Why You Should Never Use Google Photos On Your iPhone iPad Or Mac
Google Photos now stores 4 trillion photos and videos for more than a billion users. Even millions of iPhone, iPad and Mac users prefer it to Apple’s alternative—better search, more features, cheaper storage (at least until June 1). But if you're among them, Google’s latest data harvesting admission and its continued block on a key Apple privacy measure should serve as a serious warning that it’s now time to switch. After another week where it’s Facebook’s data harvesting that has made headlines, with disingenuous App Tracking Transparency notifications and Signal posting a brutal reminder as to the invasive nature of the data held on us, let’s not forget that Google is a much bigger data empire forged from the digital marketing gold rush. After an awkward delay, Google has now filed privacy labels for all its major apps on Apple’s App Store—including Google Photos. And just like Gmail and Chrome and Maps, Google Photos presents a stark contrast to its Apple equivalent. As ever, the sheer scope of data that Google Photos says it might collect is stark. Google stresses that “App Privacy labels show all possible data that could be collected, but the actual data collected depends on the specific features a person decides to use.” So, for example, “we’ll collect contact info if you want to share your photos and videos with others, or if you decide to purchase a photo book, we’ll collect your payment information and store your purchase history. But this data wouldn’t be collected if you chose not to share photos or make a purchase.”This is important. And it explains why there are seeming oddities like purchase history and payment information that might be collected by a photos app. Google also points out that iCloud is the storage platform behind Apple’s Photos app, whereas Google Photos offers storage as well as its other features. But there is a fundamentally different approach to privacy here as well—and ultimately it comes down to trust. Apple sets out to put user privacy first, it has become one of the company’s unique selling points. And that’s credible because Apple is a product company. If you don’t buy its devices and services, it doesn’t make money. Google is very different. It makes most of its money by selling access to you by showing you ads. And the more tailored and targeted those ads are, the more likely you are to respond and buy, and the more money Google can charge its customers to show you those ads. Everything we’re now talking about as regards privacy flows back to that simple premise. That’s why Safari blocks trackers whereas Chrome is trialing its convoluted, flawed FLoC solution to maintain its targeted ad machine. As Google explains, “if you watch videos about baking on YouTube, you may see more ads that relate to baking as you browse the web. We also may use your IP address to determine your approximate location, so that we can serve you ads for a nearby pizza delivery service if you search for ‘pizza’.
All data is taken from the source: http://forbes.com
Article Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffm...
#google #newslatest #newsworldwide #newstodayheadlines #newstodayusa #newsworldabc #
