Well how generous of our overlords...
this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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Privacy
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Hmm, it is nice to see an outcome from a lawsuit that is practical and not just a cost-of-doing-business fine.
But "de-identify" doesn't inspire a lot of confidence... anonymized data can be de-anonymized pretty easily most of the time. Also have they kept accurate internal records on all the places pieces of that data have gone inside their various projects and systems? Who would be capable of verifying that it had all been deleted?
I've verified throughout our fox network that there are no foxes in any henhouses at the moment. They've been instructed to take steps to ensure that no foxes end up in any henhouses accidentally going forward and the foxes tell me that they are truly sorry this time. Despite past reassurances of not being evil, they were in fact..evil. We are rolling out an internal audit system with the help of a 3rd party partner who owes us lots of stuff. We plan on letting the advocacy groups check out our henhouses as long as they agree to be bound by an NDA.
I think in European law, for data to be anonymous, not only there should be no personal identifying information but also there should be no identifiers that allow to link non personal data together to trace the behavior of a single person. https://www.edps.europa.eu/system/files/2021-04/21-04-27_aepd-edps_anonymisation_en_5.pdf
When the data is aggragated there's no true anonymization:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/24/researchers-spotlight-the-lie-of-anonymous-data
https://www.fastcompany.com/90278465/sorry-your-data-can-still-be-identified-even-its-anonymized
Do you mean not aggregated? Do you mean aggregating different kinds of data, or do you mean grouping together the same data for a category?
I mean that when lots of data is compiled, you can remove specific identifiers such as names, emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, etc (anonymization) but it's been demonstrated that it's relatively easy to re-identify specific individuals from "anonymized" data.
I think this means you still have some identifier that allows to link those data to a single person. This is quite explicitly not considered anonymization by the gdpr.
why is incognito transmitting anything to anyone. Glad I switched to FF a while back.
Why did you think it didn't?
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After they've already benefitted by collating it.
Yep, even says in the article 'destroy or de-identify'. So, they will summarize or transform/anonymize the data and just throw away the source.
Most people misunderstand what incognito mode means in the browser. It has nothing to do with anonymous browsing, incognito mode, the only thing it does is delete the browsing data that is saved in the browser and locally, but it does not prevent web pages and search engines from logging the activity on their servers. Extensions like SiteBleacher or Cookie Autodelete do exactly the same thing as browsing in incognito mode. If you want to browse anonymously, at least you can only do it with a VPN and certainly not using Google to search or using it's services with an account.
Let me get this straight, the data is worth $5 billion to Google, but they aren't even necessarily deleting any of it?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
If approved by a California federal judge, the settlement could apply to 136 million Google users.
The 2020 lawsuit was brought by Google account holders who accused the company of illegally tracking their behavior through the private browsing feature.
Google would need to address data collected in private browsing mode in December 2023 and earlier.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement that the company is “pleased to settle this lawsuit, which we always believed was meritless.” Though the plaintiffs valued the proposed settlement at $5 billion, which was the amount they originally sought in damages, Castañeda said that they are “receiving zero.” The settlement does not include damages for the class, though individuals can file claims.
Part of the agreement includes changes to how Google discloses the limits of its private browsing services, which the company has already begun rolling out on Chrome.
Individuals can still file claims for damages in California state court, according to the settlement terms.
The original article contains 382 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
yeah... sure...
What "agrees", they have a choice?