As privacy concerns grow, companies like Google and Facebook that rely on data collection and advertising for revenue are increasingly in the spotlight. But is it really possible to give up Google's vast range of services? Here are some recommended alternatives.
Over the past two years, I've been switching between a succession of iPhones and a series of Android devices, using each for an extended amount of time. Spending months with each mobile platform has been a tremendously useful exercise, helping me understand the strengths and weaknesses of the two dominant smartphone options.
But every time I pick up one of those Android devices, a nagging question pops up in the back of my mind. It's the same one I hear from friends, family members, and readers every time the topic turns to smartphone platforms: "Aren't you worried about your privacy when you run Google's software?"
It's a legitimate question, and there's no easy answer.
Google, like Facebook, has a business model that's built on surveillance. The company's stated mission of "
organizing the world's information" also includes capturing as much as possible of your information. That information is the base layer of some undeniably useful services, which in turn fuel the advertising that makes up the overwhelming majority of Google's revenue.
In the first six months of 2019, Google
took in just over $75 billion in revenue. More than 84% of that revenue, about $63.3 million, came directly from the advertising platform made possible by data collected from a few billion people, including you and me.
To be fair, Google provides ample privacy controls, including options to delete saved data. They also count on most people being too busy, distracted, or unconcerned to actually use those controls. And even if you meticulously delete your activity history. there's not much you can do about the profile that Google and its subsidiary DoubleClick (and the advertising ecosystem that's grown up around them) create based on those activities in real-time.
We won't even talk about the
antitrust investigations in the United States, where Google is reportedly "
in serious trouble," and another antitrust probe in the European Union, which has already fined Google multiple times for anticompetitive behavior.
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