Simplified Privacy

Sources: Google’s Surveillance: The Shocking Truth

These are the sources for our article on Google’s Surveillance, which can be found here.

Ad Platform Privacy Issues
[1]
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Google Says It Doesn’t ‘Sell’ Your Data. Here’s How the Company Shares, Monetizes, and Exploits It.
By Bennett Cyphers
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/google-says-it-doesnt-sell-your-data-heres-how-company-shares-monetizes-and

[2]
Pro Publica
Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking
By Julia Angwin
https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-dropped-ban-on-personally-identifiable-web-tracking

[3]
The New York Post and Consumer Watch Dog
How Google Is Making More Money Than Ever Off the Sick and Vulnerable
By John Mac Ghlionn
June 5, 2021
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/news-story/how-google-making-more-money-ever-sick-and-vulnerable
https://nypost.com/2021/06/05/how-google-exploits-the-sick-and-vulnerable-for-a-profit/

[4a]
Wired.com
The Privacy Battle to Save Google From Itself
By Lily Hay Newman
https://www.wired.com/story/google-privacy-data/

[4b]
Algo Transparency, Manifesto
Created by Guillaume Chaslot, former Google engineer
https://www.algotransparency.org/our-manifesto.html

Gmail Reads Emails

[5]
PrivacyRights.org
Gmail scanning contents
https://web.archive.org/web/20160107021333/https://www.privacyrights.org/ar/GmailLetter.htm

[6]
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Google’s Gmail and Your Privacy
Publication: ISSN 1062-9424
https://www.eff.org/effector/17/12

Chrome Browser
[7]
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Google Is Testing Its Controversial New Ad Targeting Tech in Millions of Browsers. Here’s What We Know.
By Bennett Cyphers, March 30, 2021
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/google-testing-its-controversial-new-ad-targeting-tech-millions-browsers-heres

[8]
Cybersecurity Influencer: Mental Outlaw
(Video) Google Chrome’s Latest Feature Makes It The Spookiest Web Browser.
https://odysee.com/@AlphaNerd:8/google-chrome’s-latest-feature-makes-it:a

Location Tracking

[9]
ZDNet
How Google–and everyone else–gets Wi-Fi location data
Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-google-and-everyone-else-gets-wi-fi-location-data/

[10]
Cybersecurity Researcher: Rob Braxman
Why it’s Time to Dump your Apple and Google Phone – Top 5 Reasons
https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/dump-phone:8
(Presents the real world example of Tesla employees’ locations being tracked by stock market participants, to figure out if the company is hiring)

[11]
MichaelBazzell.com
Audio Podcast: The Privacy, Security, and OSINT Show
Episode 214: Offense/Defense: The Capitol Siege
By Michael Bazzell, Former Law Enforcement
https://inteltechniques.com/podcast.html
(Old episodes don’t have audio on the site directly, but it can be downloaded from any podcast app)

[12]
Slate.com
How Google Uses Wi-Fi Networks to Figure Out Your Exact Location
By Christina Bonnington
https://slate.com/technology/2018/06/how-google-uses-wi-fi-networks-to-figure-out-your-exact-location.html

[13]
HowToGeek.com
Your Wi-Fi Info Is in Google and Microsoft’s Databases: Should You Care?
By Chris Hoffman
https://www.howtogeek.com/788837/your-wi-fi-info-is-in-google-and-microsofts-databases-should-you-care/

[14]
Cybersecurity Researcher: Rob Braxman
(Video) Tracking Our Location – New Tech in 2021
https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/location2021:3

Listening to Audio Conversations

[15]
Consumer Watch Dog
Smart Speaker Home Invasion?
By Staff Writers, RadioInfo
July 31, 2019
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/news-story/smart-speaker-home-invasion

And the full PDF report:
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/Digital%20Assistants%20and%20Privacy.pdf

[16]
Inc.com
Google Listens to Conversations
By Jason Aten
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/google-is-absolutely-listening-to-your-conversations-it-just-confirms-why-people-dont-trust-big-tech.html

[17]
News Corp Australia
How Google is secretly recording you through your mobile, monitoring millions of conversations
Published in The Sun Newspaper
https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/how-google-is-secretly-recording-you-through-your-mobile-monitoring-millions-of-conversations/news-story/8089bf3084a430f4c4be46b81710c158

[18]
HuffPost.com
Is Your Phone Recording Your Conversations? The Answer Might Surprise You.
By Casey Bond
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/smartphone-devices-recording-privacy_l_5d570869e4b056fafd0bbc09

[34]
University of California, Santa Barbara Cybersecurity @ BlackHat Conference

Talking Behind Your Back: Attacks and Countermeasures of Ultrasonic Cross-Device Tracking

Vasilios Mavroudis, Doctoral Researcher UCL
Federico Maggi, Researcher UCSB
Christopher Kruegel, UCSB

Full PDF of the Paper:
https://www.blackhat.com/docs/eu-16/materials/eu-16-Mavroudis-Talking-Behind-Your-Back-Attacks-And-Countermeasures-Of-Ultrasonic-Cross-Device-Tracking.pdf

