Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Personally I would say Google is a much bigger problem. Where I manage to stay away from Facebook (yes, WhatsApp and Instagram and whatever else they may have as well), Google is something I absolutely cannot get around: AOSP, YouTube's monopoly on online videos, Search is very good for many types of queries, google-hosted email (I can hardly choose not to email companies that use it), and of course Google's terms of service on every website that uses Analytics or Ads or embedded YT or an embedded Google map (most of the time: all of the above). I will even admit to using Google Maps because owners can't be bothered to put their businesses on the collaborative OpenStreetMap. By comparison, Facebook has a LikeĀ® button (not hard to block), bundles some stuff with other features in the Android SDK (not sure how big a deal that is), and other people sharing their contact list (so Facebook knows with whom I talk, just not how frequently or what about).

Of course, I'm fine with doing something about Facebook (I don't mean to turn this into a whataboutism), but to me this is not the biggest abuser of power at the moment. Google knows practically every aspect of practically everyone's life over here, which is way scarier than Facebook knowing with whom I talk.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: