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<ul><li>Privacy-oriented <keyword id="2245347" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="protonmail" source="Orion">ProtonMail</keyword> has been facing criticism for helping authorities arrest a climate activist. </li><li>ProtonMail shared the IP address of a user after receiving a request from Europol. </li><li>The company has said that it had received a legally binding order from the Swiss courts and there was no possibility to appeal it. </li></ul>ProtonMail, a hosted email service that prides itself on its privacy-oriented end-to-end encryption, is facing criticism after leading the authorities to the arrest of a French climate activist. As per a TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/06/protonmail-logged-ip-address-of-french-activist-after-order-by-swiss-authorities/">report</a>, ProtonMail has said that it was acting on a request sent via Europol by French authorities. The French police had sent a request to the Swiss police via Europol and had forced the company to reveal the IP address of the activist. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="ProtonMail did not know it was leading authorities to a climate activist" comment="subhead" text="ProtonMail did not know it was leading authorities to a climate activist">ProtonMail did not know it was leading authorities to a climate activist</cmsannotation> The data was requested as part of an investigation into a group of climate activists who have occupied several commercial spaces and apartments in Paris to protest gentrification, real estate speculation and high-end restaurants. While the members of the activist group are anonymous, one of the members had used the email address “jmm18@protonmail.com” for online posts and communication. The French Police lodged a request in the Swiss courts with the help of Europol as ProtonMail is based in Switzerland. After receiving an approval from Swiss Courts, ProtonMail began logging IP information on the account and handed over the information to the French police. Replying to a user who had questioned ProtonMail over the incident, Andy Yen in a <a href="https://twitter.com/andyyen/status/1434588316914130949">tweet</a> said, “Proton must comply with Swiss law. As soon as a crime is committed, privacy protections can be suspended and we're required by Swiss law to answer requests from Swiss authorities.” In addition to this, in a blog post, ProtonMail has said, “Proton received a legally binding order from Swiss authorities which we are obligated to comply with. There was no possibility to appeal this particular request.” While Swiss law requires mandatory notification to users if a person’s data has been requested by the authorities, there was an eight months delay in this instance. As per the ProtonMail user notification policy, delays can affect notifications if – it is temporarily prohibited by the Swiss legal process itself, by a Swiss court order or applicable Swiss law. While Switzerland was considered a bastion of privacy, this has been changing for some time now. As per ProtonMail’s <a href="https://protonmail.com/blog/transparency-report/">transparency report</a>, orders by Swiss authorities for data have increased from 13 in 2017 to 3,572 in 2020. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/apple-is-delaying-its-controversial-plan-to-scan-iphones-for-images-of-child-sex-abuse-after-privacy-backlash/articleshow/85904953.cms">Apple is delaying its controversial plan to scan iPhones for images of child sex abuse after privacy backlash</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/whatsapp-agrees-to-put-the-controversial-privacy-policy-on-hold/articleshow/84261567.cms">WhatsApp won't make its controversial privacy policy mandatory until the introduction of India’s Data Protection Law</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/amazon-has-been-fined-a-record-887-million-for-violating-data-privacy-rules-in-europe/articleshow/84892927.cms">Amazon has been fined a record $887 million for violating data privacy rules in Europe</a>

ProtonMail faces criticism after leading police to the arrest of a climate activist

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Google is supercharging Bard by giving it access to its most popular apps.</li><li>It's a big leap forward as the company continues to chase OpenAI.</li></ul>Google is supercharging its Bard AI chatbot by giving it access to the company's most popular apps, such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube.The new abilities should make Bard significantly more useful, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-how-big-tech-will-win-again-2023-5">underscoring Google's advantage</a> in tapping hugely popular existing products as it continues to race against rivals such as OpenAI.Google announced Tuesday that Bard can now retrieve information from YouTube, Maps, and Google's Flights and Shopping search features. Also, if granted permission, it can access information from users' personal content from Gmail, Docs, and Drive to summarize documents.Google says you can ask Bard to find and bring together information from relevant emails. For example, you could ask it to pull together emails related to a coming vacation and summarize that information.It's set to combine extensions, too. You could ask Bard to find a document you previously created of your bucket-list restaurants and then show their locations on a map. Or you could upload a photo to Lens and ask it to find relevant YouTube videos.The added features are the result of a new version of Google's PaLM 2 large language model. Sissie Hsiao, a Google vice president who is the general manager of Assistant and Bard, says the new version has better fine-tuning.Hsiao told Insider the information taken from apps such as Gmail or Docs would not be used for advertising or for training Google's AI models.The new abilities are a big step forward for Google's chatbot and serve as a reminder of the advantage companies such as Google have in the AI race. Google has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-products-with-over-1-billion-users-whats-next-2020-8">nine products with over 1 billion users</a> that it's eagerly weaving AI into."This is really the first step in taking an LLM and not just as a text model, but actually bringing it into what we call agentive capabilities," Hsiao said, likening the updated Bard to a "personal assistant."Google has been working fast to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-new-coding-features-bard-chatbot-2023-4">iterate Bard</a> after the company was surprised by the arrival of ChatGPT last year. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ad-ai-chatgpt-rival-bard-gives-inaccurate-answer-2023-2">Bard had a tough start</a>, but Google has moved quickly on improving the chatbot's capabilities in recent months.Still, Bard is at risk of spitting out misinformation. As part of the new update, Google has also updated the "Google it" button that lets you search for answers. Now it will highlight in green where Bard's responses are corroborated with a webpage; users can click through to that webpage if they want. Parts of the response that Google cannot corroborate will be highlighted yellow, it says. This could help users identify so-called hallucinations, or false details that AI chatbots sometimes invent.Google has already rolled out AI-assistant features to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-workspace-cloud-microsoft-threats-ai-chatgpt-2023-3">its Workspace apps</a> and has clarified how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-how-big-tech-will-win-again-2023-5">it plans to keep weaving AI into its most popular products</a>.Google is also busy at work on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-gemini-rare-breed-of-huge-ai-model-2023-9">Gemini</a>, a new large language model that's set to take the capabilities of Bard and other products further. It may not be far away: Gemini is <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=6cfcef4afd324ed46c2acb30813413d023acd60f2be51a8c0969adf1d85a0f2c&amp;postID=6508a8276c1af415013fa6f2&amp;postSlug=google-ai-bard-chatbot-gmail-maps-youtube-integration-2023-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fgoogle-nears-release-of-gemini-ai-to-rival-openai">already in the hands of some developers</a>, The Information reported.Got a tip? You can reach this reporter via encrypted email (<a target="_blank" href="mailto:hlangley@protonmail.com">hlangley@protonmail.com</a>) or the encrypted messaging apps Signal/Telegram (+1 628-228-1836). No PR pitches, please.

Google is turning its Bard AI chatbot into a personal assistant by tapping into products like Gmail and Maps, giving it a key advantage in the AI race

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The best free <keyword id="29411" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="email">email</keyword> accounts, like <keyword id="51500" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gmail">Gmail</keyword> and <keyword id="467036" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Microsoft-Outlook">Microsoft Outlook</keyword>, offer users reliable and easy-to-use features.</li><li>You can also go with more niche free email account services, like ProtonMail.</li><li>When picking a free email service, consider what features are important to you, like security, data storage, or add-ons like video conferencing. </li></ul>In the early days of the internet, it seemed like there were thousands of free email service providers. Since then, a select few have dominated the space thanks to their reliable features, customizable interfaces, and extensive storage options. <h2>The best free emails accounts</h2>While Google's Gmail and Microsoft's Outlook stand above the rest in terms of well-rounded, accessible features, there are a couple outliers users should consider depending on their email needs. <h3>Gmail </h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/gmail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gmail</a> is an obvious choice for many reasons: It's free, customizable, and gives users access to the full <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leak-reveals-googles-plans-to-supercharge-its-gmail-workplace-app-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Workspace</a> (formerly known as G Suite). More than a billion people use Gmail across the world. Here are the features that make Gmail stand out:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-schedule-send-email-on-gmail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Schedule send</a> (which lets users can schedule when an email is sent out)</li></ul><div type="image" title="Gmail schedule send page" height="1000" width="3359" msid="82848474" hostid="261"></div><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-set-up-out-of-office-in-gmail" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automatic Out Of Office replies</a> </li><li>Advanced search via the toolbar to find specific emails </li><li>15 GB of free storage</li><li>Offline access (with Google Chrome)</li><li>Spam mail filter provides security against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-phishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phishing</a> and bugs</li><li>The ability to snooze emails for later </li></ul><div type="image" title="Gmail Snooze until window" height="1000" width="1381" msid="82848476" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Share files directly from Google Drive with email recipients without leaving the message box</li><li>Automatically filter emails into categories for Promotions, Social, and Updates</li><li>Undo send</li><li>Send confidential