Brief Summary:
https://www.blackhat.com/eu-16/briefings/schedule/#talking-behind-your-back-attacks-and-countermeasures-of-ultrasonic-cross-device-tracking-4864

BlackHat Conference: USBC Presents Cybersecurity Research of the Paper
Jan 8, 2020
Invidious Mirror to Avoid Youtube:
https://invidious.sethforprivacy.com/watch?v=THFOnA6m8KM
Youtube Direct:
https://youtu.be/THFOnA6m8KM

Google Play and Chrome Extension Stores Leaks Data

[19]
ArsTechnica.com
Google Play hides app permissions in favor of developer-written descriptions
By Ron Amadeo
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/07/google-plays-new-privacy-section-actually-hides-app-permissions/

[20a]
Cybersecurity Commentator: Mental Outlaw
(Video) Google’s Data Safety Section Removes App Permissions List from Play Store
https://odysee.com/@AlphaNerd:8/google’s-data-safety-section-removes-app:a

[22b]
Cybersecurity Commentator: Mental Outlaw
(Video) More Malicious Extensions Found in Chrome Web Store
https://odysee.com/@AlphaNerd:8/more-malicious-extensions-found-in:d

[22c]
McAfee Labs
Malicious Cookie Stuffing Chrome Extensions with 1.4 Million Users
https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/other-blogs/mcafee-labs/malicious-cookie-stuffing-chrome-extensions-with-1-4-million-users/

[21]Palo Alto Networks
Android Apps Leaking Sensitive Data Found on Google Play With 6 Million U.S. Downloads
By Stefan Achleitner and Chengcheng Xu
https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/android-apps-data-leakage/

[22]
Consumer Watchdog Joins Coalition of 22 Consumer and Privacy Groups Calling on FTC to End Google’s Apps Store’s Exploitation of Kids
By John M. Simpson
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/privacy-technology/consumer-watchdog-joins-coalition-22-consumer-and-privacy-groups-calling-ftc-end
Full Complaint:
https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2018-12/google_ftc_complaint121918.pdf

[23]
TechRadar.com
Android apps put data of 100 million Google Play Store users at risk
By Mayank Sharma and Cybersecurity Researchers: Check Point Security
https://www.techradar.com/news/android-apps-put-data-of-100-million-google-play-store-users-at-risk

[24]
PC Magazine (PCMag.com)
11 Android Apps Found Secretly Harvesting Data From Millions of Users
By Michael Kan
https://www.pcmag.com/news/11-android-apps-found-secretly-harvesting-data-from-millions-of-users

Captcha Cross-Site Tracking
[35]
Reposted to NearCyan.com
Originally by Kevin Davis, Hacker News
July 2019
https://nearcyan.com/you-probably-dont-need-recaptcha/

[25]
TheRegister.com
Google reCAPTCHA service under the microscope: Questions raised over privacy promises, cookie use
By Thomas Claburn
https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/02/google_ad_privacy/

[26]
BusinessInsider.com
Google’s new CAPTCHA security login raises ‘legitimate privacy concerns’
By Lara O’Reilly
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-no-captcha-adtruth-privacy-research-2015-2

Cookie Matching to Evade EU Laws (GDPR)
[27]
Google is circumventing GDPR, reveals Brave’s investigation for the Authorized Buyers ad business case
By Bhagyashree R
https://hub.packtpub.com/google-is-circumventing-gdpr-reveals-braves-investigation-for-the-authorized-buyers-ad-business-case/

[28]
Cnet.com
Google has secret webpages that feed your personal data to advertisers, report says
By: Oscar Gonzalez
https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/google-has-secret-webpages-that-feed-your-personal-data-to-advertisers-report-says/

[29]
Ad Exchanger / Adexchanger.com
Google Is Accused Of Leaking Data Through A GDPR Workaround – But What’s Really Going On Here?
By Allison Schiff and James Hercher
https://www.adexchanger.com/privacy/google-is-accused-of-leaking-data-through-a-gdpr-workaround-but-whats-really-going-on-here/

Relationship Mapping
[30]
Cybersecurity Researcher: Rob Braxman
(Video) Google Watches ALL Your Devices! How to Stop It
https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/crossdevicetracking:a

[31]
(This article is very dated but relevant as it shows financial flows into contact tracing)
Wired.com
Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring
By: Noah Shachtman
https://www.wired.com/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/

[32a]
Cybersecurity Researcher: Rob Braxman
(Video) Your Internet Identity: How you are tracked by Google and Facebook
https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/Your-Internet-Identity–How-Google-and-Facebook-tracks-you:e

[32b]
Cybersecurity Researcher: Rob Braxman
(Video) Bombshell! Manipulated Google Search Results PROVED
https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/googlesearch:c

Wifi Wiretapping Charges
[33]
Wired.com
An Intentional Mistake: The Anatomy of Google’s Wi-Fi Sniffing Debacle
By David Kravets
https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/

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