Google is Watching
 

I knew that my phone was sending Google data, but I had no idea how much data.

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Ever had a conversation about which salad dressing you wanted on your salad for dinner and then when you got back onto your phone/computer, you had an ad pop up for Hidden Valley Ranch? It happens all the time with friends that have smartphones and exactly why I will never have one.

Those hidden valley people are evil I tell you. Evil!

They sure are.

Thing is there's almost no way to avoid the surveilance.

To be completely rid of it you'd have to go incommunicado with everyone who as a smartphone, computer or any other device that is on line on cable or on satellite.

I have one friend that still does not own a cell phone or computer at all. He pays cash for his purchases. He does own three Porsches and a house. It would be fascinating to see just what Google knows about him. He is a total analog man. I bet Google still has lots of data on him.

Until the feds change the laws and cell phone manufacturers put in real privacy into the devices, not much will change.

I would insert an or in place of the and.

If the cell phone manufacturers knew there was a customer base that cared the market would shift that way without any need for feds to change laws.

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you

They just spent the last decade taking away the privacy protections. For example, you can't really turn the GPS tracking off on new phones. You can just choose not to share it with other applications--Google still gets the data. Another example is that you can't take the batteries out of new phones easily--this is so that you can't really ever turn them off (and so that you buy a new phone instead of changing the battery).

Huh? The feds are the ones who tried to force Apple to build a backdoor into the iPhone to access terrorists communication.

Never having a smartphone? Perhaps if you are completely disconnected and retired. Literally not an option for most people.

A smartphone cannot handle anything I do with work.

There is nothing it gives me personally.

Just extra cost.

I also think I meet and hear stories
from a lot of interesting people
that I might miss
if I had my nose in a device.

To each their own I suppose.

I find myself surprised
by the people with smart bricks
that have them out playing music
with the volume all the way up
and are out on a nature hike
they cannot hear nature

And I feel sorry for you. I bought a "dumb phone" from Trac Phone..$100 worth of minutes easily lasts a year. Wouldn't have bought it except pay phones no longer exist. I call it our $8.33 per month plan. It usually sits on a shelf, turned off. We take it when out & about, but otherwise have no use for it.

Happily disconnected and retired..:)

It is getting to where a flip phone is more expensive than a entry level smart phone.

No smartphone for me, and I am neither disconnected nor retired. I just won't become a slave to a "device", and my work has me in front of a computer all the time. I don't need to spend my free time checking texts and messages and e-mails, and I don't need to be "connected", with the assumption of availabilty, 24/7/365 .
When I'm out with friends, I'd rather talk to them, than have my nose buried in a phone. I don't know how many times I see two couples out for dinner, and everyone has their phone out and doing whatever, and occasionally talking to each other. Waste of time and money in my opinion.
Hell, I even see couples out by themselves, each with their phone out and not talking to each other.
Eh, maybe they're texting each other.

This. I got a smart phone when it became obvious that no design effort was being put into "feature" phones. My second-to-last flip phone was easy to use and a battery lasted a week. My last flip phone was a flimsy piece of garbage that couldn't keep a charge longer than 4 hours.

A nice development for the flip phone is that they now have 4G hot-spot capability. (i carry a tablet PC)

Google is watching this thread too...

Well, yeah.

Duh.

My mum has a smart phone. I wonder what her data is worth?

Actually neither. And maybe ironic that I make my living on the interwebs. And also technically a 'millennial' so figure that one out.

I just don't find it necessary to have a smartphone. I have a prepaid flip phone that I've used exactly 3 minutes so far this month on. Last month, 7 minutes. I don't text, I don't call. The only people I talk to are in real life. Just the way I like it.