Google Makes Me Suspicious

[tdrusk]

So they gave us Gmail, Picasa, Docs, many other things, and now Google Chrome. Is this too good to be true? Do you fear they have too much power? Do you trust them?

[dai_vernon]

I, for one, welcome our new googly overlords.

[Wiebelhaus]

So they gave us Gmail, Picasa, Docs, many other things, and now Google Chrome. Is this too good to be true? Do you fear they have too much power? Do you trust them?


They are mining data BUT!! Google is on our side as well as IBM , Canonical and SUN , No worries mate we want them successful because it will facilitate our success here.

Birds of a feather.....

[Dr Small]

No. I don't trust them, and I block them on my network.
But, anyhow, I think we had a discussion similar to this one once:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=888016

Dr Small

[LaRoza]

Moved: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=561944

As for Google, better than Microsoft ;) Google doesn't demand your money and their products are very good.

[doas777]

So they gave us Gmail, Picasa, Docs, many other things, and now Google Chrome. Is this too good to be true? Do you fear they have too much power? Do you trust them?
Several TV quotes spring to mind:

Trust Ivonova, Trust Yourself. Anyone else... shoot'em.

Trust No One.

[tuxerman]

They're releasing a open-source new browser, Chrome. (See here for more info (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/30066))

But why? Isn't firefox enough? The new features (atleast ones I have been hearing about) have been available for ages in Opera. (Personally, I feel Opera is better than firefox in terms of features and usability :) )

Why then, a new browser? It took this long for firefox to overthrow or equal IE in terms of people using the browsers. What exactly is Google trying to do?

[Bachstelze]

I only use Google's earch engine. Nothing else. And I do fear that a new monopoly in the computer industry is rising.

[Wiebelhaus]

So they gave us Gmail, Picasa, Docs, many other things, and now Google Chrome. Is this too good to be true? Do you fear they have too much power? Do you trust them?

At Google, we have a saying: “launch early and iterate.” While this approach is usually limited to our engineers, it apparently applies to our mailroom as well! As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome tomorrow in more than 100 countries.

So why are we launching Google Chrome? Because we believe we can add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.

All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build.

On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn't the browser that matters. It's only a tool to run the important stuff -- the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated "sandbox", we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers.

This is just the beginning -- Google Chrome is far from done. We're releasing this beta for Windows to start the broader discussion and hear from you as quickly as possible. We're hard at work building versions for Mac and Linux too, and will continue to make it even faster and more robust.

We owe a great debt to many open source projects, and we're committed to continuing on their path. We've used components from Apple's WebKit and Mozilla's Firefox, among others -- and in that spirit, we are making all of our code open source as well. We hope to collaborate with the entire community to help drive the web forward.

The web gets better with more options and innovation. Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the web even better.

So check in again tomorrow to try Google Chrome for yourself. We'll post an update here as soon as it's ready.


This right here is fantastic.

[pofigster]

Eh, what's to fear? That they've got information on you? Your ISP has more information on you, yet you pay them every month. Your ISP is just as likely (if not more so) to comply with an illegal or questionable search warrant on their logs. Google gives us great products for free and while they may be harvesting information off of us, they haven't started selling it to anybody yet and they're not likely to since their stock would go through the floor if they did.

There's a lot of paranoid people out there, but Google isn't on my "scared of" list.

[Bachstelze]

All I have to say is that all monopolies are equally bad. At this rate, Google will have a bigger market share than Microsoft very soon, and this is never a good thing, regardless of whether or not their stuff is free.

[Dr Small]

Eh, what's to fear? That they've got information on you? Your ISP has more information on you, yet you pay them every month. Your ISP is just as likely (if not more so) to comply with an illegal or questionable search warrant on their logs. Google gives us great products for free and while they may be harvesting information off of us, they haven't started selling it to anybody yet and they're not likely to since their stock would go through the floor if they did.

There's a lot of paranoid people out there, but Google isn't on my "scared of" list.
Your ISP can't have much logs against you, if you connect out to several proxies.

[mike1234]

Google analytics is kinda creepy come to think of it. But you never know who's stalking you out there. I don't really trust any of them. I'm excited about a Google browser. I won't be surprised if an OS isn't far behind, with Chrome doing double duty like Konqueror does. Most computers are nothing more than Internet boxes anymore. Just look at how live cd's depend heavily on an Internet connection after installation. Google has plans.

