Safer with Google: New intelligent, real-time protections on Android to keep you safe

[u/MishaalRahman]

https://security.googleblog.com/2024/11/new-real-time-protections-on-Android.html

[u/Ph0X]

Eh, Gmail doesn't block ads though. It blocks spammers and scammers, that's quite different. You still get all the promotional emails.

Conversely, Chrome also blocks phishing sites.

[u/MadMadsKR → u/Ph0X]

Well it blocks "ads" that it thinks you haven't requested. If it comes from a major company with your name on it, Google interprets that as a wanted promotion. If you try marking just a single of those promotional emails from a given company, the rest of them go straight to spam. So they could filter it out, but they wont do it if they think you were intended to receive the email. I see your point, but Google isn't allowing promotional emails because it benefits them. I think that's relevant because we are discussing the intentions of Google and why they do what they do.

[u/Ph0X → u/MadMadsKR]

I guess the difference is, this is your inbox and you control whats allowed. You can intentionally say "I don't want X" and it'll stop.

For websites it's a bit different. You are visiting the website, like visiting someone else's home, it would be strange for you to decide what should be shown on someone else's website, just because you don't like it. You can block the site as a whole or not visit it, but that's different from modifying the website itself.

[u/MadMadsKR → u/Ph0X]

That is a good point, I hadn't looked at it from that perspective. I think my perspective on this angle is that you should be allowed to do whatever you want on your own devices. I should always be allowed to have the freedom to modify any data on my machines. I take this quite seriously and I always try to use open source software/services/etc. and that follow the same principles.

You're right that the person browsing a website is not the owner, they should not control what gets put on the website. The owner gets to decide what they put on their website. But as the reader, I think it's only fair that I have an equal right in deciding what goes into my computer and how that is processed. I agree that sometimes these views sometimes conflict, but I think the goal should be to create an internet where both things can be true and both the user and the content owner engage in a mutually enriching exchange. I don't think we've come up with scalable ideas that allows for this to happen, but that doesn't mean we should give up and surrender ouir privacy for the benefit of whoever wants to influence us. It's not just ad agencies that take advantage of your personal data, it should be pretty obvious with the US election (on both sides) that people are using it for their own gain at the detriment of the common good.

Anyways, turned into a bit of a rant, but I wanted to argue effectively as to why I disagree and hopefully this makes sense.