Odd situation with Google contacts

So I was searching my contact list on ny phone and noticed there was a number instead of a name. Not a number I ever saved in my contacts. It was listed in the R's. Turns out it was a woman named Rhonda that I've talked to maybe 3 times. It was disconcerting to me that they know her name through such sparce contact and put her in my contacts alphabetically.

By the way, she's not a hooker, lol. Just a roommate of a friend who's fun to talk with.

originally posted by: sine.nomine
By the way, she's not a hooker, lol.

I often preface comments about women I know the same way.

The good thing is people believe me, just like they do when I say, "Honestly, this is no lie...", at the beginning of a sentence.

a reply to: sine.nomine

She probably gave her name and number to google and because you allow google access to your contacts it matched them. That's the kind of # google does.

ETA: I guess I could have added. If you want to avoid situations like this, don't sync your contacts with google, download something like

f-droid.org...

and

f-droid.org...

and

f-droid.org...

and disable the built in dialer, contact manager and keyboard, because if you're using a new version of android, they're all google tools with telemetry.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: sine.nomine
By the way, she's not a hooker, lol.

I often preface comments about women I know the same way.

The good thing is people believe me, just like they do when I say, "Honestly, this is no lie...", at the beginning of a sentence.

Ha, you can't tell me Rhonda doesn't sound like a lady of the night. Honestly, this is no lie.



I just found it weird she was in my contacts list alphabetically, but not saved as a contact.

When my dad begins a story with "well actually" we have all come to learn everything following is bullsh!t.

But I'm sure she wasn't a hooker.

originally posted by: network dude
When my dad begins a story with "well actually" we have all come to learn everything following is bullsh!t.

But I'm sure she wasn't a hooker.

Lol, dammit, I knew this would happen!

a reply to: sine.nomine

Rhonda sounds like a character from Thing Fish.

Let us know if any more names arrive such as Harry - as - a - boy.

and put down that briefcase.

a reply to: sine.nomine

"He's an Evil Prince Rhonda....and part time theatre critic, too.
and I hear there's not that much call for that on Broadway anymore".

A fish called Ronda?


a reply to: Tulpa

originally posted by: nonspecific

A fish called Ronda?


a reply to: Tulpa

Don't be so wude!

a reply to: sine.nomine

Hooker sounds harsh. Say "fille de joie" instead. It sounds more poetic... haha

I've had people come up in my contacts without saving them. Also with a picture for the contact.

a reply to: dug88

I sync to my sd card, not Google.gov...then copy to a pc every month or so if updated...in case phone& Sd get lost.

May be more important as you think in the near future with the contact tracing bs.

a reply to: Mandroid7

May be more important as you think in the near future with the contact tracing bs.

I've been considering putting together a degoogling and removing telemetry ridden apps and bloatware from a phone thread for ATS. As you say, seems like something that'll become more important pretty soon.

a reply to: dug88

That would be an excellent idea.

If you decide to do it could you put it in simple non computer language for thumb handed luddites like me?

a reply to: Tulpa

I can do my best. There's a lot you can do just replacing apps, using a throwaway account and going in and doing a deep dive into the account settings.

The only real computer techy type stuff is if you want to get rid of Google Play services. It's still pretty straightforward though, you can copy and paste the scary computer stuff.

a reply to: dug88

I don't want to drift the thread but I'm what you might call a surface user.

I can't even get my tablet to do anything but YouTube.

I've tried using my phone for YouTube tutorials to change the tablet settings but the instructions given do not match the options in the menu.
I hope that made sense?

Google has such a grip on many of us because of convenience, pre installed things for dummies like me and others who can't find their way round the technical stuff.

I never even really wanted to be much of an Internet person but there's one or two things outside of ATS I use and not to many simple options for me to improve things.

a reply to: Tulpa

If you have an Android phone/tablet it has a "simple" mode. It might help a little bit.

Does that get rid of gog?
Asking for a friend.
a reply to: Atsbhct

I used to root my Android phones and install custom ROMs... in layman's terms that's like uninstalling windows/MacOS or whatever, wiping it clean, and then replacing it with an OS (operating system) that works for the device owner, rather than for the Big Tech AI Overlords.
Unfortunately, the last American phone I owned on which this could be done was the Samsung Galaxy S3. Now they all have hard-locked bootloaders and Knox security. Don't ask me exactly wtf those things mean, bc I don't know. I just know it was preferable to the Galaxy S21 I'm using now. They've removed so many of the features that were useful in a practical sense, and also for reasons of personal privacy!
Examples -
Battery is no longer removable, making it impossible to truly ever power off your device.
There's no longer a headphone jack. I mean, seriously, what the hell?
No SD Card slot to expand storage and keep a physical backup of things. THIS I REALLY COULDN'T BELIEVE! The reasoning is that we now have 5G and fast wifi in many places, so just back everything up in the cloud! (That also makes it much easier for the Gov/Tech Medusa Monster to have a good, deep sniff of all my communications and data as it goes by.)
NO SIR, I DON'T LIKE IT!

Anyway, if you're reading this and are interested in these tech topics and/or privacy issues, subscribe to this guy on YT: youtube.com...

Peace out friends, be well.