google's getting pissy about using their shit while logged out

Submitted ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip⁩ to ⁨mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world⁩

https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/ca9320c2-fa79-4a24-9745-8fbbb6a24f35.avif

I still use gmail and drive for work but otherwise I’m never logged into anything google at home. Today when I tried to expand on a restaurant’s hours it wouldn’t let me see them without logging in, although it still worked in incognito. This restaurant screenshot is just a random other example I tried, but for the one I was actually checking google actually had the correct hours while the official website hasn’t been updated in awhile and had the old ones (website said they’re still open for dinner but they’ve only been doing lunch for a year or so now)

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PostaL@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
www.comaps.app

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Prove_your_argument@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
They will make everything mandatory log in for 100% named tracking soon, unless regulations call for otherwise.

These tech companies are the ones demanding ID laws to use the internet on computers. Microsoft OS already serves unique identifiers that can track down computers, and they want to close the loop.

They already have an overwhelming amount of information about us anyway, but the more perfect the dataset the more power, control and advertising revenue it affords.

These billionaire owned companies all want to enslave us all with absolute control. Call me paranoid or dismiss what I’m saying if you would like, but unless we can fix our politics in all of our respective areas to free them from the yoke of big money it will only get worse.

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redlemace@lemmy.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Sure, go ahead irritating me when trying to use your service. Pushing me to log-in is THE way to drive me to other services. They have nothing to offer that’s worth/can justify logging in. nothing.

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- Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  They probably don’t care if you use a different service if you don’t log in to use theirs. If you don’t log in they can’t easily monetize you by tracking your data and building a portfolio. Otherwise you use their resources at a cost and they don’t make money.
  
  So threatening to leave for other services isn’t exactly a threat.
  
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  - chillpanzee@lemmy.ml ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    They still know who most users are even without a google login; they can monetize just fine.
    
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  - HerbGrower@slrpnk.net ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    For a long time google existed without an option to create an account
    
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  - huppakee@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    They don’t care, but in 10 to 20 years time they will hire consultants to figure out why their user base chose inferior products to their superior free service.
    
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- AmyAye@nord.pub ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Man, this is accurate, but I tested Mapquest recently. I like that I can make my position icon a cute little rainbow unicorn, but also it couldn’t locate the second Walmart in town. I get the pharmacy at one and the tire place at the other. And the store itself for neither. Like, I really want to know the pharmacy hours here Mapquest.
  
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  - huppakee@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    There is two options: either you have a corporation so everything and they require a way to pay their employees (and most will want some profit), this is the Google way. Of course you can switch to an alternative of a less evil corporation, but you will still be part of that system. The other option is crowd sourced, where everyone who uses also provides a bit. If you use an app based on data from OpenStreetMap, you will find local information lacking. But the beauty is, you can easily contribute. I think Wikipedia is the biggest example of how this system can work. Personally I use CoMaps. Can recommend it, but there are similar options that are just as open source.
    
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  - FG_3479@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    It is owned by System1 who is an ad arbitrage firm that buys cheap ads at one source (e.g Facebook) for a page containing expensive ads (e.g Google Ads) so be aware of that.
    
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Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I work in 911 dispatch, we’re not really supposed to log into our personal accounts on the work computers, there have been a couple incidents (not specifically in the 911 center but other parts of our county government) where people have gotten viruses and such from opening links in their personal emails on county computers.

A lot of us in dispatch make pretty heavy use of Google maps. When a caller doesn’t know where they are and we’re not getting a good location from their cellphone, we can sometimes see a lot of details on Google maps that we can’t see on the maps on our dispatch software.

There have been a couple times a caller has described a house to me and a general area that it was in but not the exact address, but I was able to get that address from looking around on satellite view and street view.

Sometimes we can see businesses and other places on it that aren’t in our system or come up as something slightly different, like maybe everyone calls a school “the Smith School,” but the actual name of it, and how it’s listed in our system is the “John Q Smith Preparatory Academy” so if I search in our system for “Smith School” I won’t find it, but if I look on Google maps I might see that pop up.

