The IT Nerd

A bipartisan coalition of states sued Alphabet’s Google Thursday alleging broad antitrust violations in the online search market, marking the third U.S. case against the search giant in two months:

The lawsuit, led by Colorado, Iowa and other states, marks the latest escalation of the antitrust battle against Google. It comes a day after 10 Republican state attorneys general led by Texas sued the company for anticompetitive practices, and follows an October complaint by the Justice Department. “Combined with the other recent lawsuits filed against Google, never before have so many states and the federal government come together to challenge a company with such power,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said a statement. “Google has more data on consumers, and more variety of information, than perhaps any entity in history.” The lawsuit, filed by 38 attorneys general, accuses Google of illegally monopolizing internet search and search advertising through a series of anticompetitive contracts and conduct, hurting consumers and advertisers in the process.

Clearly the US Government is on an all out mission to go after big tech and anything that big tech does. That means that this lawsuit won’t be the last one that you will see. And it’s a safe bet that this isn’t going to change under the incoming Biden Administration.

I tripped over an browser add-on that appears to be from Google that has this function according to them:

To provide website visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being used by Google Analytics, we’ve developed the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on for websites using the supported version of Google Analytics JavaScript (analytics.js, gtag.js). 

If you want to opt out, download and install the add-on for your web browser. The Google Analytics opt-out add-on is designed to be compatible with Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, Safari, Firefox and Opera. In order to function, the opt-out add-on must be able to load and execute properly on your browser. For Internet Explorer, third-party cookies must be enabled. Learn more about the opt out and how to properly install the browser add-on here.

So, if I am not in favor of Google tracking my every activity, I need to install this add-on that I am somehow supposed to trust. That really doesn’t make sense to me as trusting Google to protect my privacy sounds like an oxymoron to me. And does the existence of this add-on mean that options such as Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin aren’t as effective? That isn’t clear. But the existence of this add-on from Google creates more questions than answers.

If you’re trying to send an email to a Gmail account, you are likely getting this error message:

550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.”

This is to a valid Gmail address that I have been sending email to for years.

I have seen this since early this evening and Google confirms this on its services dashboard, writing at 1:30 PM Pacific that they’re impacting a “significant” number of users. But they also claim that the issues are resolved. However, I’m not seeing that as I still can’t send emails to Gmail users. So maybe Google is as premature as a virgin by declaring this as fixed. I’ll continue to watch this and update accordingly.

UPDATE: Gmail seems to be working as per this Tweet from Proton Mail:

You might have been affected by an outage that affected many of Google’s services including Gmail, Hangouts and YouTube. Tens of thousands of complaints popped up on social media and other places around 7 AM ET. Google themselves acknowledged that there was a problem. But things were apparently up and running just after 8 AM ET.

According to Downdetector, the problem affected users across the world, but appeared especially widespread in the northeastern U.S., Britain and other parts of Europe. Japan, Malaysia and India also looked to be more affected. And most of the problems related to the inability to log in. But like I said, things should be fine now.

VICE has highlighted six reasons why Google Maps is the creepiest app on your phone. And I do mean creepy:

1. Google Maps Wants Your Search History: Google’s “Web & App Activity” settings describe how the company collects data, such as user location, to create a faster and “more personalized” experience. In plain English, this means that every single place you’ve looked up in the app — whether it’s a strip club, a kebab shop or your moped-riding drug dealer’s location — is saved and integrated into Google’s search engine algorithm for a period of 18 months. Google knows you probably find this creepy. That’s why the company uses so-called “dark patterns” — user interfaces crafted to coax us into choosing options we might not otherwise, for example by highlighting an option with certain fonts or brighter colors. 

2. Google Maps Limits Its Features If You Don’t Share Your Search History: If you open your Google Maps app, you’ll see a circle in the top right corner that signifies you’re logged in with your Google account. That’s not necessary, and you can simply log out. Of course, the log out button is slightly hidden, but can be found like this: click on the circle > Settings > scroll down > Log out of Google Maps. Unfortunately, Google Maps won’t let you save frequently visited places if you’re not logged into your Google account. If you choose not to log in, when you click on the search bar you get a “Tired of typing?” button, suggesting you sign in, and coaxing you towards more data collection. 

