Posts by The obvious

Google's plan to make User-Agent string even less useful breaks our device detection tech, says NetMarketShare

Re: Trouble is which version of the standards

Obligatory XKCD

https://xkcd.com/927/

Alphabet thanks ads and AI for its $124m-a-day quarterly profit, and comes out swinging against antitrust action

Re: WTF is up with Bing?

I do use Bing and I think people do rag on it without really giving it a chance, but the value in google is not in search, the value is in the Orwellian level of data hoovering that informs the search.

Analytics, DNS, Safebrowsing, apis, fonts etc that almost all sites use, most of them we can’t really avoid without major degradation or loss of functionality, and which most users, even techies wouldn’t even think to look for.

Kick Google all you like, Mozilla tells US government, so long as we keep getting our Google-bucks

It's almost as if...

google had a massive monopoly in search so Mozilla couldn't get any meaningful amounts of cash from other companies.

Guess I'm living up to the name again...

What does everyone make of today's Google antitrust action? Only the stock market is happy with the status quo

Re: How to disrupt a monopoly

"Offer something better than they do."

I knew googlebot would turn up at some point.

Google have been abusing their monopoly for over a decade and it is impossible not to give them data, data that makes it impossible for a new entrant to provide something better. The only company vaguely capable of giving it a run for it's money is Microsoft. But without access to the data from google analytics, as well as the analytics from google's SafeSearch, DNS, APIs, Fonts, Maps, YouTube and so on, that's pretty much impossible even for them.

If you don't believe me regarding choice... block google's ASN at your firewall, stop feeding them data, then try to go about your usual online activities. Trust me, we can wait while you do it, because you won't be long.

When you tell Chrome to wipe private data about you, it spares two websites from the purge: Google.com, YouTube

Re: Facebook is just as bad

Except you actually can choose not to use Facebook - just block their ASN at the firewall, job done.

Try that with google. See how long you can last, it won’t be long.

Odds are it’s in chromium too, so it’s netsc^h^h^h Firefox or nothing on most platforms.

Re: no consequences

Sounds like SOP for google.

It was never really “don’t be evil” and more “don’t get caught, if you do then pretend it was a mistake”

Google screwed rivals to protect monopoly, says Uncle Sam in antitrust lawsuit: We go inside the Sherman parked on a Silicon Valley lawn

People have a choice?

“ People use Google because they choose to, not because they're forced to.”

Yeah, ok. We can test that.

Block Google’s ASN at the firewall, and attempt to go about your normal use of the web for a day and tell us how long you last.

2010 was far too late, the damage was long done. It shouldn’t have taken Microsoft to get on board... the government should have got on with it without needing prompting.

To stop web giants abusing privacy, they must be prevented from respawning. Ever

Re: Not going to happen

I’d definitely argue that google are far worse than fb or Twitter. Unlike the others they only affect their members, the googly-eye is all-seeing irrespective of if you consume their services directly or not.

Re: I've seen the movie just few days ago

Shunning Facebook is easy, just wallop their ASN at the firewall. Easy-peasy, job done, pub o’clock.

Try it with google... it is impossible to use the web in any meaningful way without giving them some amount of data.

Brexit travel permits designed to avoid 7,000-lorry jams come January depend on software that won't be finished till April

Re: What's in a name...

Dr Bunsen & Beaker would probably knock it out in an afternoon!

Future airliners will run on hydrogen, vows Airbus as it teases world-plus-dog with concept designs

Re: Looks good to me

Unless it leaks into the cabin. My understanding is that, mixed with oxygen, it doesn’t so much burn as go off with a BANG!!!!

Adtech's bogeymen are tracking everything - even your web visits to mental health charities, claim campaigners

Re: Oh, I've got a better one than that...

This also applies to all the political parties too.

If you’re google and you want to lobby the government, that seems like a useful bit of information...

Teen charged after allegedly taking food delivery biz for a ride: $10k of 'fraudulent refunds for stuff not delivered'

Re: Subway & Uber Eats

If you want to know who’s responsible, follow the money... The company responsible is always the one you paid.

Chromium devs want the browser to talk to devices, computers directly via TCP, UDP. Obviously, nothing can go wrong

Re: What happened to Do no evil?

It was only ever really “don’t get caught”.

Meet the new IE4...

...same as the old IE4 but with Google.

Geneticists throw hands in the air, change gene naming rules to finally stop Microsoft Excel eating their data

Re: I must be missing something...

About half uses “;”, so not comma-separated at all?

Re: Wrong tool for the job

If scientists can’t manage to find/use the import wizard where you can tell it that that A specific column data is text then I’m not sure there’s hope for the human race.

USA decides to cleanse local networks of anything Chinese under new five-point national data security plan

Re: don't want to be sued for slander either...

You won’t be - slander only applies to speech. Libel however...

It's been five years since Windows 10 hit: So... how's that working out for you all?

Re: I would LOVE to be able to use Linux

As far as I’m concerned you aren’t missing anything, the best place for Linux is /dev/null - the ecosystem is pretty toxic and really needs to go have a good think after the likes of the debacle that is systemd...

We're suing Google for harvesting our personal info even though we opted out of Chrome sync – netizens

Re: Strange People...

When go ogle controls 90% of search, how are people supposed to find anything else/better. It’s almost as if they are abusing their monopoly and need to be split up.

It was never really "don't be evil"

It is (and remains) “don’t get caught”.

What evil lurks within the data centre, and why is it DDoS-ing the ever-loving pants off us?

