Staying Safe online and on Wattpad

PUP #13 Google's Trackers: Plus, Play, Mail, etc

Google+

The Big G has tried to set up a social network platform at least three times (all flopped) but in 2011 they belched out G+. Naturally, Facebook wasn't happy about it, as they had cornered the social network market by then and knew, with the Big G's clout, global influence, significant ad networks and powerful clients, G+ would be a serious rival that could punch a hole into its massive profits. Still, according to ex-FB workers, they watched G+'s progress closely and even copied anything it did that was popular, including features like the groups thing (Circles), where like-minded people or collectives could form a mini network dealing with one subject – more useful than FB's solitary friending format at the time.

Google's main reason for G+ was to consolidate all the millions of profiles they'd collected from their other products and join them up to this new one, thereby opening a new market for their advertisers. True, much of it was the same people, but Google could find out even more about these millions of Google product users by linking them to the new product. Google could also say they had recruited millions on their new social network, virtually overnight, thereby feigning popularity.

Trouble is, many found themselves on G+ without realising it (or wanting it, in some cases) – especially if they hadn't tweaked their privacy settings. Gmail users suddenly had a Hangouts link, their email addresses were broadcast to all G+ users (potentially including hackers, scammers and spammers), the Google Search Engine popped up all over the place and YouTube users had to join G+ if they wanted to comment on a video. That last one caused objections from hundreds of thousands of YouTubers and even one of its founders, Jawed Karim, who posted the first ever video on YT, added a comment on his channel, "I can't comment here anymore, since I don't want a google+ account" (actually he said that with more swearwords elsewhere).

Again, countries like China and Iran banned Google+ and it ran into trouble when it demanded everyone used their real names and revealed their gender when opening an account. Presumably, the Big G wanted to match Personally Identifiable Information like this with details they'd already collected about users, (canvas fingerprinting, medical records, etc,) or to add other tracking elements they'd missed. After much of this met with resistance, Google eventually did a big shake up of its unpopular G+ functions and policies. It ditched many features including the real name and gender requirement, the numerous search engine pages, the messenger system, many Google games, and eventually, hangouts, although parts of these technologies remain in Google's mobile platforms. These days G+ is a more streamlined affair.

What script, cookie or beacon do they use to track us?

Anything with https://plus.google.com/ in front of it.

If we visit a site that has a G+ button, link or login boxes, the Big G set a preference cookie in our browser (whether we click them or not) that records when and where the button loads. It doesn't expire for 2 weeks, (unless we remove it manually), so using a Google element to log-in to a non-Google site, like say, Wattpad, it flags us up to the Big G. If we do click it, it pings our Google ID back to its lair and can even tell everyone in our circles we just logged onto WP, if we haven't configured our Google Personalisation Settings safely.

Can we block them?

We can, but most Google products and/or their components won't work properly if we stop JavaScript. Allowing it means we also let in their trackers, normally covertly added to the J/S as it loads into our browser and logs everything we do. Again, it's a case of safe surfers sucking up this privacy invasion and allowing the tracking scripts/cookies temporarily, remembering to remove them when they leave. Alternatively, don't use the product. :)