3. Google Maps Can Snitch On You: Another problematic feature is the “Google Maps Timeline,” which “shows an estimate of places you may have been and routes you may have taken based on your Location History.” With this feature, you can look at your personal travel routes on Google Maps, including the means of transport you probably used, such as a car or a bike. The obvious downside is that your every move is known to Google, and to anyone with access to your account. And that’s not just hackers — Google may also share data with government agencies such as the police. […] If your “Location History” is on, your phone “saves where you go with your devices, even when you aren’t using a specific Google service,” as is explained in more detail on this page. This feature is useful if you lose your phone, but also turns it into a bonafide tracking device. 

4. Google Maps Wants to Know Your Habits: Google Maps often asks users to share a quick public rating. “How was Berlin Burger? Help others know what to expect,” suggests the app after you’ve picked up your dinner. This feels like a casual, lighthearted question and relies on the positive feeling we get when we help others. But all this info is collected in your Google profile, making it easier for someone to figure out if you’re visiting a place briefly and occasionally (like on holiday) or if you live nearby. 

5. Google Maps Doesn’t Like It When You’re Offline: Remember GPS navigation? It might have been clunky and slow, but it’s a good reminder that you don’t need to be connected to the internet to be directed. In fact, other apps offer offline navigation. On Google, you can download maps, but offline navigation is only available for cars. It seems fairly unlikely the tech giant can’t figure out how to direct pedestrians and cyclists without internet. 

6. Google Makes It Seem Like This Is All for Your Own Good: “Providing useful, meaningful experiences is at the core of what Google does,” the company says on its website, adding that knowing your location is important for this reason. They say they use this data for all kinds of useful things, like “security” and “language settings” — and, of course, selling ads. Google also sells advertisers the possibility to evaluate how well their campaigns reached their target (that’s you!) and how often people visited their physical shops “in an anonymized and aggregated manner”. But only if you opt in (or you forget to opt out).

I haven’t had Google Maps on my iPhone for years. And this report really doesn’t make me want put it back on my phone. Google needs to get their act together as privacy is a big deal for a lot of people, and they’re on the wrong side of that argument. As usual. I would suggest to the company who claims to “do no evil” actually live up to that mantra. But perhaps I expect too much.

Google Cloud announced today that it has secured a Framework Agreement for Secure Cloud from the Canadian federal government. This agreement now enables Google Cloud to directly sell innovative cloud platform and collaboration technologies to federal agencies, helping them digitally transform and better serve their communities and constituents.

To secure this framework, Google Cloud was assessed by the Canadian federal government against all relevant security, privacy, and usability standards. While Google Cloud already works with several Canadian federal government agencies, the new agreement will permit Google Cloud to better support a wide range of federal departments, agencies, and crown corporations.

Citizens have become accustomed to convenient, easy-to-use, digital services in their daily lives. Government organizations face increased pressure to deliver the same convenience as consumer experiences, often under financial constraints and using legacy systems. This new framework agreement with Google Cloud will enable governments to procure cloud services—and subsequently help close the gap between government and consumer services.

Well it seems that a crackdown on big tech may be inbound. And it starts with Google according to the New York Times who say that against the advice of career lawyers in the Department of Justice, William Barr is going ahead with an anti-trust lawsuit against Google:

Justice Department officials told lawyers involved in the antitrust inquiry into Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, to wrap up their work by the end of September, according to three of the people. Most of the 40-odd lawyers who had been working on the investigation opposed the deadline. Some said they would not sign the complaint, and several of them left the case this summer.

Some argued this summer in a memo that ran hundreds of pages that they could bring a strong case but needed more time, according to people who described the document. Disagreement persisted among the team over how broad the complaint should be and what Google could do to resolve the problems the government uncovered. The lawyers viewed the deadline as arbitrary.

While there were disagreements about tactics, career lawyers also expressed concerns that Mr. Barr wanted to announce the case in September to take credit for action against a powerful tech company under the Trump administration.

Well, this can go horribly sideways. I can easily see a scenario where rushing to file a lawsuit when you haven’t dotted the “i”‘s and crossed the “t”‘s can end up in Google kicking the DOJ in the posterior and making them look like fools. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.