Posted under General
I was organizing some files i had left in a folder named "Untitled Folder", one of the files went to a folder where there is a certain video. I open YouTube with clean cookies, YouTube recommends me the same video. I had downloaded the video over a year ago. It is not the first time something like this happens.
Is Google spying on me or is it just a coincidence?
By spying on me I mean they checking the files on my PC. I use Arch, by the way. Is there any malware I should be aware of?
electricitywolf said:
Is Google spying on me or is it just a coincidence?
Indeed it does. All chromium based browsers run in the background and constantly record your screen, list your files and look through your webcam. Or if you have ever installed the Go language to build a package, Google has wide open doors to your system, even if you remove it afterwards. Google also uses your mobo's bios and your cpu's instruction set to constantly run its spyware in ring 0 even if you never use its products. Your only option to avoid Google is a true libre-booted Thinkpad running Tails and never connecting to the internet.
No, unlikely. Probably just a series of coincidences.
gulman said:
Indeed it does. All chromium based browsers run in the background and constantly record your screen, list your files and look through your webcam. Or if you have ever installed the Go language to build a package, Google has wide open doors to your system, even if you remove it afterwards. Google also uses your mobo's bios and your cpu's instruction set to constantly run its spyware in ring 0 even if you never use its products. Your only option to avoid Google is a true libre-booted Thinkpad running Tails and never connecting to the internet.No, unlikely. Probably just a series of coincidences.
It's be "hilarious" if that's all true in 10 years. Intel and the phone chipset makers have been making some very questionable design choices over the last 20 years.
Watch it be because you used Windows media player in Wine. j/k
electricitywolf said:
I was organizing some files i had left in a folder named "Untitled Folder", one of the files went to a folder where there is a certain video. I open YouTube with clean cookies, YouTube recommends me the same video. I had downloaded the video over a year ago. It is not the first time something like this happens.Is Google spying on me or is it just a coincidence?
By spying on me I mean they checking the files on my PC. I use Arch, by the way. Is there any malware I should be aware of?
Before jumping the gun, because there might be an explanation for this: Have you signed up into your Google account? How many views did the video have? I get recommended the same video again and again because it has almost 2 million views and it is related to videos I view on YouTube. Usually, it takes no less than watching 3 videos for that specific video to be recommended to me. Did you clear the browser's cache? Supercookies can be used to track you. I do believe that Google can fingerprint your IP address, but there is no conclusive evidence to this extent as far as my knowledge goes.
gulman said:
Indeed it does. All chromium based browsers run in the background and constantly record your screen, list your files and look through your webcam. Or if you have ever installed the Go language to build a package, Google has wide open doors to your system, even if you remove it afterwards. Google also uses your mobo's bios and your cpu's instruction set to constantly run its spyware in ring 0 even if you never use its products. Your only option to avoid Google is a true libre-booted Thinkpad running Tails and never connecting to the internet.No, unlikely. Probably just a series of coincidences.
I didn't have to read the spoiler to know it was fake.
#1.
All chromium based browsers run in the background and constantly record your screen, list your files and look through your webcam.
I have several utilities that I can use to find and kill hidden processes and I have Brave browser, a chromium-based browser. Never, and I repeat never did Brave run in the background - not when I first wake up my PC and neither does it do that after being launched and terminated. Linux's built-in system monitor is very good at finding hidden processes, and so does htop if you like using the Terminal. As for Windows, there is hidden process finder and process hacker that I would recommend. Alternatively, Wireshark could be used to detect any strange connection to third party servers.
However, Google Chrome might record your m.i.c, this is not a meme nor a joke, this one might be very real.
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=zBnDWSvaQ1I
#2.
Or if you have ever installed the Go language to build a package, Google has wide open doors to your system, even if you remove it afterwards.
I cannot see how that would work, but I am not an experienced programer, so maybe it makes sense but I doubt it does. Normally, the developer has to manually write code to add telemetry in their program for that sort of stuff works. This likely holds true for Go, but besides that I cannot think how Google would manage to create a backdoor with their own coding language. It sounds like a gross lawsuit waiting to happen.
#3.
Google also uses your mobo's bios and your cpu's instruction set to constantly run its spyware in ring 0 even if you never use its products.
It's impossible if the user does not run the progranm as superuser on Linux and I believe it is likewise impossible on Windows without administrator. It might be possible by exploiting a known exploit of either system, but exploits tend to be patched out and this would be a big deal if Google did something to that extent. It would be a libility as well - Basically, chromium browsers would be considered malware from now on.
I think Intel tried to do something like that with their c.p.u's, but fortunately that can be disabled.
#4.
Your only option to avoid Google is a true libre-booted Thinkpad running Tails and never connecting to the internet.
I mean, uh right, it's true...
I do hope this never suddenly becomes true in the foreseeable futur. Big tech compnies would do anything for that advertizing money.
Updated
wolfmanfur said:
... I believe it is likewise impossible on Windows without administrator. ...
This only prevents anything if the average Windows user doesn't just click "Yes" to any dialogue that opens asking for administrator access, which from my personal experience people will click the shit out of the yes button without even reading a thing.
faucet said:
This only prevents anything if the average Windows user doesn't just click "Yes" to any dialogue that opens asking for administrator access, which from my personal experience people will click the shit out of the yes button without even reading a thing.
Google results for: "how do I stop computer asking for admin password every time I open XYZ?" amirite?