emails that expire within a specific period of time upon receipt </li></ul>While Gmail has a highly customizable interface and sleek design, its labeling system could use some work. Users often have to customize labels and manually filter emails into folders, rather than the service doing it intuitively. <h3>Outlook </h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/microsoft-outlook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Microsoft Outlook</a> has such a vast array of features that can either be incredibly useful, or overwhelming to those who want a simpler email service. Like Gmail, Outlook integrates with other Microsoft programs like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/microsoft-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Office</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-onedrive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OneDrive</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/skype" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Skype</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/outlook-calendar-tips-tricks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Calendar</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/paypal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PayPal</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-docusign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DocuSign</a>. Here are the features that make Outlook stand out: <ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-schedule-an-email-in-outlook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Schedule send</a> (where users can schedule when an email is sent out)</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-set-out-of-office-in-outlook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Automatic Out Of Office replies</a></li><li>Advanced search function via the toolbar to find specific emails </li><li>15 GB of free storage (subscribers get 50 GB)</li><li>Offline access (via the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/outlook-web-app" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Outlook Web App</a>)</li><li>Junk mail filter provides security against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-phishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phishing</a> and bugs</li><li>The ability to snooze emails for later </li><li>Automatic email filtering (Outlook organizes emails it deems important to go to the "Focused Inbox")</li><li>Works seamlessly with other Microsoft-related apps within the platform</li></ul><div type="image" title="Outlook integrated Microsoft apps" height="1060" width="2564" msid="82848477" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Similar editing abilities users would find in Microsoft Word</li></ul>Unlike Gmail, Outlook's template for automatic email replies is restrictive and doesn't offer many options. However, it's ability to filter, label, and find emails puts it a notch above the rest. <h3>iCloud</h3>Most Apple users know about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/icloud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iCloud's</a> email service, but don't have one. The good news is you can <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-create-icloud-email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set up an iCloud email account</a> in a few minutes. iCloud's email service is for anyone looking for a no-frills option that can accomplish basic email functions without much fuss. Here are the features that make iCloud stand out:<ul><li>Automatic Out of Office replies</li><li>5 GB of storage (additional space can be purchased in monthly or yearly installments)</li><li>Junk mail filter provides security against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-phishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phishing</a> and bugs</li><li>Filters can be easily set up using Rules, which can be found on the sidebar</li><li>Access to Apple apps like iCloud drive, Notes, Reminders, Photos, Calendar, Contacts</li><li>Can be synced with any iOS device</li><li>Minimalist design is easy to use </li><li>Allows users to designate "VIP" senders</li></ul>The biggest downside of iCloud's email service is that you must have an Apple device to get full access to all its features. An iCloud email account also doesn't have the ability to schedule send emails, snooze emails for later, or access email offline. However, if you have an Apple ID, signing up for iCloud is the easiest, quickest way to get an email address. <h3>ProtonMail</h3>Users who are looking for the epitome of email security should look no further than <a href="https://protonmail.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ProtonMail</a>. ProtonMail's mission is to provide users with the privacy and security, which has made it a favorite among journalists and government figures.All emails are automatically encrypted unless otherwise selected, making it the best choice for anyone looking to ensure the security of their correspondence, but who can also overlook the service's lack of extra features. Here are the features that make ProtonMail stand out: <ul><li>End-to-end encryption on every email, even with those who don't have ProtonMail</li></ul><div type="image" title="proton1" height="1409" width="2872" msid="82848478" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Encrypted email data </li><li>Email expiration dates (automatically deletes an email after a certain amount of time, ranging from one hour to 28 days)</li></ul><div type="image" title="ProtonMail expiration date window" height="1032" width="1218" msid="82848479" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Recipients will receive a one-time password to access an encrypted email</li><li>Anonymous sign-up </li></ul>There are a few downsides to using ProtonMail, like only being able to send up to 150 messages per day. And at just 500MB, it's free email storage is abysmal compared to other services. There's also no way to filter messages into more than three folders.