Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chrome-silent-nano-install/Open linkView original on lemmy.world186
Comments19
It's almost as if Big Tech thinks the stuff we buy with our own money belongs to them...
I’m not sure if you just mean tech only companies, but this sentiment seems to be the new capitalist mindset.
It’s bleeding into the auto and home appliance sectors as well. You buy it, but they control it.
Pretty soon you’ll have to pay a subscription and do an update to get tooth paste from the tube.
That's why I hate the if you don't pay for it your the product. Because TVs, cars are all spying on us and we pay for them.
Absolutely unacceptable. I’d already decided against using chrome on any of my devices, now I’m going to recheck that I removed the browsers completely.
oh, you made me realize that not using it isn't enough and I too, need to check if it's not installed somewhere
Ungoogled Chromium, for the addicts.
Or Chromite.
Or Firefox to get rid of WebKit/Blink
I'm not an addict, but I need to keep a copy of Chrom(ium) for sites I MUST access that don't work with Firefox
There's a possibly unsurprisingly high number of these...like my vet's online booking service. Literally cannot access it without Chrome. Not Chromium. Not Firefox. Not any FF derivatives. Only Google Chrome. It's frustrating. I used it once because the office was closed, and ever since I call in to book. When they tell me I can book online I tell them that the system doesn't support my browser of choice, not just my main choice but the top 10....
Change vets and tell them why.
A good vet is more important then one who's site works with Firefox.
Unfortunately they're the best and also closest. I'd rather call to make an appointment and remind them why I don't use the online portal than be charged for poor care for my cat. Really not a difficult decision for me.
Yeah. I ran into that when I moved into my new place. Couldn't access the resident portal via anything but a chrome browser. Wouldn't even load in Firefox (or waterfox).
Or Helium
I keep UGC mostly because the tool my Keychron keyboard uses to program itself requires a Chromium-browser, and I refused to use actual Chrome. No other reason. 😩
Joke's on them, I only have 1gb/month of mobile data.
Does it happen on chromium too?
Not likely as that is an open project.
Am I the only one who noticed the install size is assumed to be the same as download size with no compression used despite the great lengths taken to calculate the environmental impact of the download?