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Google+: resistance is futile!
http://x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21009		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  pcernie [ Fri Jan 10, 2014 2:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Google+: resistance is futile!
Quote:
This week's attempt to push the poor man's Facebook involves making it really easy for any old stranger to email you.

Yes, Google is enabling anybody with a Google+ account to email you by automatically enrolling you in a scheme apparently designed for spammers and hiding the opt-out in the depths of your email settings.
...

YouTube comments now require a Google+ account. Picasa became Google+ Photos last year. And now Gmail users get to make unsolicited new Google+ pals if they forget to opt out (or more likely, if they don't know they've been opted in in the first place).
...

Tech firms are myopic when it comes to privacy. Because they're all hip young codeslingers with fantastic, sun-drenched and entirely innocent lives they tend to assume that everybody else is too, so they'll merrily connect you with everyone you've ever met without imagining any negative consequences.

We saw an example of that this week, where a man was arrested for sending a Google+ invitation to his ex in breach of a restraining order.

The man claims that the invitation was sent accidentally and automatically by Google's auto-invite feature. If his claims are true, the man's the latest victim of a war of attrition, social networks' ongoing attempts to annexe more of our online activities and mine it for fun and profit.


http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/ ... e--1214136

I was in my YouTube settings the other day; if they're anything to go by, Joe Average will never know how to sort this crap out.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
I would have hoped that the guy who was arrested for the google+ invitation was released. I no longer post comments or like anything on youtube because of what it is added to. Facebook are also finding that they are losing users quite rapidly because too many oldies are using it. I am refusing new additions to mine and wonder if I should delete all these social accounts.
Author:  l3v1ck [ Fri Jan 10, 2014 8:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
I've already been into my google mail settings to turn it off.
Author:  big_D [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
Turned it off straight away.
Author:  cloaked_wolf [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
On piephone and can't see a way to turn it off. Any ideas?
Author:  l3v1ck [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
cloaked_wolf wrote:
On piephone and can't see a way to turn it off. Any ideas?

Log into googlemail through a broswer.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 11:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
I'm not sure turning the option off entirely protects you. I set it to 'no-one' and the help text now says 'If people who aren't in your circles send you emails in this way, you must agree before they can send you more.' That suggests anyone can send you one email, then you get a chance to block them, then if you do so they can't send you any more. That's a world away from 'no-one' meaning 'no-one can use this feature to send you email', it's actually 'opt out of receiving junk messages from each Google+ account after they identify themselves to you as a spammer'. Which is, to put it bluntly, [LIFTED] as the best available option.

Plus I'm wondering if there will be any way to identify the spam that arrives in your inbox as being sent to you via your G+ account?

It's just rubbish as a feature. There is no use for it other than spending spam, as far as I can see. Anyone on your G+ friends list can send you a G+ message directly and probably has your email address anyway...
Author:  pcernie [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
It's either a poor attempt at growing +, an equally poor attempt at spamming the NSA, or both :lol: ;)
Author:  big_D [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 2:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
Makes me kind of glad that I never used my Gmail account for anything. I think I have had one email that wasn't from Google or YouTube arrive in my account, and that was for an Android app I registered.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Sat Jan 11, 2014 4:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
I decided to up my security settings.

Quote:
If you have a Google Profile picture then it is always visible to everyone.

Thankfully it is not of me. 8-)
Author:  l3v1ck [ Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
Amnesia10 wrote:
I decided to up my security settings.

Quote:
If you have a Google Profile picture then it is always visible to everyone.

Thankfully it is not of me. 8-)

Thankfully I don't have a picture.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Google+: resistance is futile!
big_D wrote:
Makes me kind of glad that I never used my Gmail account for anything. I think I have had one email that wasn't from Google or YouTube arrive in my account, and that was for an Android app I registered.

I have signed up for Youtube and GMail but do not use GMail at all. So like you I am glad that I do not use it for a lot of things. I have a cookie killer which stops tracking cookies even though my browser is supposed to stop trackers. :oops:
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