<h3><keyword id="288014" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yahoo-Mail">Yahoo Mail</keyword></h3>Don't cast <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-create-yahoo-account" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yahoo Mail</a> aside just yet. Yahoo has been around longer than many of the other email providers, but doesn't get enough credit for its features and hefty storage options. In recent years, Yahoo has scrapped the flashy, page-length advertisements for a more robust, polished email interface that resembles its competitors. Here are the features that make Yahoo stand out: <ul><li>Schedule send (where users can schedule when an email is sent out)</li><li>Automatic Out of Office replies</li><li>1 TB of free storage (significantly more than most providers)</li><li>Junk mail filter provides security against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-phishing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phishing</a> and bugs</li><li>Easy ability to connect external apps, like Google Drive and Dropbox</li><li>Disposable email address (users can create up to 500 disposable email addresses that can't be linked back to their primary account)</li><li>Customizable folders and layout </li><li>Ability to easily unsubscribe from unwanted emails without leaving your inbox</li><li>GIF keyboard</li></ul><div type="image" title="yahoo gif uploader window" height="1344" width="2214" msid="82848480" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Import contacts from sites like Facebook </li><li>SMS and text message capabilities </li><li>Track packages and mail within the Yahoo Mail app </li></ul>Yahoo's biggest downfall is it can, at times, be buggy and slow. Creating filters isn't as intuitive as other competitors, making organization time-consuming. However, if you want to add Yahoo Mail to the mix, the app makes it easy to integrate your other inboxes (Gmail, AOL, Outlook) all in one place. <a data-type="5f3d8b0e5af6cc30562c4c5b">43 essential Microsoft Outlook keyboard shortcuts that you can use to work more efficiently</a><a data-type="5f3eb8353f73700b1a06ec67">30 essential Gmail keyboard shortcuts for optimizing your inbox and email workflow</a><a data-type="5ee3eb24191824590b550b77">How to add Yahoo Mail to your iPhone in 2 ways and coordinate all of your email in one place</a><a data-type="5f691fd80afbe7546b0ccb28">How to create an iCloud email account linked to a registered Apple ID</a>

The 5 best free email account services you can use online

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword> services were hit by a global <keyword id="6455848" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="outage">outage</keyword> on Monday morning.</li><li>Per Downdetector, the service interruptions affected <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>, <keyword id="51500" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gmail">Gmail</keyword>, <keyword id="97416" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google-maps">Google Maps</keyword>, and more starting at roughly 6:30 a.m. ET.</li><li>Google's Workplace Status Dashboard confirmed that all of its products were affected.</li><li>Users started to report the services coming back online roughly an hour later. At 8:07 a.m., Google tweeted that the situation was "all clear" — but some users said they were still unable to reach Gmail.</li></ul>Google was hit by a major outage on Monday morning.Per <a href="https://downdetector.co.uk/">Downdetector</a>, a wide range of Google services including YouTube, Gmail, Google Suite, and Google Maps started experiencing problems at about 6:30 a.m. ET.Google's Workplace Status Dashboard later confirmed that all of its products were affected. Google's search engine, however, appeared to keep working throughout.Downdetector's data suggested the problem was worldwide, with reports coming in from Europe, the US, India, Japan, Australia and more.<div type="image" title="Google outage" height="524" width="1082" msid="79722793" hostid="261"></div>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55299779">BBC</a> reported that it contacted Google for comment but that a company representative described being unable to access Gmail.Roughly an hour after the problems started, some users started to <a href="https://twitter.com/wongmjane/status/1338462212332027906">report</a> Google services coming back online.At 8:07 a.m., roughly 97 minutes into the service interruptions, Google tweeted that its services were "all clear."Some Twitter users replied saying they were still unable to load their Gmail accounts, <a href="https://twitter.com/derrickwaddell/status/1338472298727297031">screenshotting</a> an error message that said their account was "temporarily unavailable." One Business Insider staff member received the same message when trying to access email at 8:18 a.m. - but was able to access their account starting about 8:25 a.m. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider the problems were caused by an "authentication system outage." "Today, at 3:47 a.m. PT Google experienced an authentication system outage for approximately 45 minutes due to an internal storage quota issue. Services requiring users to log in experienced high error rates during this period. The authentication system issue was resolved at 4:32 a.m. PT. All services are now restored. We apologise to everyone affected, and we will conduct a thorough follow up review to ensure this problem cannot recur in the future," the spokesperson said. Do you work at Google? Got a tip? Contact this reporter at ihamilton@businessinsider.com or iahamilton@protonmail.com. Always use a non-work email.

