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11 votes
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Internet service provider Optus has been ordered to hand over the details of a customer accused of defaming a Melbourne dentist through a Google review
7 votes -
How does the Gmail unsubscribe button work?
10 votes -
“Core Web Vitals” replaces AMP as requirement for Top Stories module
16 votes -
Google suspended a popular Android podcast app because it catalogs COVID-19 content
11 votes -
Here’s what an antitrust case against Google might look like: Two DOJ veterans lay out a roadmap for cracking down on the company’s digital advertising juggernaut
4 votes -
Tech companies are pretending to be on their best behavior: Big tech is watching its step and trying to appear ethical during coronavirus. Don’t be fooled
8 votes -
Have you tried degoogling your Android?
In a pursuit of a more privacy-oriented mobile computing I've installed LineageOS ROM on my phone and decided to try living without Google Play Services, which usually provide aGPS (cell tower...
In a pursuit of a more privacy-oriented mobile computing I've installed LineageOS ROM on my phone and decided to try living without Google Play Services, which usually provide aGPS (cell tower geopositioning), push notifications and lots of other frameworks like Google Maps that apps use as libraries.
My phone has 4 primary uses:
- Communicator - mostly Telegram, WhatsApp and Slack. Email of-course.
- Navigator - GPS and Maps are an irreplaceable tool if you're living in a modern metropolis
- Internet browser - obviously
- Music Player - music on the go
So let's see how you're supposed to tackle each of the uses, while using as much FOSS as possible.
- System functionality - both push notifications and aGPS can be solved by microG - fake Google Play Services library. Not sure how it implements push, but aGPS is checked against Mozilla's geolocation database.
- Communications - Telegram is available on F-Droid (OSS app store), but everything else is not. The solution here is to use Aurora (Play Store front-end to rip APKs) and install them manually. Push notifications might be broken even with microG (WhatsApp is missing notifications for me, sometimes). AOSP email is fine, K9-mail is ugly but works somewhat better.
- Maps and navigation: OpenStreetMap is the obvious choice here and OsmAnd delivers the frontend. It has enough metadata for businesses to get you around, but compared to Google Maps it's can be sometimes lacking and/or out-of-date. Navigation itself is decent, but it's missing timetables for public transportation compared to GMaps, which can be a problem, especially if trains are cancelled or delayed. Overall it's very usable, almost feature complete, but I've found myself falling back to Google Maps in my browser when it comes to using public transport.
- Internet browser - Firefox, with uBlock Origin installed (yes, it works on Android) it's really good.
- Music Player - there are tons of music players available on F-Droid, you can pick whichever suits your needs. Here I actually stepped away from the FOSS and bought myself a PowerAMP license on developer's website. One of the rare moments where paid Android software is available outside of Play Store.
Now that the primary use cases are solved, let's try some other useful apps:
- E-banking? Broken without Google Play, app refuses to even start properly.
- Bike sharing? Taxi app? Public transport app? Broken without Google Maps libraries for the obvious reason. You might or might not be able to use the browser version, depending on the app.
- Reddit Relay/any app that requires the license? Okay you've ripped the APK with Aurora, but you can't buy the license to remove the ads.
- Ebook reader? Nothing good on F-Droid, have to rip something off Aurora.
Basically you have to be prepared to use your mobile browser a lot. And for some of the sites, do it in a "desktop mode" with tiny text, since the mobile version will just nag you to download the app, that might be broken.
The takeaway is simple - you give up A LOT of convenience just to cut off Google analytics (which you still might get with apps like Slack). It's certainly usable, don't get me wrong, but I still feel kind of stupid fumbling with OsmAnd when I'm out with my friends and trying to look something up. I'll probably end up going back to the stock ROM, or just installing the Google Apps. For me it was an experiment and I think I've got a general feel on how much information and use I'm actually getting out of GApps.
So Tildes, have you tried degoogling your phone? How did it go? Are you still using it?
