Interesting ,
Found this in the news
http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/how-to-stop-google-tracking-your-every-move...

I was walking along the beach the other day just having a coffee and watching the people and I couldnt help but think how stupid we have all become , couples sitting on the beach together; but worlds apart as their both playing with their phones and holding onto it like its a life support system, and as I looked around I made a mental note of all the people around me; both young and old and they were all on their phone or playing with it like children with a new toy.

So I thought ,how sad this is that on such a lovely sunny day at the beach the people would rather be playing on their phone than spending time with the person they were there with in the first place !! Are our lives this empty that we are brain washed by phones and other trinkets? Yes ! Not much differant than hundreds of years ago and swapping a bag of marbles for all the land you can see..

Pete

Einstein predicted a generation of morons, we are getting close. A lot of people have already lost the art of communicating & from what I saw in management in industry from the 70's to now literacy & basic skills like measurement were bad then & are getting worse.

Marc

Here's another commentary on Google out today: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/google-out-to-steal-from-australians...

The Australian is behind a pay-wall so non-subscribers may not be able to access it, so for the benefit of those, in short, it is about Google's alleged systematic theft of copyright for the purpose of making the billions they have in the bank.

Apart from Youtube, which I enjoy ad-free due to IP blocking of their ad servers, I don't use any Google products or services so I am about as immune to their devious ways as someone can be these days. If you have an Android phone, use Google search, or the Chrome browser, there is no way that I know of to stop them keeping an eye on you. And, to cap it all off, in their lengthy ToS it will state something like "we can use the information we collect from you for any reason we see fit".

As I wrote in the comments section of the linked article - one doesn't get big by being honest - and Google is indeed a big company.

My solution to all of that is: I don't have a smart phone. The ability to make calls and send SMS is sufficient for me.

I actually don't have a mobile phone.
Im still using land line only for a phone.
But the problem of anti social gadgets extends to Tablets,Computers etc etc.
I know of one good family Ive known for years and every night mum dad and the kids head for their corner of the house and the gadet has become the main focal point . Not much chatting goes on there at all , in fact thats done by the phone too.
Im guilty of it too. I get involed in a topic or something on the net and next thing I know its 2am in the morning.
But I feel the mobile phone is a bigger problem and people will forget how to interact with each other, ,,,if that has not ready happened.

It is amazing how many are "transfixed". The brain seems to just lock onto one thing and all else around them disappears.

I am sure that with some, you could sit a Lion, or Tiger next to them and they would not notice it.

I am on a road to a Golf Course. This lot seem to develop "golf ball eyes" & I could, from what I see, stand on the side of the road with a shotgun, & not be noticed.

It's a strange world indeed.

I remember back about ten years ago when the Government closed Druitt Street to buses because people were aimlessly walking onto the road absorbed by what was going on, on their phone and literally walking under the wheels of the buses. There were quite a few deaths but it has not changed the way people behave.

These days there are safety fences at the kerbs and in the middle of the street and with a lower speed limit the buses, more than 1,000 a day depart Druitt Street for the north western suburbs. The people are just dying in other places now. When I walk down the street my phone is in my pocket and I tend to pay attention to what is going on around me. It's a good way of staying alive.

On the subject of conversation:

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/uk-school-puts-up-signs-to-parents-greet-your-child-with-a-smile-not-a-mobile/news-story/a4ec3afc70475d4ecf10cdc3099c6325

I have long switched off GPS and as many other tracking features on my Android phone as I can think off. Only have one app for a particular radio activity and that is it.

Trouble is there are so many hidden apps such as Google Play etc which I don't use its hard to work out which one is doing the tracking.

Even switching off the phone does not help, the thing is still running.

A shielded box ?

That's what I love about the metal Ute. Put the phone in the glove box & you are greeted with a phone in panic mode as it has lost all signal: Nice Faraday cage.

I would believe the bus story. The metal Ute (1958) almost scored an easy few points at a roundabout when a texter walked into its path. This one was so engrossed, walking along in his own little bubble, he just did not look and was clearly oblivious to where he was.

I am sure that the Ute would have done some massive damage to him, had It got him.

Trouble is there are so many hidden apps such as Google Play etc which I don't use its hard to work out which one is doing the tracking.

I am guessing that it isn't easily identifiable to tell. I use a Windows phone and there is a packaged app called Data Sense that tells you what every other app receives and sends. With that you can identify the bandwidth hogs and either reduce their functionality or simply delete them. I did have the National Australia Bank app for a short time but it alone was chewing up about 1/3 of my monthly allowance so it got the chop. Why a banking app needs to communicate when it isn't being used is beyond me.

I reckon it'll be a long time before we all get the truth from Microsoft, Google and Apple about what these phones send to them and 'their partners' about us. The back doors would be built into the core of the operating systems - and most likely scrambled - making it almost technically impossible to intercept any transmissions.

I use Spybot Search and Destroy to remove and block all tracking bots etc. on my Windows desktop.

I had some such thing on my PC for a while, but it slowed it down so much that I removed it.

Ah, that's the great thing about Spybot S&D. It only runs when you tell it to and also does passive blocking which actually speeds up your machine. Cleans all the crap out as well - you have the choice to over-ride what it gets rid of.