Listen to and delete your secretly recorded google voice records.

If everyone hasn't heard of it, Startpage is a good browser that claims to use the google engine anonymously.

Keep the Google Virus off your computer and phone. I am done with any Google phones. They implement all of these data grabbing non-removable apps, and lock it up with knox.

It's forced spying, in a shiny device.
They even make it inconvenient to use Maps without location history on.

If your phone is unrootable, or you are not comfortable rooting, try a firewall. I use NoRoot Firewall app in play store.
It wont remove the spy apps, but it will allow you to control all connections to the internet or data conn. No background data spy dumps.

Google is bad news, I wouldn't use their email either. Word searching every letter you type.
If you had that power, you could inside trade like a boss...hmmm

nothing but youtube history on mine....


I go to great lengths to try and disable stuff like this...


I use yahoo as my default search engine and seldom use google.... I do use gmail and youtube though.

Should I get rid of the Youtube and Google searching tracking? I don't have any voice recordings thank god.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Much obliged!

a reply to: Kandinsky

It'll come to be seen as an historical quirk or 20th Century conceit.

Not so, the mere word "privacy" will be "Mandela Effect" 'd to another time-line and all traces to the concept or word branching off into some other Orwellian Dialectic.

a reply to: Quantum12

Is there a way to see this on my iPhone or is this Android only

Its proprietary, you have to pay the Apple ransom fee

a reply to: Klassified

successful business owners were respected

no mores, ethics, or respect for their fellow human beings

I just want to punch them in the face - oh wait its a moving target!

en.wikipedia.org...

The basis for allowing corporations to assert protection under the U.S. Constitution is that they are organizations of people, and the people should not be deprived of their constitutional rights when they act collectively.[4]In this view, treating corporations as "persons" is a convenient legal fiction which allows corporations to sue and to be sued, provides a single entity for easier taxation and regulation, simplifies complex transactions that would otherwise involve, in the case of large corporations, thousands of people, and protects the individual rights of the shareholders as well as the right of association.
Generally, corporations are not able to claim constitutional protections that would not otherwise be available to persons acting as a group. For example, the Supreme Court has not recognized a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination for a corporation, since the right can be exercised only on an individual basis.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Can you remember all the fear about multi-nationals? Those 1980/90s multi-nationals were minnows by today's standards. It bugs me that wealth on that scale accrues power and influence and starts rearranging the legal furniture for its own comfort.

Well now those multi-nationals (domiciled o/seas) can sue the Government eg Australia to ensure that "laws" applicable to every other "Aust Co" don't apply to them if it affects their bottom line. Its called the TPP. The taxpayer foots the bill. Also the local Companies are not competing against them in a level playing field. Way to go!

I've got about a dozen audio recordings mostly of my kid on her nexus tablet, still kind of scary though that they keep track of all this information.

a reply to: gladtobehere

This is a sensationalist article, but I guess I can make a couple of points since I am fairly concerned about my privacy. Here are a few tips for those of you that are not quite saavy

1. Every app/website/service collects personal data. You need to read every privacy statement that each company offers to ensure they are not selling your info to third party companies.
2. Social media sites like Facebook, Google, Youtube, have privacy options. In order to avoid collecting data (to a degree) turn off your search history. I also like to clear my cache and browsing history after every session.

If you would like to further protect your data, you can opt for a VPN (virtual private network) this allows you to be 100% anonymous online unless you log into sites or apps with your personal info. I personally use a company called Private Internet Access. They have great service, great prices, and have the most "F YOU NSA" privacy policy I have ever seen.

If anyone else needs more help with this type of thing PM me, I have a lot of more advanced tactics that I am aware of.

No regressives though.

a reply to: gladtobehere

More reason not to trust Google!!!

Makes you wonder what else the record. Remember all the people who said FB updates were running all the time on their devices, and draining batteries?

a reply to: Pyrrho

Yep my friend, I'm in the same boat as you. I don't have the time to delete each, one by one.
Their gmail department has a "select all" option on the email you want to delete.
I mean, if I didn't know any better, I would think they were purposely making it hard to delete this info for nefarious reasons!
But nahhhh.....they wouldn't do any such thing!
Ha!

