Should I be worried about the branding? Or the fact this behemoth of a company is buying it's way into every corner of my life. Close your eyes and imagine a few drones trying to see everything you do in your apartment. That's what it is. This ain't the internet I ordered :-(

You don't have to own or use any of Google's products.

People were using Fitbit, not Google, and now their data is in Google's hands without their consent. Even if they stop using their devices immediately, Google still has the data Fitbit collected previously.

It's a good lesson about being willing to share data: even if you trust the company you're sharing with, a company you don't trust may end up buying that company and getting your data after all.

If you're privacy-minded, the only safe option is to treat all companies as untrustworthy.

You can download your data [1] and delete your account [2]. These are two things I always check for before trusting anyone with my data.

[1] https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1133

[2] https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1285

What you can’t do is delete the data that Google is collecting on you without an account. Data your family gives them. Data from your emails that land in gmail inboxes. Data from the umpteen thousand cookies that lead back to Google.

I’d like to see what Google has on me, but without an account I can’t.

but now that could change

Google does a pretty good job allowing you to control and delete your data on their products.

Much better than the average tech company out there.

While that sounds like a logical argument it’s becoming more and more difficult and will be impossible soon. It’s like saying you can live without electricity. Sure you can and there are people who do but that’s not the point. The point is a single company owning so much information about so many people without proper oversight. In such world it doesn’t matter if YOU are not a google user. You’ll suffer the consequences regardless. Start with how such a society is going to vote in elections and move from there.

If your friends & family own or use Google's products, that's already a lot of overlap onto your life.

Unless they manage to monopolize communication products. Snail mail has been doing well for me, I guess.

If you text people with Android phones, Google can read your text messages even if you don't use their products.

You forgot Play Fit.

And Firebase Fit 360.

And Alphabit...

Play Fit (beta)

AlphaFit

Motofit 360

Will it make it that long?

And in 2024 they cancel the product line and cease all product support despite the large and passionate user base.

Figle

Alphafit?

Honestly, it's a fair prediction. Google has too many cooks in the wrong kitchens.

Yeah, the only one that I'd leave out is "Android Fit". Google doesn't brand much as Android these days.

Google is banned in China along with almost all other US & European tech.

Google (the search engine) may well be ‘banned’ (but you’d be surprised how pedestrian it is to obtain and use a VPN connection... even since the purported ‘crackdown’... I was there recently) but the technology Google provides, in the form of Android and various backends and doodads, very much ‘owns’ the market there.

I don’t (really) believe that a glorified pedometer such as the FitBit will infringe on people’s privacy and security against a state actor such as the PRC any more than their cellphone already does.

So yeah... but... nah.

Google.com is banned, not Google Co. per se.

And they are still opening new offices here, one in Foshan a year ago

Is this really the main takeaway from such a huge event? How about the fact that millions of users' data is just acquired by the company that already knows literally more about users than themselves?

That's obvious and way less interesting than googlified app names

I've made terms with fact that once my data is out there, I no longer have control over it. We need a major law change like GDPR that should allow users to control who has access to data and how it will be used. Until that happens. I'm surprised at the reactions from hn community on this. Do we really think Fitbit or any other company where we share data can never be acquired by some evil corp.