Re: TomTom Updates (2025 update)

“ the days when things were written specifically for Chrome.”

Chrome: the new Internet Explorer.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Dutch national broadcaster saw ad revenue rise when it stopped tracking users. It's meant to work like that, right?

Re: You Don't Love Retargeting?

There’s a significant difference between facebook and google though. You can choose not to give facebook your data, quite easily. Whereas with google it is impossible to just (for example) sinkhole their ASN and have done with it.

Macs, iPhones, iPads to get encrypted DNS – how'd you like them Apples?

Re: Big G

By privacy they meant private from everyone else, not from them apparently...

Huawei's EMUI 10.1 update shows Chinese mobile giant hunkering down for the long haul without Google wares

Re: So...

There will be plenty of value in providing those services or the all-seeing googly eye would not be interested in sharing theirs with other companies.

When open source isn't enough: Fancy a de-Googled Chromium? How about some Microsoft-free VS Code?

Re: Vivaldi?

Google “safe browsing“ is enabled by default in Vivaldi. I mentioned it in the forums but a lot of people seem to think that google respect their privacy...

Kinda goes without saying, but shore up your admin passwords or be borged by this brute-forcing botnet

Re: It is appalling

Because “It is open source and runs on Linux so it’s secure.”

I’ve been told that in those exact words.

No more installing Microsoft's Chromium-centered Edge by hand: Windows 10 will do it for you automatically

Re: Déja Vu

Now people only write pages to work in new IE4 - Chrome.

Google+ replacement ‘Currents’ to end beta and debut in G Suite on July 6th

Another product for google to burn

I give it 500 days...

Re: Oh, you can opt out. Trust me.

Oh really? Block Google’s ASN at your router for a week, then tell us if you can really opt out...

Google: You know we said that Chrome tracker contained no personally identifiable info? Yeah, about that...

Re: GnuTzu - Proxy

Why do you think google invented hsts and hpkp?

House of Lords push internet legend on greater openness and transparency from Google. Nope, says Vint Cerf

Re: We're Google ...

“We’re Google and if you want anyone to hear about your party next election then you had better be awed at our technobabble...”

'An issue of survival': Why Mozilla welcomes EU attempts to regulate the internet giants

Vivaldi the chromeskin. I use it too but it’s worth remembering as there lies the problem. Browser engine diversity protects standards and we as a community seems to have forgotten the browser wars.

Google burns down more than 500 private-data-stealing, ad-defrauding Chrome extensions installed by 1.7m netizens

Hey!

private-data-stealing and ad-defrauding is OUR job.

signed,

the all-seeing googly eye.

RIP FTP? File Transfer Protocol switched off by default in Chrome 80

Re: Guess I'm a fossil, then

Google’s rationale is “can we virtually wipe every implementation off the planet?” or “can we harvest loads of juicy data to make a profit?”

If both of those are “no” then in the bin it goes. If they manage the first, and the second is still “no” *then* they bin it...

Sketchy behavior? Wacom tablet drivers phone home with names, times of every app opened on your computer

Re: Pi-Hole

They’re feeding google analytics... given that google are the absolute worst bunch of data thieving bastards known to mankind outside of the TLA’s, any pi-hole list worth using should be blackholing them into oblivion already.

Microsoft's on Edge and you could be, too: Chromium-based browser exits beta – with teething problems

Woop-de-do, another chromeskin...

If we wanted/needed another crappy chrome-skin then there are a bunch of options. Checking code against multiple render engines was a useful thing to be able to do. I guess we learned nothing from the browser wars after all...

What if everyone just said 'Nah' to tracking?

Re: But How ?

Android devices will attempt to bypass the given DNS server to connect to DoH. Certain apps on iOS are also doing it too.

Re: add this to Chrome...

You’re assuming that the worst privacy abuser of the lot would add this feature... interesting.

Linux in 2020: 27.8 million lines of code in the kernel, 1.3 million in systemd

Re: Putting it bluntly,

I’m ok with that, can’t come soon enough. Fits in perfectly with my linux policy...

There is a Santa! BT prises remnants of InLink from jaws of administration

Re: Back to phorm?

Seems to work for google...

'Supporting Internet Explorer is hell': Web developers identify top needs – new survey

Re: "Should we all just use (say) chromium"

When Opera is and even Edge is about to be a crappy chrome-skin anyway, we pretty much are... it’s not looking great for standards.

Revealed: NHS England bosses meet with tech and pharmaceutical giants to discuss price list of millions of Brits' medical data

Dido Harding...

...as in the same Dido Harding who presided over TalkTalk when it was getting hacked?

I have the utmost confidence our data will be completely safe, secure, and not abused in any way... not!

WebAssembly gets nod from W3C and, most likely, an embrace from cryptojackers online

Everything old...

...can be made new again.

ActiveX is back again for the edification of those people who didn’t learn the lesson the first time around.

Cue sandbox escape CVE’s in 3... 2...

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, so the EU is investigating Google to get some more money in its hat

Re: $40.6bn in earnings before tax

I’d quite like google to pull out of the EU. It’s about time we techies learned not to keep creating new tech monopolies.

Talk about a ticket to ride... London rail passengers hear pr0n grunts over PA system

Re: Tube

Modern trains largely drive themselves. It's more just a responsibility thing of having a human to deal with the things it can't (and for that human to prove that it has not gone to sleep.)

Re: Cockfosters

not Babe Station?

TFL drivers

...change at Baker Street.

(Bootnote: for those outside the London bubble, it is the only station where you can switch from the pink to the brown line.)