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Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by mike_n on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:27AM (#17062679)
Is it not assumed/expected that if you're using android then google has access to all your phone's data/sensors?
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by gpm on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:44AM (#17062761)
Of course it isn't. I own the phone, not Google.

Do you expect Apple to listen to your conversations just because you use a mac and it has a microphone? Do you expect Toyota to track you everywhere you go because your car came with a GPS system?

Building the system, let alone just making the software, doesn't give you the rights to all the data it produces after you sell it.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by oldcynic on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:47AM (#17062776)
Yet most of the large corporations are taking exactly that view. GDPR can't come soon enough.
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by merb on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:06AM (#17062853)
> Of course it isn't. I own the phone, not Google.

Maybe the phone, but not the software running on it.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by sjwright on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:36AM (#17062950)
I don't know why that comment was being voted down, but it is a correct and important point. Consumers' idea of product ownership is more aligned with that of cars and coffee machines.

Most consumers don't realise how little of their phone is purchased and how much of it is licensed, rented or reliant on corporate existence. Imagine if Apple and Google magically disappeared from the universe—the value and utility of your phone will plummet.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by merb on Monday May 14, 2018 @08:30AM (#17064842)
> Consumers' idea of product ownership is more aligned with that of cars and coffee machines.

Well in germany there is a good sentence about that. 'Ignorance of the law is no excuse'. So basically no matter what you know of anything you won't be guarded by laziness (at least if you are under normal conditions of course).

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by subroutine on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:32AM (#17062934)
What is the difference? Both the hardware and the software are covered by hundreds of patents, copyright protections, license agreements, end user agreements, etc.

The question here is what basic privacies can someone expect when they purchase a phone, and how transparent do companies need to be about what information they are collecting.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by sjwright on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:41AM (#17062978)
The difference is the essence of ownership. Google/Apple can't physically take away my phone, but they could declare a violation of the terms of service and terminate the software license agreement.
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by satori99 on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:32AM (#17062714)
One would think so. It is, after all, an operating system created by the largest advertising company that has ever existed, and they are not giving it away for altruistic reasons.
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by onetimemanytime on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:54AM (#17063026)
>> Is it not assumed/expected that if you're using android then google has access to all your phone's data/sensors?

Yeah but that doesn't mean that they should snap a photo or turn on the mic in my bedroom. The point is that there are limits. Legal and ethical.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by gcb0 on Monday May 14, 2018 @02:25AM (#17063176)
either they own the data or they don't. you can't go about making extremely granular arbitrary clauses.
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by onetimemanytime on Monday May 14, 2018 @02:41AM (#17063254)
If it's a yes or no /all or none, then they do not own it. They can't.
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by _bxg1 on Monday May 14, 2018 @12:38AM (#17062737)
*if you're using android with Google Services
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by askvictor on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:42AM (#17062982)
Not certain why the downvotes; apart from community ROMs and Amazon's Android devices, Samsung has been positioning itself for some time to not be completely reliant on Google for it's phone business - they have an App Store of their own and their own duplicate functionality of many of Google's core services for Android. I wouldn't be surprised if they de-coupled from Google entirely at some point (yes, they'd need to convince developers over to their app store, but they're playing the long game)
Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by ReverseCold on Monday May 14, 2018 @01:56AM (#17063031)
I read the Samsung privacy policy, it's honestly not much better.

Is there a project to replace all of play services with FOSS/encrypted ones?

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by _bxg1 on Monday May 14, 2018 @02:00AM (#17063056)
There is, called MicroG. Although personally I don't use it on my google-less phone because it's a bit messy/early in development.

You can make do (as I do) with LineageOS, F-Droid, and APKMirror. The last is run by the AndroidPolice folks and is therefore trustworthy.

Re:Australian regulator investigates Google data harvesting ... by askvictor on Monday May 14, 2018 @02:04AM (#17063077)
True Samsung's not any better, but diversity is a good thing; if they have an alternative in place then they could much more easily provide competition with Google in this space (after all, Samsung sells hardware and doesn't really need to harvest your data)