M.

[Wiebelhaus]

Your ISP can't have much logs against you, if you connect out to several proxies.

Actually AT&T Has been collecting all of our communications for quiet some time now whether it be Cell , Telephone , Internet , ATM , Mail and storing it and now that the telecommunication company's (which control all of our communications) have immunity (thanks conservatives) they can do anything ominous thing they so choose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOI1VGKcgGY

Take heed , you now have no privacy , Matter of fact google was the lone dissenter who refused to turn over our records but after two years under the interrogation spot light , they were forced.

You should at the very least shout a praise to google for trying to stand up to them.

[Twitch6000]

I find Google is great along with Sun and many others.

[linux5uper]

So what if google creates a 'search monopoly'? They could only do that by releasing a superb product, and there's really no way to lock you in unless you do it voluntarily. How hard is it to switch browsers/mail accounts? ;)

edit: as far as trusting them - I do create backups of all my critical content in case their servers go kaput, but as far as their corporate bene/malevolence, I do trust them. Chrome will be many things, but first and foremost, another slap in the face for IE.

[ice60]

i don't trust google at all and don't use their stuff apart from the search engine sometimes, but my default search engine is scroogle, i change the google cookie ID when i do use the search engine.

i saw these things for google in the last few days that are pretty cool, i'm not using them though :D

i'm not sure if this first one is just for windows or not??
http://cybernetnews.com/2008/08/28/unofficial-google-desktop-suite/
http://www.usabilityviews.com/simply_google.htm

[Chessmaster]

Eh, what's to fear? That they've got information on you? Your ISP has more information on you, yet you pay them every month. Your ISP is just as likely (if not more so) to comply with an illegal or questionable search warrant on their logs. Google gives us great products for free and while they may be harvesting information off of us, they haven't started selling it to anybody yet and they're not likely to since their stock would go through the floor if they did.

There's a lot of paranoid people out there, but Google isn't on my "scared of" list.

Saying that they don't have "as much" information as your ISP is hardly an argument in favour of google - all it says is that they are not as bad as your ISP. Maybe it is true that your ISP is more likely to comply with questionable search warrants, but that doesn't mean that data collection by Google is necessarily a good thing just because they are less likely than others to misuse it.

PS: as someone has already pointed out, massive monopolies are never a good thing - especially with so much power and massive amounts of information. They may not misuse it now, but who knows in the future. Best not let them have the opportunity I say.

[Chessmaster]

edit: as far as trusting them - I do create backups of all my critical content in case their servers go kaput, but as far as their corporate bene/malevolence, I do trust them. Chrome will be many things, but first and foremost, another slap in the face for IE.

What reason do you have to trust them? People in China have no reason to trust them seeing as they are complicit with the govt in restricting their web access. Why should you think that it would be any different for the rest of us if the price was right.

At the end of the day, what matters to them is the bottom line (hence they gave up the "do not evil" slogan because as they admitted it was basically too hard to live up to). If they could make a whopping great profit from abusing the information they have, I really wouldn't be surprised if they did.

[linux5uper]

What reason do you have to trust them? People in China have no reason to trust them seeing as they are complicit with the govt in restricting their web access. Why should you think that it would be any different for the rest of us if the price was right.

At the end of the day, what matters to them is the bottom line (hence they gave up the "do not evil" slogan because as they admitted it was basically too hard to live up to). If they could make a whopping great profit from abusing the information they have, I really wouldn't be surprised if they did.

well if I were in China, Google would be the least of my concerns... but thankfully i'm not.

if the intent and purpose is there, anyone can abuse your data, why single Google out? When you send information ANYwhere online, you should know it might reach ANYones eyes someday.

[Zlatan]

Google analytics is kinda creepy come to think of it. But you never know who's stalking you out there. I don't really trust any of them. I'm excited about a Google browser. I won't be surprised if an OS isn't far behind, with Chrome doing double duty like Konqueror does. Most computers are nothing more than Internet boxes anymore. Just look at how live cd's depend heavily on an Internet connection after installation. Google has plans.

