just dont use google? I havent used google search for years now and there hasnt been single time where i would have needed to use google search even once. Though unfortunately i’m still bound to the damn gmail because i cant find better alternative for it.
says some rich asshole who probably hasn’t done real work a day in his life, likely living off dividends and bribe money
maybe blocking it is the wrong way to go about though. Instead there should be some way to make the fingerprinting data worthless by having everyones browser constantly change things in the background so the fingerprint changes too
yes, but medium is the absolute best they can manage
Anything ubisoft makes. Or generally most things big companies make to cater biggest possible amount of people.
at least bassite seems quite easy to use for someone who would use it just for browsing and games. Actually it feels a bit too custodial as i cant even install portmaster due to its writeonly nature. So you cant do complex stuff even if you wanted to. It makes it very safe too, since if its awful for user to do that, malware couldnt do anything at all.
If you dont want to do anything complex with linux and dont need to use microsoft products, its easier to use than windows imo since there is no corporate bullshit you have to deal with. Though you still need to learn the basics just like when you start using windows for first time. Then again, maybe i’m overestimating the abilities of average user who doesnt really know anything about computers.
as it is defined in the article
does ANY model reason at all?
Just having such wealth and thus power in hands of singular humans is risk to all of humanity. With musk you are but big enough drug fueled temper tantrum away from pretty important infrastructure coming crashing down.
They added spyware to it.
Here is excerpt from the tos, shared by user in steam reviews of the game.
• Mods are a bannable offense • Display of Cheats/Exploits is bannable • Forced arbitration clause and a waiver of class action and jury trial rights for all users residing in the United States and any other territory other than Australia, Switzerland, The United Kingdom, or The Territories of The European Economic Area • You can be banned for using a VPN while connecting to online servers • Cannot access game content on a Virtual PC
Collected Data Types: • Identifiers / Contact Information: Name, user name, gamertag, postal and email address, phone number, unique IDs, mobile device ID, platform ID, gaming service ID, advertising ID (IDFA, Android ID) and IP address • Protected Characteristics: Age and gender • Commercial Information: Purchase and usage history and preferences, including gameplay information • Billing Information: Payment information (credit / debit card information) and shipping address • Internet / Electronic Activity: Web / app browsing and gameplay information related to the Services; information about your online interaction(s) with the Services or our advertising; and details about the games and platforms you use and other information related to installed applications • Device and Usage Data: Device type, software and hardware details, language settings, browser type and version, operating system, and information about how users use and interact with the Services (e.g., content viewed, pages visited, clicks, scrolls) • Profile Inferences: Inferences made from your information and web activity to help create a personalized profile so we can identify goods and services that may be of interest • Audio / Visual Information: Account photos, images, and avatars, audio information via chat features and functionality, and gameplay recordings and video footage (such as when you participate in playtesting) • Sensitive Information: Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality.
I wouldnt touch anything this company has produced.
Considering how morally bankrupt humanity still is, this is terrifying possible technology. Imagine people being condemned to “hell” or broken, copied and used as enslaved mind for some robot shell. (I know it still couldnt do anything to you personally, just make copy of you.)
If even death couldn’t bring release from this world, this would be ultimate chain authoritarians could use to permanently control anyone.
Would opting out actually do anything except keep you from using the feature? Pretty certainly they will still let the ai read your emails if there is any benefit to google in it, but you just wont be seeing the summary.
so in a way, ai makes lazy teaching methods more clearly useless since you can just generate essays
I dont know about other models but I think I have managed to limit how much my phone (fairphone) spies on me quite decently.
I installed application called ReThink, which is basically a firewall and I can block even google services with it. I know it works because its really pain in the ass when I want to use their services like calendar and i have to temporarily unblock it. It can also block ads by completely blocking internet for programs that dont really need it. I have also removed/disabled anything extra and removed permissions to anything that absolutely doesn’t need it. It also alerted me to that stupid google safetycore spyware being installed (by blocking and informing about newly installed program) so i managed to remove that immediately.
At least according to the logs the phone seems secure, since nothing is being allowed to connect anywhere that shouldn’t be allowed. Can’t do much to occasional breaches due to restarts or temporary allowings, but I dont think such sparse information is much use or it might require more effort to utilise.
Its like if there was no law prohibiting stealing if you just do it in certain way, or arson. I wish there was something one would do about it, but its so damn difficult to resist even by saying something should be done about it since vast majority of people simply dont care or dont want to say too much if they do. I wonder if it has always been like this even in the past or if it turned like this at some point.
Its easy, people simply dont even think that it could be used to spy on them. Its just handy and funny tool. There is HUGE problem in the world with majority still naively trusting corporations to such extent saying anything to contrary seems like you are some conspiracy nut. Or if they don’t trust them naively, they are so apathetic that they just think their information leaking doesnt matter, it can’t be stopped anyway and that they just dont care about it.
Something really should be done to start having people care about things again, otherwise everyone will lose all rights to privacy eventually.
Why is that even legal? It doesnt benefit society in anyway, just hurts it by removing work places. I dont know how it works finically but at least it sounds like it could also be used to evade taxes with that debt bullshit. Is this using some loophole in existing law or is it something that doesnt have anything restricting it?
well, isn’t security kind of about setting the “filter” for potential attackers? You can break a padlock with hammer, but it will keep out random people from wandering in. Having to rewire and program stuff to access this would keep many types of away. The kind of attacker who would want to go through all that trouble wouldn’t be kept away even with more secure methods most likely. Though I guess you could just take the drive and pay someone to deal with it, but still it would need at least some knowledge to even know what should be done with it.
Here are some reasons:
exclusivity deals, forcing them to drop from steam even after they first announced release on there. They also target crowdfunded games like phoenixpoint.
The launcher is spyware
https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/epic-launcher-and-privacy/123592
and epic is owned by tencent 40%
They not really trying to improve their launcher but instead focus on hurting steam and by extension the users.
Its like some shady guy trying to lure kids to a van by offering free candy.
The launcher is security risk for your system https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/1hm9mh9/epic_games_launcher_had_a_serious_security_flaw/
Even if they have fixed that specific issue, why would you believe they have fixed anything else?
thlm 5mo ago
Epic Games Launcher Incorrect Default Permissions Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
CVSS SCORE
7.8
This vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on affected installations of Epic Games Launcher. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability.
The specific flaw exists within the product installer. The product applies incorrect default permissions to a sensitive folder. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of SYSTEM.
DISCLOSURE TIMELINE
2024-07-16 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
2024-12-04 - Coordinated public release of advisory
2024-12-06 - Advisory Updated
That timeline is disgusting
So in essence, its not bad because it trys to compete with steam. Its bad because they really dont try to compete and just do anti-user things. And people dont care because “yay free games I’m never going to look at again”.
If you want to see what actual competition looks like at the moment, take a look at GOG.
i just want a service that i dont have to hassle with, so this would definitely not be good for me 😅 Also i dont think many places even accept self hosted email as “real”, at least some places dont accept alias addresses.
its so annoying when any decent alternative costs money, which isnt very good thing for my “official” email which i need for important things. Dont want to end up in situation where i get locked out of it because i didnt or couldnt pay for some reason. Though i constantly have to slightly fear that with google too since they can lock anyone’s account for any reason they see fit.