28 votes -
Pushbullet: Let's guess what Google requires in fourteen days or they kill our extension
19 votes -
Chrome to start throttling resource-heavy ads in August
10 votes -
Costs/funding in open-source languages
6 votes -
The anti-Amazon alliance
6 votes -
Google Meet premium video meetings—free for everyone
6 votes -
Google to require all advertisers to pass identity verification process
12 votes -
Google & Apple adjust maps during pandemic
6 votes -
Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news content
6 votes -
Google to slow hiring for rest of 2020, CEO tells staff
4 votes -
Google has made significant progress toward developing its own processor to power future versions of its Pixel phones and Chromebooks
11 votes -
Cloudflare moves from reCAPTCHA to hCaptcha
22 votes -
Google will move its summer internship program to a virtual format this year
7 votes -
Envelope - Transform your phone into a simpler, calmer device
8 votes -
Introducing Dreamer: Scalable reinforcement learning using world models
5 votes -
Google wary of sharing user location data in pandemic fight
9 votes -
Brave has filed a formal GDPR complaint against Google for infringing the GDPR “purpose limitation” principle with an internal data free-for-all
12 votes -
Sweden fines Google $8 million for right-to-be-forgotten violations – a failure to comply with Europe's GDPR after they failed to adequately remove search results
11 votes -
Supporting Google's extended workforce through the COVID-19 outbreak
6 votes -
Google tracked his bike ride past a burglarized home. That made him a suspect.
18 votes -
switching.software: Ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives to well-known software
18 votes -
Prompted by Brexit, Google will move UK users' data out of Irish jurisdiction so they are no longer covered by EU privacy rules
21 votes -
The Great Google Revolt: Some of its employees tried to stop their company from doing work they saw as unethical. It blew up in their faces.
18 votes -
Security researchers partner with Chrome to take down over 500 browser extensions in a fraud network affecting 1.7 million users
12 votes -
Australian Federal Court orders Google to turn over identifying information of user who left negative review for Melbourne dentist
8 votes -
How are there so many small search engines?
4 votes -
Microsoft to forcibly install Bing search extension in Chrome for Office 365 ProPlus users
29 votes -
Google sends a unique Chrome browser identifier through Chrome when you visit their websites
14 votes -
Surveillance on UK council websites - A study of private companies’ data collection on council websites across the United Kingdom
8 votes -
YouTube moderators are being required to sign a statement acknowledging the job could give them PTSD
26 votes -
Diary of an Engine Diversity Absolutist
7 votes -
Google researchers find serious privacy risks in Safari’s anti-tracking protections
9 votes -
Every Google result now looks like an ad
@craigmod: There's something strange about the recent design change to google search results, favicons and extra header text: they all look like ads, which is perhaps the point?
27 votes -
Style your Google Docs to look like WordStar
2 votes -
Sonos, squeezed by the tech giants, sues Google
10 votes -
reCAPTCHA: Is there method in monotony?
What started out as a little facetious in my own head leads me now to a serious question. Is there some meaningful reason why Google has to use a subsection of images for reCAPTCHA? I really...
What started out as a little facetious in my own head leads me now to a serious question. Is there some meaningful reason why Google has to use a subsection of images for reCAPTCHA? I really dislike having to do this and at the very least would appreciate some variation.
- Traffic Lights
- Buses
- Bicycles
- Cars
- Crosswalks
Is there something special about these things in this context? Is the visual noise they're usually associated with what makes them good candidates? Are Google just really into urban planning? Who knows...I'm hoping some Tilder smarter than I can help me out.
10 votes -
Messaging app ToTok has been removed from the Apple and Google app stores following claims the United Arab Emirates government was using it to spy on people
12 votes -
Google's dangerous monopoly-based foreign policy
8 votes -
Google leadership set 2023 as deadline to beat Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud business
6 votes -
Apps that access Google G Suite services using a username and password (as opposed to OAuth) will be restricted in June 2020, and blocked in February 2021
13 votes -
The terror queue - Google and YouTube moderators speak out on the work that's giving them PTSD
13 votes -
How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer
28 votes -
Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepping down at Alphabet. Google's CEO Sundar Pichai will become CEO of Alphabet
18 votes