M.

check this out:
http://www.thinkgos.com/

[Circus-Killer]

"you have nothing to fear but fear itself"

why fear something that has brought absolutely no harm to you. yes, they are growing quick. yes, they could be on the verge of creating a monopoly. but, they have not yet. why dwell on what might happen. at the moment, i welcome google's innovation. for those of their innovations i dont like or dont agree with, then i dont use them.

there may come a time that we need to fear google, however, this time has yet to come.

[karellen]

it's rather pointless to wonder about Google as for this moment there really is not better alternative

[vishzilla]

With great power comes more money to invest in new products. big companies always like to break new grounds and grow horizontally. with chrome, they can mastermind a plan where in they can rope in their 'GUser' base to use it. they have the resource, 'their search engine' giving all the statistics of user behavior. but it will be hard to beat Firefox at this moment, so far with the little preview we managed to see, it does sound innovative.

[kellemes]

Eventually I think it will be Google bringing Linux to the desktop.
They have the resources and generally seem to have the trust of people, at least to a larger extend as MS. Even if some of us are suspicious (always a good thing) I think Google will be the superpower we have to deal with in the future. Fine with me..

[Wiebelhaus]

Eventually I think it will be Google bringing Linux to the desktop.
They have the resources and generally seem to have the trust of people, at least to a larger extend as MS. Even if some of us are suspicious (always a good thing) I think Google will be the superpower we have to deal with in the future. Fine with me..

I concur , well said.


Also , wow is chrome a winner or what? that thing is hella fast.

[jbaerbock]

Personally I prefer google to Microsoft anyday :P. Using Chrome right now and it is a vast improvement to any other browser. Of course Winblows is putting out IE8 trying to compete but yeah lol.

[Canis familiaris]

This brings the question to my mind:
Why?

[Dr Small]

More fuel for the fire?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=909299

[Bachstelze]

/me puts on the "I-told-you-so" face.

[Bachstelze]

It is also interesting how the thing is "phoning home", whatever the website I'm visiting is...

[Dr Small]

It is also interesting how the thing is "phoning home", whatever the website I'm visiting is...
That is some crushing evidence. Thanks for posting that.

[ironchef]

It is also interesting how the thing is "phoning home", whatever the website I'm visiting is...

does the same thing happen in incognito mode?

[yurx cherio]

I would be more concerned about privacy. They own and can use any content you submit. Read chapter 11.1 in their EULA: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

or read this
http://gizmodo.com/5044871/google-chrome-eula-claims-ownership-of-everything-you-create-using-chrome-from-blog-posts-to-emails

Now that should make you suspicious

[kirsis]

You guys are paranoid.

Google invests time and resources into developing a kickass JSVM + shows everybody how cool multithreaded tabbing is and in return some folks call it a big evil corporation bent on world domination :)

I, for one, say, "Thank you, google"

[Dr Small]

I would be more concerned about privacy. They own and can use any content you submit. Read chapter 11.1 in their EULA: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

or read this
http://gizmodo.com/5044871/google-chrome-eula-claims-ownership-of-everything-you-create-using-chrome-from-blog-posts-to-emails

Now that should make you suspicious
That really doesn't make me suspicious. That is just the forward front of it. Besides, most users blindly agree to EULA's anyhow. What is suspicious, is Chrome phoning home, like HymnToLife is proving. That is some dirty sneaky work going on there.

[Bachstelze]

does the same thing happen in incognito mode?

I have found no such thing in the options. Could you please tell me where it is?

[david_lynch]

It is also interesting how the thing is "phoning home", whatever the website I'm visiting is...
Right, firefox does the same thing. It's checking whether the website you're visiting is listed as malicious. You can turn it off in preferences if it bothers you.

[Dr Small]

Right, firefox does the same thing. It's checking whether the website you're visiting is listed as malicious. You can turn it off in preferences if it bothers you.
No, Firefox does not do this.

[ironchef]

if you go the first pull down menu to the right of the omnibox, the 3rd item is "New incognito menu".

I have found no such thing in the options. Could you please tell me where it is?

[tdrusk]

I would be more concerned about privacy. They own and can use any content you submit. Read chapter 11.1 in their EULA: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

or read this
http://gizmodo.com/5044871/google-chrome-eula-claims-ownership-of-everything-you-create-using-chrome-from-blog-posts-to-emails

Now that should make you suspicious
http://gizmodo.com/5045050/google-updating-chrome-eula-to-be-less-creepy

hooray!