Google waited months to update their apps. App developers often update every two weeks now, aligning with the common “2-week sprint” of software development. Some do weekly releases. Still, sometimes an actively developed app will go a month or more. This isn’t common for large service apps, which release frequent bug fixes.
Google waited over three months to update their apps. Prior to December of 2020, Google updated their apps multiple times a month. What changed? Though Google denies it, many have pointed out that it coincides with Apple’s requirement for app privacy labels. It’s possible Google was hoping they could sneak updates out after Apple’s new App Store privacy labels weren’t in the news anymore.
It didn’t work.
Eventually, Google updated their apps and included their privacy labels. As you’d expect, they’re horrific. Google’s collecting massive amounts of information, with much of it tied directly to a user ID or device ID.
DuckDuckGo called them out on it. DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused search engine and, on mobile platforms, it’s also a privacy-focused browser. You can take a look at its privacy labels below. For DuckDuckGo, all of the list is data not linked to the user.
Information Collection Overload
I decided to scroll through the privacy labels for Google’s app as well as DuckDuckGo, Firefox, and, for giggles, Facebook. Google and Facebook took so long I got scroll fatigue. I decided I had to record it and share it (sped up) for you to see just how absurd this is. These apps are collecting massive amounts of data, far more than you likely realized, and much of it is tied to you directly.
This kind of data isn’t necessary to run a browser. DuckDuckGo lacks the personalization and syncing features of Firefox, but you can see what a more “fully featured” browser like Firefox actually needs. It’s not much. It’s certainly not what Google’s using. That’s because DuckDuckGo and Firefox are focused on making a fantastic browser, not a fantastic spying tool.
After months of stalling, Google finally revealed how much personal data they collect in Chrome and the Google app. No wonder they wanted to hide it. Spying on users has nothing to do with building a great web browser or search engine. We would know (our app is both in one).
DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser has been the second most downloaded mobile browser in the US (after Chrome) and, as you might expect, doesn’t collect any data that’s linked to you, making it simple to get the privacy you deserve online.
– From a series of tweets from DuckDuckGo
Modern online advertising, mostly from Google and Facebook, is a massive privacy problem. The two companies have logged obscene amounts of information on everyone who has ever used their services, and potentially even those who haven’t. While you normally can’t find all of this easily by searching through their terms of service, Apple’s new privacy labels reveal every bad thing these companies are doing with your personal information. Facebook and Google seem to be afraid it could affect downloads and profits. Hopefully it does. Maybe it could change the nature of online services.