So I have been trying to crack down on my privacy. I run linux on my hardware. I use a few web extensions that are recommended for security and I do my best to avoid google services. I was wondering though, what are the main disadvantages of signing in if I’m surfing “with protection” so to speak. I have to admit, there are still a few google services like google drive and youtube which I kind of covet, but I’d still rather not use google at all in most instances.
Can some one maybe break down some of the pro’s and cons of signing in? Do any of you still sign into use google services or do you avoid it like the plague?
Pro: Google knows about your interests, places you’ve been etc. and can use this information to suggest content to you accordingly
Con: Google knows about your interests, places you’ve been etc. and can use this information to make money off you by showing you relevant ads
Just to name one for each.
yeah CIA NSA collects intel for ‘marketing’. lol
i’m sure that’s all it can be used for.made me lol, but coodo’s for brevity
Google can track you better if you’re signed in, because it has one extra data point to make your fingerprint (and a rather good one).
Do you need to watch YouTube while signed in? Unless you’re an avid commenter, it shouldn’t be a big issue. As for Drive, you could try replace it with NextCloud or similar. Free hosts only provide up to 5GB (haven’t seen bigger offers) but you should be able to get 15GB (to match drive) for a cheap price. Alternatively, you could self-host, however, that is more expensive and more hassle since you gotta maintain the server.
Edit: for example, just checked Disroot.org and they provide 2GB free of charge, but you can upgrade and pay 0.15€ per GB per month. That’s about 2€ a month for 15GB.
Definitely avoid it if you’re just searching. Use some other search engine like duckduckgo or searx. For youtube, you can use something like newpipe to keep track of subscriptions and history without using youtube directly. The main downside to that is you can’t rely on the algorithm to feed you content.
