a great company because of their recovery from the burst tech bubble. They state they provide digital marketing solutions. Ever since double click was purchased by google, their bad behavior has been hidden and marginalized, and it took a while for google to come up with a chrome opt out for dc, and still it's browser specific and not tied to the account. And they will become a bad data mining company if they don't provide an opt-out for integrating your services.

EDIT: My main beef is this, they started out with the message that we provide innovative web services that are kept free by subsidizing their costs with somewhat targeted ads. And over the course of a decade or so, they've shifted that focus 180 degrees, to being mainly an advertising company that uses free web services as the lure to gather super accurate user data using sometimes questionable practices. Yet they don't present themselves this way. They insist on calling themselves a web services provider right, not an advertising agency, which in reality is what they are. I remember in the first half of gmail's (and other service's) existence, a lot of the features and innovative changes were geared towards improving the service, but the last couple of years I think the majority of the changes have in reality been for THEIR benefit (more accurate customer data) while putting up a front that it's for the USERS' benefit. This slow transition to me equates to being offered a free sample by a vendor, and then having to talk to him for 30 minutes about my buying preferences concerning his product. Had I known that was coming, I wouldn't have taken the damn sample. But google knows they have a large user base that's grown dependent on their products over the years, and weening themselves off it is going to be difficult. I don't think they're a bad ad company yet, but they're heading in that direction with the steps they've taken in the past. Different people have their different limits, and for me integrating user data across all their services, which you can't remove or opt out of, is crossing the line.

 

What people? At least in this thread nobody has said anything of that sort. First of all, at least I did not use a term as mushy as "user experience". No idea what that is even supposed to mean. Second, yes, the interests of the user and the service provider (Google in this case) do not have to clash, but they can, and they certainly will never be identical.

Just to be clear, I am not trying to paint Google as a "bad guy" here, but I am saying that imagining them as some sort of uniformly benevolent force is naive, to say the least. See above: The interests of Google and their users are not identical. This is, of course, true for any providers of goods and/or services, vis-a-vis their customers.

 

@PIRX

This is what I was referring to. The implication is that those two things are mutually exclusive, or that this move somehow doesn't have anything to do with users. Obviously this is false.

The idea that Google is gaining more marketing data is false. They've always had that data - now it's being correlated differently.

Google isn't the bad guy and they aren't the good guy. It's a company... full of thousands of people. Its "mission" is to track data and use that data to provide relevant ads in the hope that if the ads are relevant the users will click and they'll make some money. This has led to them trying to "improve the internet", which is their platform - what they deliver their content with.

Probably because very little has changed. Ads have been targeted for a long long time. Google has been breaking into markets (browser, search, mail, voicemail, text, OS, cell OS) for a long time.

There's quite a lot of clarity with Google. I don't know why you would think that they're presenting themselves as something they aren't. They provide services and they provide relevant advertisements.

That's it.

It's a business model, not an evil scheme. You get something and sometimes they get something back.

They don't sell data. They don't profit directly from your data. They use the data to target ads, which if you click, they make some money from.

Most people who "hate" Google just hate data collection.

As for autofill CC info that's all encrypted with your sync password assuming you're referring to Chrome. That's handled by the browser.

And, of course, you could... just not use Google's services lol

 

My hate is that through jscript they are now using all that data to so inundate you with ads that it ties the system up frequently. Every hover over a link generates more server hits making the page freeze up. This is with Google.com primarilly.

I don't use other google services other than a fictitious account for my android. From what I see here google though is also bombarding their other apps as well.

There was a time google had a good ballance between generating ad revenue and providing user experience. To me they have lately just gone too far in the interest of generating money so I have left as a consumer. More than ever too I would not use their other services.

I should note I have a youtube, facebook and myspace account too. They are getting close to the same bridge google crossed and once they have I will be leaving them as well..............

 

AS a consumer where have you gone?

 

For now I am tryign Bing. Actually seems operable to the Google of old, that I liked. I have no issue with the occasional ad and actually at times appreciate and click. After all we are consumers. I just don't want to feel like I am in a used car lot when surfing the web.............