There’s cases where like if the call is on the border between 2 towns and I need know which department to dispatch, I can look on maps for little landmarks that probably wouldn’t be listed in any map software so that I can ask something like “are you on the same side of the road as the house with a big statue on the front lawn, or are you across the street from that house?”

Point is, it’s a very valuable tool for my job in situations that can actually be life-and-death sometimes, and since I can’t log in to it at work, I worry about getting shut out from features I use or even out of the service entirely.

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- foodandart@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That is a point you need to bring up in your official capacity with the 911 dispatch you work for. Tell them what is going on and ask for a system account to be set up for each agent so that it’s just a formal login that is tied to the job and nothing else.
  
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- tal@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  There’s OpenStreetMap. I’m not saying that it’s as suitable as Google Maps for you, but it’s a possible option.
  
  www.openstreetmap.org
  
  The’re not a commercial service, and the database backing it is freely distributable, so it won’t get cut off.
  
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  - titanicx@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I have tried open street maps it didn’t even have my address correct. It was absolute trash. There are very few things that actually work and work well when you need them to work. I would never trust that service to work well. It relies far too much on individuals to fix everything wrong with it. I had to submit my correct address to it which took several weeks to correct. And that’s just one address that I looked at that’s a standard address no big deal shows correct on every other map out there but if I were trying to rely on that for life-saving services hell no.
    
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- redditmodssucks@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Next gen911 is going to fix this I work for county making the maps for Newworld or whatever dispatch system you’re using. Soon the whole county will be running on NG911. You can look it up but it basically replaces using the old lookup your system currently uses that comes from a master list Verizon and att own.
  
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  - Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I really don’t see how NG911 is going to help when all my callers can tell me sometimes is something like that they’re near some trees, a big rock, and a brick wall. That’s not exactly something I can punch into my CAD. Or when it’s a 3rd party caller for their grandmother in a different town who needs help, but all they can give me is that it’s a big yellow house about 2 blocks from the elementary school with a statue of a cow on the front lawn.
    
    There’s a lot of cool things that NG911 can help with, some of it is already implemented in my county, but they’re largely not the things I use Google maps for.
    
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Maestro@fedia.io ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
You should see what they did with reCaptcha. Today for the first time I got the popup telling me to scan a QR code with my phone in order to continue. Well, fuck that.

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- takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Make sure to tell the owner of the site why you don’t wasn’t to use it anymore.
  
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AVincentInSpace@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
OpenStreetMap ftw

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phoenixz@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Which is why I’m building my own self hosted map application

Fuck Google with an umbrella

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- tomatolung@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago
  Details?
  
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chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Everyone has their breaking points. The enshittification will continue until morale improves (by leaving Google).

The only Google properties I still use are YouTube and Scholar (occasionally).

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- sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Pirating youtube is pretty doable right now. There’s invidious which is just a mirror then there’s ytdlp for people who fuck with command lines. Or Stacher if you don’t
  
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- Xyphius@lemmy.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I still use gmail and youtube. Trying to slowly get off gmail. It’s been difficult as I don’t have the time to sit down and look through what I need to transfer over. I’ve already got a NorthMail address, so at least that’s a step.
  
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  - EastofEdson@piefed.ca ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I have gmail forwarding my email to my new account outside of Google. I have a “Gmail” folder on my non-Google account where all these forwarded emails get dropped.
    
    I have been updating my email address on these forwarded emails for over a year. I’ve had this gmail address since gmail started so it’s taking some time. It is a process but I am winning.
    
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  - huppakee@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I use Proton and can highly recommend. Others will recommend you alternatives, but one extra reason for Proton is they target actively gmail users and built a tool to make the switch easier: proton.me/blog/proton-mail-connect-gmail
    
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Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Soon; “Or click here and we will stop bugging you for this and use you ip, mouse movement behaviors, scroll lag time and recent cookie history to identify you without having to even log in!”

