Wow, so Google has to keep a database of all these links online indefinitely ... that's robust. For the sarcasm-impaired: that was sarcasm.
And, they can decide which document's links to "break" when they feel like it.
Stop. Using. Google. At. All. For. Anythhing.
@randahl Just another reason for me to stay away from Google Docs, too bad there isn't a really good alternative, at least for Sheets.
@randahl don't Microsoft do the same thing for their anti-phishing service for every link in an email or Teams message?
@randahl I saw the same thing in enterprise gmail: links being replaced with a Google url that redirects to the original. (I don’t work there anymore so I can’t test it.)
@randahl They can track not only your clients (when they click on a link) but also their internal organization and their partners, suppliers, etc.
This is #EvilByDesign and must violate ever single data protection law in existence.
The implication for me is wean myself off google forever. Buh bye google and good riddance.
@randahl holy crap this is insidious
@randahl omg… what else app can i use… i do rely on google docs and it’s simple to use. uhhh cyber insecurity…
@randahl - Tested this on both paid and free GDrive, with the same behavior.
I've found that Google often inserts tracking links in their docs. Super frustrating.
Yet another reason to avoid Google like the plague it actually is. Thanks for sharing.
@randahl
It is clear that we need to dump apps from Google, META, X, Microsoft, Adobe... Or get offline altogether? The enshittification is complete. I read some people are going back to private Discord groups. Not sure of their privacy protections. AI can even scrape Mastodon because it's public. I'll stay online until the midterms in the US, then reassess. I just saw a post about how every image and message in Instagram is being scraped. ☠️ No way to opt out.
@randahl Thank you. I've got one I share a lot about developmental math research. I was thinking today about how to stick that kind of thing on my website (sigh and how to keep my website since my friend who took over paying for it died.... I did manage to convince them tolet me give them the money...)
@randahl This is bullshit intrusive, but am I surprised? Hardly… 🤔
@randahl Suprise! WTF?
In the US, aren’t there likely some legal liabilities with HIPAA, if any healthcare info is treated this way?
Money isn't neutral. The source & provenance of investment money matters.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-peter-thiel-rupert-murdoch-met-with-bin-salman-2020-1
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/07/heres-a-look-at-who.html
Google got enormous injections of cash from the worst petrostate despots on the planet.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47454598
These are the same despots who want to track women & are funding international state surveillance platforms with Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Larry Ellison of CIA fame.
I know of a place that stores all their documents including "employee records" and host the "company website" and use Google QR codes for everything.
I've been trying to convince them that I can build a system for about $500-1,000 that would be inhoused.
They recently formed a union for the staff to "protect the vendor". These people are so corporatizesed, they just don't comprehend that they are selling homeless people's information including SSN to Google and intern, every government agencies that want to know who is homeless.
@randahl Fook! That’s not service, that’s hacking. 😧
@randahl https://cryptpad.org/ and others offer good alternatives
I am in the process of de-Googling my life. Since I am pre-internet... I was pre Google..when it was a marginally better browse ...I just kept using it. 30+ years later it is BIG BROTHER.
@randahl several years back, I was interacting with a client whose company was looking at using the Google environment for work. They had dug into the terms and conditions where they found that Google could essentially own anything that they wrote on their platform. At that time, the TOC basically said they could inspect any data they wanted to. While that may not be the case anymore, I would suggest anybody wanting to use an online platform take a good look at the TOC before they start.
@randahl and if google ever decides (or is forced) to end this practice and shut down their servers, all those exported links are now broken.
@randahl this is good to know!
If I share in future, I'll export a PDF that I will edit to roll-back links
RE: https://mastodon.social/@randahl/115513890753953838
I know I say this a lot, but I am glad I stuck with WordPerfect. Usual evil stuff from #Google.
Wow, so Google has to keep a database of all these links online indefinitely ... that's robust. For the sarcasm-impaired: that was sarcasm.
And, they can decide which document's links to "break" when they feel like it.
Stop. Using. Google. At. All. For. Anythhing.
@randahl so if I have links in a doc, download and save as a docx, I have to delete, save and then re insert my links? My work is in the process of moving from GSuite to Microsoft ...
@randahl I am planning to replace at least Google Photos with a self hosted FOSS solution, but last week I lost an entire day replacing a HDD that was almost dead (after years of torrenting). I prefer self hosted, I don't want to switch to other hosting, even if they have E2EE, but maintaining things can be annoying sometimes.
@randahl Graph theory and email spectroscopy, an HP research paper from decades ago later used by IBM in its NORA (non-obvious relationship awareness) application.
@randahl Time to add a few links to potentially hazardous stuff just to poison the algorithm
