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No, but I tried to use the âstreamâ given on TANâŚand now its infected my phone, and its sending me pics of strange ladies with their bums in the airâŚgee whizz.
A lot of these permissions we arenât aware we are giving away, but inherently give those with the terms and conditions in fine print. Not with the app or store in question, but could be associated ones as well.
Not in this context, but loved the line âIf itâs for free, you are the productâ
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This is what infuriates me most. Anonymity in social media??? Do you have anonymity in society in general, specially if you are so eager to express your opinion???
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For anyone wanting to avoid being tracked, there is this alternative platform to make your internet search. It works exactly as well as google, but respects your private life and doesnât collect your data:
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Works well.
Searched for âanfield noiseâ and we are the top hit 
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Soon after reading âPermanent Recordâ by Ed Snowden, I found out about âThe Social Dilemmaâ from watching an interview Tristan Harris gave over the weekend. Although I understand some of the basics behind the social media manipulation, this is the first time that I am better informed. The film is quite revelatory.
After watching the documentary/docudrama, I wish it that it is readily available to everyone, instead of being a Netflix (i.e. paid) documentary, so that everyone can learn, and be informed, on the manipulative antics behind the social media platforms, simply for profiteering, with pre-teen/teen depressions-anxiety/suicides, social discourse as some of the many negative byproducts.
The documentary showed some of these âcrusadersâ, turned away from the companies that they founded, got hired, and in the process, earned a boatload of money. I do wish that they grew the conscience a lot earlier, and steered the social media ship to a proper course earlier. Maria Farrell wrote a pretty good piece âThe Prodigal Techbroâ
The Guardian also has a couple of opinion pieces related to the documentary/docudrama, worth a read:
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Another one, US-based, which pledges to respect privacy:
The plus with this one is that you can define it as the default search engine by going into the browserâs preferences (for me, Safari). That should in theory rule out google from any further tracking.
(anfield noise, we come out first too⌠
)
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Me and Mrs Mascot finally watched âThe Social Dilemmaâ last. Fuck me, itâs absolutely terrifying.
Itâs been a long while since I was a regular Facebook user. That thing is needier than a new baby when you stop using it. Get rid of it. Just do it.
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Thanks for this. Watched it and loved it. Really an eye-opener. While it showed how and why one gets addicted to it, I believe one of the reasons people canât get off it is FOMO. The little optimism they have at the end, I donât know. Itâs very very difficult, would be possible but we are talking about real cultural shift. Regulations are must though, it needs to start somewhere.
Some of the quotes from it were hard hitting - âSocial media is a marketplace that trades exclusively in human futuresâ, âItâs the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in our own behaviour and perception that is the productâ.
Agree with you, itâs a must watch for all.
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Maybe iâm just a bit more aware of it as Iâve been tech adjacent at work for a few years, but a lot of the people who were included have been speaking about this individually for several years. One of the common themes of people who leave Google or Facebook is that they become almost luddite like in their commitment to disconnectingâŚno notifications, very light in apps, use of old fashioned blue screen. This was really useful in that it pulled so many of them together in the same documentary.
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I like seeing my friends and family enjoying themselves and having vicarious holidays. Whatâs not to like?
And obviously putting people right on political and local forums. âCan anybody recommend a local âŚâ âGoogle it FFS!!!â
The classic though is:
Post your age, Motherâs maiden name, DOB, first pet and postcode to reveal your true unicorn. Yeah, and empty your bank accounts.
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I came across this article a while back, and found it fascinating. The big 5 ( Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple) almost controls everything and doing away with them, means doing away with almost every daily app that we use.
The experiment about doing away with these big 5, meant doing away their cloud and every other services and subsidiaries as well. A lot of recommendations on what could be the alternatives and itâs not at all easy. Itâs a bit long and tech heavy.
Edit: This was the original article I was referring to where an app in that experiment wouldnât even allow you to use an app on these 5 giants-
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Google is really the fucker because google tech is embedded in so much stuff that if you wanted to be really literal about avoiding it youd have to spend all day every day researching just to figure out if something you wanted to use was on your list.
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Providing theyâre not involved in porn and lube Iâd be sound.
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Pornhub runs on a google platform.
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Presume one or the other among these 5 giants would be the base for it all 
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