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tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I really just need to get off google entirely but I’m also very unmotivated/lazy/ADHD

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- ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Depends on where you live, in the EU, openstreetmap.org is way more accurate than Google.
  
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  - ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    And you can make a new hobby for yourself by updating things as you come across them
    
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- originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  thats cool, just know youre part of the problem, not the solution.
  
  your reasoning for not leaving is exactly what they want to hear.
  
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  - whatstatersprecious@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    If the problem is a lack of suitable alternatives, that’s not the user’s fault. Google even snapped up Waze.
    
    They need to use something. You suggesting they should just go make their own Google Maps?
    
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  - LeapSecond@lemmy.zip ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    So you’re part of the problem or… have no access to information. Do you realize how much more data Google has in some places? I contribute to osm every now and then but still use Google maps for navigation, it’s not even comparable.
    
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poopkins@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
How ironic that Google signs me out of my account every 12 hours. It’s exceedingly frustrating and I have no idea how to fix it. I’ve got a passkey set up with MFA—I’d have thought that would be enough.

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DaddleDew@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I use google maps in the browser on my phone without an account logged in. Every single time I open it, it gives me a pop up message begging me to use their app with two buttons at the bottom that are blatantly dark patterned and misleading to get you to accidentally click on their app store link.

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Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
This trend is gaining traction. It stated with twitter, then other platforms followed, Reddit does it now too.

You can’t monetize unlogged in traffic I guess.

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FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
udm14.com does not appear to be affected.

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- ech@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Better to use the udm14 for a custom search engine than to route your traffic through a separate party.
  
  https://www.google.com/search?q=%25s&udm=14, depending in the formatting of your browser.
  
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skisnow@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It’s sad to see how time and time again companies build up a big user base by being the best service out there, and then just assume that they’ll be the market leaders forever and ever no matter how much they enshittify.

The amount of vendor lock-in with something like Google Maps is very close to zero.

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rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m jumping ship for comaps, it’s FOSS, no data collection, uses Wikipedia for location descriptions, has an offline mode, and doesn’t do weird shit like divert you from a highway to drive on gravel roads to circumvent a perfectly fine, 5 mile stretch of highway

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- DPEWGF@sh.itjust.works ⁨45⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago
  Wondering if I should be on comaps or open street maps
  
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- huppakee@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Gonna leave this here: www.comaps.app
  
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  - rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    There’s also our very own community here on lemmy, !CoMaps@sopuli.xyz
    
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- HerbGrower@slrpnk.net ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I have seen some funky trips in comaps as well tbh. But I suspect any map tool is going to get that. At least it gets my commute to work right, which google doesn’t.
  
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- scutiger@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  It sounds dumb, but Google’s directions handle traffic very well for the most part. If there’s a lot of demand for a certain route, it will automatically send you through alternatives so as to not cause traffic jams. That perfectly fine 5 mile stretch of highway probably has a lot of people already being routed through it.
  
  Sometimes it also just sends you to the wrong place or tries to tell you to make illegal maneuvers though.
  
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  - rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    No, the detour took me off of a quiet highway on a flat stretch of road. I took a return trip on the same highway less than an hour later, and there was no backup to speak of
    
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winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Google did that to me yesterday when I tried to check reviews for a place. I did not check the Google reviews. Sucks my nuts google

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Zephorah@discuss.online ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
They want your data, and if you don’t give it to them by logging in, they’re cutting you off. Probably.

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HubertManne@piefed.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
yeah it was awhile back where my tablet would lose the directions thing with google maps once I was off wifie that drove me to organic maps.

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Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Gmail and Drive for work?

Oh boy…

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- huppakee@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  They offer very cheap services (guess why) for small and medium businesses. Wouldn’t recommend anyone to use Google, but I can get their low price is very attractive.
  
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