bdickens
Member
You should be doing that anyway. As well as using a browser other than Chrome.
If you dig through the settings on your browser, you will find a list of search engines to pick from.
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Google Catalogs Your Serial Numbers
- Thread starter cokehayes45
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You should be doing that anyway. As well as using a browser other than Chrome.
If you dig through the settings on your browser, you will find a list of search engines to pick from.
Duck Duck Go is a private search engine that does not share your history.
https://duckduckgo.com/?va=b&t=hr
Good options for private browsers would be Brave and Opera:
https://brave.com/?ref=tai279
https://www.opera.com/
https://duckduckgo.com/?va=b&t=hr
Good options for private browsers would be Brave and Opera:
https://brave.com/?ref=tai279
https://www.opera.com/
Are Google's bots smart enough yet to discover the gun's owner?
If the owner of the gun in the first pic was ever finger-printed, maybe the Google bot is reading his finger-print off the pic.
It is possible, it is just a decision on whether to spend the resources it would take. The software is not all that hard to do.
wiscoaster
Member
There are ways to code a website so that it can't be indexed by Google. (and I'm not referring to a robots.txt file)
wally
Member
Anytime you post a photo to a publicly accessible site:
Black out (redact) any serial numbers, last names, license plate numbers, etc.
Delete the EXIF info in the image header
Have Geo-location turned off in your camera.
Black out (redact) any serial numbers, last names, license plate numbers, etc.
Delete the EXIF info in the image header
Have Geo-location turned off in your camera.
old lady new shooter
Member
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Is this widely known? Have they ever posted any notice that they do it? And / or explained why?
sure. But you don’t control all the websites. And this one wants google to index it to drive new shooter search traffic here so we can promote the RKBA. So how does that help?
wiscoaster
Member
Depends on what a website owner's motive(s) for operating the website is(are).
theotherwaldo
Member
There really is no defense against having your data harvested except to minimize exposure.
I'm a librarian, so I should know. Finding small bits of hard-to-find information are one of my daily tasks.
That's why I only use pre-existing on-line pictures of my guns and other items, usually taken from the seller's description..
Those pictures are already out there... .
I'm a librarian, so I should know. Finding small bits of hard-to-find information are one of my daily tasks.
That's why I only use pre-existing on-line pictures of my guns and other items, usually taken from the seller's description..
Those pictures are already out there... .
Good questions. I dunno. What if reason why Google is doing this aligns with why they seem to have a free govt pass?
wiscoaster
Member
1) Yes
2) No, not required by law
3) No, ditto #2
I'm not too concerned about Google doing it. It's more along the lines of they're going to provide the government with whatever data they have when requested.
And the government is probably still doing it themselves anyway, even though they were required to stop.
theotherwaldo
Member
I have also found pictures of some of my more unusual guns by searching for their description - and then found duplicates of my gun's picture on sites that claim to be selling my gun... .
dh1633pm
Contributing Member
Everything you do on the internet is indexed (recorded). Google Chrome, phones home, even if you don’t login. You phone listens to your private conversations when your phone is near you. If it’s free, your the product. Nothing electronic is private without strong encryption and even that is suspect.
old lady new shooter
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Not surprising to me, but that's nothing really. What concerns me more is that they catalogue and sell all of your thinking, what you view, what you search for, what you read, where you go, how long you stay there, both online and in the real world. They know who you call, who you text, they read your gmail, they scan everything for keyword, they use your activity to train their algorithms, those algorithms are designed to figure you out and sell your behavior to any number of buyers. They are the largest, most pervasive and invasive surveillance system on the planet.
Ever wonder why Google and Gmail are free? A wise person once said, if you're not paying for it, YOU are the product.
Ever wonder why Google and Gmail are free? A wise person once said, if you're not paying for it, YOU are the product.
Darkhorse
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2006
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- 87
How about fighting this by feeding them crap?
Posting pictures (with serial numbers) of guns that are not yours?
Posting photos including house addresses & license plates that are not yours?
I'm sure there's a downside to this, but...maybe not for you.
Posting pictures (with serial numbers) of guns that are not yours?
Posting photos including house addresses & license plates that are not yours?
I'm sure there's a downside to this, but...maybe not for you.
Lennyjoe
Member
Sold all my guns so I don’t have to worry about google turning the data over to the JBT’s....
Elkins45
Member
Not too long ago I would have called this tinfoil hat stuff but it's uncanny how many times I have talked about something and had it pop up in ads on web pages. Same thing with mentioning a place and having it pop up in the Maps app as a suggested destination.
It's sort of creepy...
dh1633pm
Contributing Member
I do advanced networking to include firewalls and security for a living. I travel all over the place. You can watch your mobile devices, tablets, and browsers phoning home. Test your phone. Talk a bunch during the day about something you want to buy. Make it something unique. Like shoes for your dog. Then see if you get adds for that very thing. Just like Google reads identifying things in a picture like the serial number off a firearm or even the make or model. Once it is captured it is indexed for searching. If it is possible, then it is probable.
whughett
Member
I missed it, what was the result, did you say.
whughett
Member
So I’m not disputing any of this, but I’m trying to wrap my head around both how and why. I have an IPhone thru Verizon, so Google has access to Verizons wireless servers and my account which feeds the information to Googles servers which gathers the data and sends it out along with my cell or tablet IP address and stores it until I next access the web. Whew the computer time required must be enormous and all for just a possible shot at making a retail sale. This also means there must be a collusion to eves-drop on what is supposed to be a privacy of communications.
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