2y ago

Google is now moderating user's bookmarks and removing them.

Original Toot: https://strangeobject.space/@silvermoon82/110969122337810598

79 comments

Nah. If you want to be outraged at Google, at least be correct.
This has to do with Google "collections", not synced bookmarks. Afaik, collections are a thing you only access on mobile through the google app, this doesn't even have anything to do with Chrome.
If you run chrome on mobile, for example, you don't have access to the collections. It's only through the google app.
Almost certain they monitor collections because they can be shared with public.
- They shouldn't be monitored either way in my opinion as it's just a bunch of links, but especially not while still private.
  Ultimately I don't think it quite matters if it technically is bookmarks or "collections", they seem clearly used in the same manner in this case.
  
  I don't care if you're mad about it like I said. I just care about accuracy. The person in the screenshot and this thread's title are both inaccurate.
  
  They aren't. They are made from links that appear in Google search results. Google is notifying the person that the link you've saved is being removed. Therefore it will be removed from your collection as well.
  
  Some torrent sites have been ordered to be entirely blocked in some countries so they probably have to check for them to comply with local laws.
  
  Eh… the ultimate question, what if it’s a collection of CSAM links?
  Some moderation is fine, especially when it can be shared pretty easily. This isn’t private bookmarks, it’s “private” bookmark collections.
  Edit: For those downvoting, this is the same concept as a private Reddit/facebook community. Just because it’s “invite only” doesn’t mean it’s free from following the rules of the whole site.
- Wtf is a collections?
- You can access through google.com/save
  
  That's not a function of chrome though, I can do that on any browser.
- My bookmarks can also be shared with the public though
  
  I'm not aware of a way of making your bookmarks public through chrome.
- Crazy that I had to scroll past 9 other comments to reach this one. Maybe I oughta start sorting comments by top.

Get. Away. From. Google.
- It's really that simple for much of their products. I really don't understand why people still insist on using chrome, in particular. Google is a horrible company that would literally sell you into slavery if it was legal and they thought it'd boost their ad business somehow.

Google keeps taking L's and firefox keeps taking W's. If they keep going maybe firefox will be most used browser again
- I hate that I have to keep chrome on my machine because some sites I visit don’t work well, or at all, on Firefox.
  
  Use brave

the only two things that shock me about this is
That it took until now for it to happen
that people are shocked by it.

firefox doesn't do this
- Either does Chrome probably. This is probably fake

it's their private property !

People are saying this is fake, maybe that image in particular is, but I just got that email and that's annoying me so here's a pic

chrome can E2E encrypt your bookmarks, I didn't realize it wasn't used by default
- E2E encryption is only (potentially) effective if the threat is a MITM. If your threat model shows any possibility for your threats to be on either end, it is effectively useless.
  Now I'm not saying that you should model Chrome as a threat, but I'm certainly saying that you also can't be certain you don't need to. The whole thing is closed source, the publisher is a Machiavellian megacorporation; and if I were Google, and had to spy on users for profit, that's certainly where I'd start. You know, as anonymized metrics, to "help improving Chrome".
  Edit: oh and, I haven't checked what they mean by that, but potentially, the E2EE is meant in the context of the transit only, meaning the data at rest is not encrypted, on your computer, or on the Google servers.
  
  under "keep your info private", this is different than encrypted in transit. I mean I guess they could be lying 🤷‍♂️
  https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/165139

Op you're so easily fooled

I'm sorry, WHAT?
- How long until Android starts blocking access to websites.
  I really do not trust these large tech companies.
  
  No no no you misunderstand
  They're helping you avoid evil bad superungood pages that don't have the right security levels.
  Maybe their SSH cert is for the wrong site!
  Maybe their SSH cert is just too old.
  Or maybe, heavens forbid, they dont even have an SSL cert?! Heavens to Betsy what shenanigans.
  Sometimes web pages spread malware. Sometimes they even spread copyright protected materials without the the rights to do so! Maybe we should start helping you avoid copyright infringement!

- Some of those people really said 💀

Is this an old screenshot? The email looks like a screenshot of a screenshot, of a screenshot, etc.
- fake, visit the site, there is nothing there.
  
  That’s not now the internet works. There was something there. See: https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/katcr.co

Is this just chrome? Or does this affect all chromium browsers? And yes, I already use FF, but I also use Brave for when FF doesn't work.
- It's about synced bookmarks. Do any browsers besides Chrome sync through Google?
  
  It's not about normal synced bookmarks in your browser, see other comment.

Good thing I've been using Raindrop.io to manage my bookmarks for years because I used to switch browsers so often. I've settled on Firefox for the most part, but am looking forward to Arc on Windows.
- Is there a self-hosted version or alternative? This looks solid, but I've been trying to self host as much as possible
  
  Here you go, comrade:
  https://awesome-selfhosted.net/tags/bookmarks-and-link-sharing.html
  I chose Linkding because it's simple to set up, I'm looking forward to Omnivore when it's a bit more easy to self-host.

As people have said, this is fake, but why would you keep any important data with Google anyway?
- People keep saying this is fake,, but I just received this email today on another site lol that's annoying
  
  It's fake in that this is about shared collections, not just your regular bookmarks as implied.
  You also can't share pirate material on YouTube, can you?

But the link in the screenshot is to a google domain??

I'll switch immediately.

Eat a bag of dicks google

79 comments