We know google is spying on us on the web but a google employ in Belgium has revealed it goes further than that. They even listen to your conversations trough Google home and for this Google has crossed the line for me!
Google Home
If you say hey Google or ok Google to the Google home smart speaker your command will be recorded and send to Google. But sometimes when you say something like those commands it also records. So has it happened that people’s intimate conversations ended at Google. The Belgium employ who leaked this said he heard things that should be private.
Google is known for spying and uses your interests based on search results and sites you visit for adds. If you go to google and search for Fastfood you will likely get mc donalds adds. They even sell this data to other people. This feels wrong to me but is there a way to evade Google these days?
Evading Google?
It is almost impossible to not use Google these days. They own many things beside their Browser Chrome and Search Engine. For example Android and YouTube are part of Google. But you can start with another browser. If you want a browser that feels like Chrome and looks like Chrome but respect your privacy you can try Brave. Brave is a Browser that is based on the same engine as Google Chrome. Brave has a build in add blocker so that you don’t see adds and even YouTube commercials are gone. You can also use Firefox. Firefox is one of the last browsers that isn’t build on chromium and that makes Firefox stand far from Google. Firefox also respects your privacy and is easy to use. For apple users Safari is also a good option.
As for the search engine. You can use Bing but Bing is owned by Microsoft who also spies on you. If you wan’t your privacy protected you should use a search engine like duck duck go or Qwant. These search engines don’t collect your data like Google and Bing.
It is not just Google
Google crossed the line for me but that doesn’t mean they are the only one. Take Facebook for example. All you do on Facebook is used to create adds. Microsoft also joined this anti-privacy group. Why do you think Windows 10 was free? Because Windows 10 can also spy on you. But you can turn it of in Windows 10 in the Privacy settings. If you really want to stay out of this add system you should use Linux as OS and Firefox or Brave as Browser while searching the Web with Qwant or duck duck go and use no Android. But this is almost impossible and takes a lot of time. My advise, Give Brave or Firefox a try and check your Windows 10 Privacy settings.
