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Polar bear with carrot

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Ditch your android?

So Apple is helping subjugate the people of China while Google chronicles your every fart, what is a responsible person to do?

Seriously, read the Roger McNamee article from the current issue of New Yorker, Big Tech's Big Defector. I am acquainted with Roger, have sold him some art, and he is definitely an amazing guy with an important message.
Androids are commonly equipped with a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a magnetic-field detector; their sensors can calculate heart rate and count steps. This constant flow of information allows your phone to track whether you’re sleeping or awake; whether you’re driving, walking, jogging, or biking; whether you’re in the Starbucks on the ground floor or the lawyer’s office on the tenth...All modern smartphones—including iPhones—contain hardware that monitors users’ activities and locations. But McNamee and many experts argue that Androids are unique in the extent to which they collect and retain user information. Much of this data is collected even when a phone is off-line, then uploaded to Google’s servers and integrated into an archive that includes your search, Gmail, and Google Docs history. The Android platform finds information in your apps and your online activity, and often makes this information available to third parties, like advertisers. A user agreement also gives Google Assistant the right to record conversations that occur within earshot of the device’s microphone.
This is a clarion call, a very scary article regarding data collection and how our lives are being negatively shaped and recorded by our phones.

2 comments:

Jon Harwood said...

Not many good answers out there. My solution is to turn the phone off as often as possible. It works for me but that is a lousy solution for many people who have to keep their phones on. I look at the internet and the cell phone as if I am a pure 19th century virgin contemplating entry into a "den of sin".

Ken Seals said...

I will be happy to help you get your new Windows PC set up and running :-)