Google is everywhere

Google seems to show up everywhere.

They are on my cell phone too.

I get messages to log in using Google.

Can I eliminate that?

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Not if your phone is an android, android is Google. If you would buy an Apple I phone I don't think that happens as Apple is a competitor of Google, but I have never had an I phone so don't know for sure.

This forum you can use Google but you can also set up the login with your email to sign in, which is what I use.

I do agree with you Google is everywhere, but as much as possible I shut it down. I shut off all telemetry on my web browsers plus use the 'Don't track me Google addons' and ' Opt-out for Analytics' plus 'Privacy Badger'. It stops targeted ads, but often limits or prohibits using certain websites.

On an Android phone you can shut down GPS tracking and shut off permission on
Google apps, but again it can limit the functions of your phone. I basically only use my 'smart phone' for calls and text so don't mind that.

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Well only other option would be to buy a "dumb phone" that we all used before those touch screens - they do still exist and are somewhat popular with people who decide to "detox" from internet and social media - and the battery lasts so much more since there are less apps running in the background and you don't have an incentive to use it as much

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Thanks for the good ideas.

Not that long ago(less than 2 yrs ago), I had a 4G phone that cost me $30/month. I wanted the faster speed and got a 5G phone. It was probably a mistake.

I also had a landline with internet.

I was told that one of the 2 lines could be cut, and you would still have service.

The 40 volts D.C. came in handy too.

Having their own power came in handy when a hurricane knocked out cell towers.

I helped my mother get a generator. It was loud but better than losing all our refrigerated items.

There are some android alternatives. I have an old Pixel 3a that runs Ubuntu Touch actually. It was how I got into linux in the first place. UT is free, you just have to be able to essentially root your phone and then install it. One of my side gigs is buying the old pixel phones, installing UT on them and reselling them. Not a lot of money, but keeps me busy.

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I don't think it is just "Google" related, unless "StackOverflow" is part of the Google empire (it appears to be standalone). This is a snapshot of such a login prompt on StackOverflow. Extremely annoying because it pops up on EVERY page until you login. :frowning:

StackOverflow__GoogleLogin

... and, more intriguing, is that it is not even the email address I used to register/login for StackOverflow!

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You're probably signed in to Google somewhere else in your browser -- either actively or in the (fairly) recent past. I get those annoying popups on Stack Exchange sites too. I have to imagine Stack Exchange embeds a Google script or frame into each of their Web pages, and the popup is a side effect of that. (EDIT: I just checked using Firefox's Inspector tool, and indeed it is an embedded frame linking to Google.) Yes, you'd think Cross-Site Scripting mitigations in Web browsers would prevent this; however, I looked into Cross-Origin/Cross-Site Scripting some years ago and concluded that it's got a lot of loopholes, so many that I'm not sure what use it is.

Firefox users can add this to their ~/.mozilla/firefox/[XXXXXXXX].default/chrome/userContent.css file:

#credential_picker_container > iframe
{
  display: none;
}

NOTE: On Ubuntu, where Firefox is a Snap package, the path is ~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/[XXXXXXXX].default/chrome/userContent.css.

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It sounds good but is beyond my technical ability and I am unwilling to ruin an expensive cell phone. I will have to wait until a major carrier offers something.

Well, UT does not work on all phones. The Pixel 3a is a few years old and you can pick them up for under $70. UT is not that robust as far as apps are concerned, but if you are looking for a phone without tracking and google, UT is pretty good for that. It's basically a phone with a browser and a camera.

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You could offer to sell @jymm one of those phones of yours... :slight_smile:

Ha! Don't want to pimp my stuff in this forum. Just here to learn and help when I can. Not sure it would be appropriate.

But if I can do it, so can anyone. the UT site has an easy to use tool to load it.

Can phone apps (e.g. MagicJack or else) run on UT ?

W

No. Sorry.

Here is their app store. It's pretty limited.

Again, UT is just an alternative for folks who want a phone with some browser capabilities that does not track you. If you are a heavy phone user, UT would be more of a toy. I use it as my business phone, but I still have an Android... as much as I don't want one, but I refuse to be one of the iSheeple. :rofl:

Will every carrier let you use that phone? Is it as simple as putting in your carrier’s Simms card? What if the phone only has electronic Simms cards?

That would seem to hide the popup but not actually eliminate it - your cookies would still be tracked. You might want to install the uBlock Origin extension and tell it to block Google on not Google sites.

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Anyone used a PinePhone or similar? I've looked at reviews and I am hoping that they somehow magically get a lot better. I think battery life, reliable browsers, and support for secure messaging apps would be my main asks.

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You probably know this, but maybe it bears repeating for the benefit of others.
The website below lets you opt out of almost all Google data collection (searches, websites you visit, videos you watch, places you go):

You can also delete the data that Google has collected, as well as edit the devices and products that Google associates with your account.

Of course, you have to log into your Google account on the above page so Google can authenticate which account you're editing. But once you've finished, log out.

One gotcha: these settings only apply to data collected when you are logged in to Google; for instance, when using your Android phone. But if you're using (as I do) Brave Browser to view this webpage, the data and analytics that Google collects aren't directly associated with your Google account, because you aren't signed in to Google. Google may still be able to infer who you are through fingerprinting, but if you have turned off data collection in your Google account, that indirectly collected information will not be stored in your account.

Even with the above settings tweaked to prevent any data collection, you'd still be prudent to restart Brave at least once a day to generate a new browsing fingerprint. And of course, use a VPN to obscure your IP address. (If you don't obscure your IP address, and it's static, or seldom changes, anti-fingerprinting is almost useless.)

Then there's the question of what Google says it does versus what it actually does. They've been caught fumbling this in the past. My opinion is that although I'm not sanguine about Google's integrity, I have more confidence in their privacy claims than in the past, mainly because they are now subject to GDPR.

For what it's worth.

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I am not logged into google anywhere, but it seems to remember my google email address. :frowning:

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Do you think they have a tracking cookie?

My main email is Yahoo, but I use my Gmail to send files, etc.

It is much faster than Yahoo mail.

Not even to Youtube? Or maybe a Maps service or a GPS service, I can’t remember right now but there were a few articles a while ago wrote by people who tried to live a few days blocking Google from all their devices and they found out it was embedded everywhere; they couldn’t even ask for an Uber or other similar services because they all use Google. Or buy something online (food, clothes, anything) because all these used Google services. Even big sites whose workload is handled by Amazon, were tied to Google for this or that.

I guess you logged in some time in the past, even if it was long ago, and they still keep the cookie. As @DaveHighland said above, you’ve got to get into your Google account and check everything. I know people who say “I don’t have a Gmail account” but they still logged in to some Google servie at some point - either from a smartphone or through some other site or app that handles their workload to Google.

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