I use Chromium. That way, I can read the code and still get a really good browser. My analysis is: they only send information back to Google when you explicitly request it.
(But what if Debian ships me a version of gcc that embeds secret tracking code into any version of Chromium I compile? Oh the fear, uncertainty, and doubt!)
I'm not sure how that (random) post shows it connects "just as frequently", but I just tried it with a new install of chromium. I picked bing as my default search engine and got no connections to a google server on startup.
In normal use, I think you will have to disable "use a web service to help resolve navigation errors" and "enable phishing and malware protection" to prevent all connections, but I'm personally ok with those (and find them sufficiently well documented)
Sure, but you can easily delete the code that does that. The point of Chromium is not that it doesn't talk to Google. The point is that you can read the source code to determine exactly when it does, and you can edit the source code to ensure that it doesn't do anything you don't want it to.
Yes, that's hard, but that's the price of freedom. I appreciate that Google at least lets me choose how I want to use their code, where Apple and Microsoft make the decisions for me and never let me double-check them. (As it stands, I trust Google with my personal information and I think the places where Chrome/Chromium communicate with Google are appropriate and make my browsing experience better. But it's 100% fine if you don't feel the same way.)
Yes. I had originally mentioned, "I don't care because Google pays for my Internet connection and could spy on me anyway," but I edited it out because Google does not spy. :)
I think, rationally, I should be more afraid of what Google knows about me than a random person. I've used Google to search for things I wouldn't exactly want to bring up in a meeting with my coworkers. But I know what the procedures are for accessing personal information, and I trust my employer with my most private searches. (It takes a leap of faith to trust me on this, so I don't expect you to. But really, Google cares about privacy.)
When I worked at Bank of America, I always felt weird buying stuff with my Bank of America credit card because I knew someone at the company would have access to that information. But I don't feel that way when using Google Checkout / Google Wallet at all. I don't know why it is, but that's how I feel.
> My analysis is: they only send information back to Google when you explicitly request it.
your very shallow analysis.
they update the browser hourly. you do not have access to the build environment they use. and there's no authority linking the source you can read and the binary you allow google to install. so unless you build it yourself, not a valid argument.
and even if there's no evil doing in all that (i too believe there isn't. but again, only believe) there's still the issue of new features being added, and the bad defaults being to agree with all data sharing. So even if its all good, after each update you will be inadvertently sharing your information until you take time to review all settings.
And, there's also the cases when google simply decide agains some feature that may hurt them. They removed the options to not send referrer. it was added back several times. and removed again several times. first in command line argument, then hidden setting. when i stopped caring it was completely gone if not from compile time.
(But what if Debian ships me a version of gcc that embeds secret tracking code into any version of Chromium I compile? Oh the fear, uncertainty, and doubt!)