Google services are back online after a major hour-long outage that hit YouTube, Gmail, and Google Maps

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Some Google employees in Canada found out on Monday they were laid off, per reports.</li><li>A laid-off employee said it felt "as harsh as being fired." Another called it a "sad reality."</li></ul>Google on Monday informed some employees in Canada they were laid off as part of the company's plan to cut around 12,000 jobs, per <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9465052/google-canada-layoffs/">multiple</a> <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/google-notifying-canadian-employees-impacted-190800136.html">reports</a>.A Google spokesperson told The Canadian Press that the company was sending employment notices to affected workers. They couldn't confirm how many Canadian employees were laid off or which departments were impacted the most, per the report.The layoffs in Canada come two and a half weeks after CEO Sundar Pichai <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-jobs-alphabet-work-employees-staff-sundar-pichai-2023-1">announced</a> Google was cutting around 12,000 positions from its global workforce. Laid-off employees in the US found out their fate soon after the announcement.Pichai told staff <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/january-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">in a memo</a> he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here."Some people posted on LinkedIn about losing their job at Google in Canada.Michael Landry, a software engineer, said in a LinkedIn <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63e234b316ce4f5ee5404a23&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fposts%2Fm2landry_after-an-extended-period-of-limbo-i-woke-activity-7028393999593865217-aiBW%3Futm_source%3Dshare%26utm_medium%3Dmember_desktop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> he "woke up to the sad reality" that his time at Google was over after more than 10 years. He said after nine years of working on the Gmail team, he went to work on the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-stream-plan-partnerships-peloton-bungie-gaming-service-2022-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stadia team</a>. He had "no regrets" about doing so although it was a "short-lived adventure."Timothy Cruickshank, a designer who was laid off from Google, said in a LinkedIn <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63e234b316ce4f5ee5404a23&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fposts%2Ftimcruicky_because-there-is-no-other-good-way-to-let-activity-7028424223412928512-Y2xj%3Futm_source%3Dshare%26utm_medium%3Dmember_desktop" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">post</a> on Monday it felt "as harsh as being fired."Another laid-off worker, Sara Gholami, posted on LinkedIn and shared a picture of her Google badge. "Today I am among the 12K employees impacted by layoffs at Google Canada. This change marks a difficult moment in my career journey."Google, Cruickshank, and Gholami didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Some <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineer-laid-off-spidey-senses-severance-email-cold-isolated-2023-1">employees</a> who were laid off in the US previously told Insider were notified through an employment notice email — some of them found out as early as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-engineer-laid-off-mental-health-leave-mourned-email-2023-1">2 a.m.</a> in the morning. They <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-employee-layoffs-engineer-locked-out-emails-termination-pichai-2023-1">said</a> they were locked out of their work laptops and emails, meaning they were unable to discuss why they were laid off.The wave of Google layoffs follows similar job cuts by Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and other global tech firms.Were you laid off from Google? What are your next steps? Get in touch with this reporter by email kduffy@insider.com, kate.duffy01@protonmail.com or Twitter DM. She also has Signal.