There is a load of privacy settings.. often embedded in settings, to disable all the metadata that Google records. Also, as far as your recorded data goes.. backups. They have whatever you have said to this point probably for eternity, not much you can do. But you can protect yourself going forward. I'd look up opting out of any service they use. They have over 150 services available.. so all I can suggest is going deep into all settings and making certain you have disabled anything that seems intrusive. When Google made their "privacy" changes (i.e. removed your privacy), they actually said "You don't need to log into to use many of our services." They literally said.. if you don't want to be tracked, log out.

They track web history, YouTube history, Gmail chat history.. pretty much ANY history of anything you do in any of their services. Some is for targeted advertising (in fact most of it is), but since many of the large service providers are in bed with the NSA at this point, there is no reason to hand over all your Internet related history. Google also links up web browsing with YouTube history.

What is sad is your privacy is being sold for as little as 10 bucks a month from some sites. There are sites that can pull up astounding amounts of info on you. Many agencies must keep public records of all their activities. So.. your criminal history, credit history, personal history (jobs, locations, etc.) are pretty an open book. Welcome to the future I guess. You must just assume if you do -anything- online, there is a great chance it is being tracked, saved, and can be recalled in the future by some agency.

I didn't see anything when I clicked the links in the article. . . ?

And I've had a gmail account back when it was invite-only. We're talking WAY WAY back...and I've even had Android phones.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

At some point you just have to throw up your hands and accept that someone is always listening/watching. Well, not *someone* but some kind of program is recording some kind of information about you.

If that makes you uncomfortable, you might as well sell your computer and cancel your internet.

We should all try and lock down our privacy settings, but after a certain point the cost of using the internet is that a certain amount of personal information is required. Should it be? Maybe not...but we're not the ones who built and maintain the infrastructure. We're not the ISP's or search engine companies. We are users. We use a service provided to us.

Sure, maybe if we screamed loud enough they'd make a half-heart attempt at change...but in the end, "they" (pst. L-3 Communications) OWN the internet. We either play by their rules, or we don't play.

Does anyone here have enough money to run fiber optic lines around the globe and into every house that wants it?

We should all try and lock down our privacy settings, but after a certain point the cost of using the internet is that a certain amount of personal information is required. Should it be? Maybe not...but we're not the ones who built and maintain the infrastructure. We're not the ISP's or search engine companies. We are users. We use a service provided to us.

I agree to a point. But keep in mind that a majority of the "service" provided is actually revenue for a company. I am ok with say.. cookies. You want to send me targeted advertising? I'm fine with that. After all, you are showing me stuff I am interested in. I buy.. you profit.. it's all good.

I watch your commercials? I pay a monthly subscription for a service? Yup.. seems fair. You provide a service.. I provide you revenue one way or another.

Where is gets dicey is when you create a EULA that needs legal counsel to make head or tails of, and record my voice data, my contact information, my emails, my phone calls, for whatever nebulous reasons I am not even aware of.

Good example: Cortana with Windows 10. The software collets all sorts of data.. and you can't opt out. A personal assistant is a pretty awesome idea. If it could collect your favorite restaurants, people, patterns, likes, handle your schedule.. this is all great. Pity though.. that Microsoft has no opt-out option for what Cortana passes along to MS. Contact info, voice commands, writing using the stylus, emails, browsing history, et al.. all collected and passed to Microsoft.

You want me to buy your software? Ok. I'll do that. But it steps over then line when your personal assistant passes along all my private data.. ALL of it.. to a company, without giving me the option to make it private. They can make money without having to gouge all your personal data. But no.. they choose the latter, and you can do nothing about it, if you want to use it. Which I think, is crossing the line.

Which is a pity.. I would have loved to use Cortana as a personal assistant. As it stands, I'll never enable it.

ERROR! ERROR!

It is unpatriotic to delete these records.

Now initiating global self-destruct!

a reply to: Kandinsky

What about the potential for finding the scum amongst us the ones out to cause harm

a reply to: wmd_2008

C'mon fella? Don't go conflating concerns about commercial exploitation with support for terrorism.

it's all rather underhand. fortunately my location and voice records are inactive (paused). nosy sods!