Google emails some Canadian employees to tell them they're being laid off as part of its plan to cut 12,000 jobs globally: 'Feels as harsh as being fired'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Facebook claims a series of reports by an Indian news site, The Wire, were based on faked documents. </li><li>The reports claimed that a member of the country's ruling party had the ability to takedown posts on Instagram. </li></ul>For more than a week, Facebook has pushed back against a series of investigations from The Wire, a nonprofit newsroom in India, saying they're based entirely on faked documents and incorrect claims.It didn't stop the stories from coming.On Oct. 10, the publication, which is known in the country for its adversarial coverage of the ruling right-wing, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed a member of the party, Amit Malviya, could effectively remove posts he didn't approve of from Meta's Instagram.The Wire showed screenshots in the story of what it said were moderation actions taken within Facebook, which last year changed its corporate name to Meta.Part of the story was about Malviya being included in Facebook's "cross check" program, revealed last year as part of disclosures made by whistleblower Frances Haugen. After The Wire story was published, Facebook took a stance it has never taken before about a negative news story: that the underlying documentation was faked. It then floated that The Wire was the victim of "a hoax."Since then, The Wire has followed up its reporting with two additional stories, one based on what it said was an email from Facebook's top press representative Andy Stone, in which Stone appears to admit the authenticity of The Wire's first story. The other was an attempt by The Wire to back up its sourcing that included a recording of what it said was its source accessing Facebook's internal Workplace forum. Facebook decried both follow up stories as<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2022/10/what-the-wire-reports-got-wrong/"> based on false information</a> and even said a fake account of its Workplace product "was deliberately set up with Instagram's name and brand insignia in order to deceive people."On Monday, the publication called Facebook's allegations "ludicrous" in a<a href="https://thewire.in/media/statement-by-the-wire-on-metas-responses-so-far"> statement</a>. On Tuesday, an expert The Wire used in a story denied publicly that he commented in any way to the publication. A representative of Facebook did not respond to a request for comment and an inquiry into whether it was considering legal action. The Wire also did not respond to a request for comment.By Tuesday, The Wire announced that it had taken down the series of stories pending an internal review of the reporting.For a complete timeline of what has transpired between The Wire and Facebook so far, read on:<h2>Thursday, Oct. 6, The Wire published its first story about moderation actions at Instagram</h2>The Wire's first story in this saga is relatively straightforward. It wrote about seemingly improper content moderation actions against a "satirical" Instagram account that frequently takes aim at the political right in India.People behind the account, @cringearchivist, said several of its posts had been quickly removed after being flagged as containing nudity, which the posts did not show. They questioned the moderation actions, wondering "whether there was any actual oversight involved, or if an algorithm was taking spot decisions based on criteria that may not always be valid," The Wire wrote.It said Facebook did not offer a comment on the story, only that an outside PR firm emailed to ask for a link to the specific posts the publication was asking about.<h2>Monday, Oct. 10, The Wire publishes a follow up</h2>In a<a href="https://thewire.in/tech/amit-malviya-instagram-meta-xcheck"> follow up story</a>, titled "If BJP's Amit Malviya Reports Your Post, Instagram Will Take it Down – No Questions Asked" The Wire cites "a well-placed source at Meta" in saying the posts of the satirical account was the target of Malviya, a politician leading an "infamous" part of India's government.According to the reporting, he was afforded special privileges under Facebook's "Cross Check" program. While the existence of the program was previously made public by reporting in The Wall Street Journal and Haugen, the basis of The Wire's story, if true, meant new and far-reaching privileges were afforded to its members.After the story came out and began to gain traction on Twitter in the U.K. and U.S., Facebook began to push back.Stone<a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1579644792077946882"> tweeted in a reply</a> to WSJ reporter Jeff Horowitz, who retweeted The Wire report, "X-check has nothing to do with the ability to report posts," Stone said. "The posts in question were surfaced for review by automated systems, not humans," he continued.Stone also alleged that the underlying documentation appeared to be fabricated.<h2>Tuesday, Oct. 11, The Wire responds to Facebook's pushback with a new story</h2>It didn't take long for The Wire to double down. The day after its initial story, it said it had received an internal email written by Stone to some Meta staffers, in which he<a href="https://thewire.in/tech/meta-xcheck-internal-email-watchlist"> appeared to admit</a> the story was real.The Wire published a closeup screenshot it said it had received of the email, in which Stone, referencing a Scribd link, asked "how the hell" it "got leaked." The email further asked "Who is the reporter, not on our watchlist, and why didn't anyone of you bother to link me up?" adding the reporter of the story needed to be placed "on watchlist." It added a demand for an activity record of the document The Wire reported on "for the last one month" and other information related to the story.Again, Stone and Facebook responded publicly saying the email was a fake and the story based on it, as well as the previous story were, too.<a href="https://twitter.com/swodinsky/status/1579847763499847681?s=20&amp;t=7bj1ayNZ_4TGkkHqRL6dqQ"> Reporters</a><a href="https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/1579877662428102656"> covering</a> Facebook, current and<a href="https://twitter.com/brianfishman/status/1579838307709906949"> former employees</a>, executives of<a href="https://twitter.com/danielnazer/status/1579976879096090629?s=20&amp;t=7bj1ayNZ_4TGkkHqRL6dqQ"> other companies</a> and various<a href="https://twitter.com/AlecMuffett/status/1579864013533753344?s=20&amp;t=7bj1ayNZ_4TGkkHqRL6dqQ"> tech experts</a> began to publicly question the legitimacy of The Wire's reports.Guy Rosen, Facebook's chief information security officer,<a href="https://twitter.com/guyro/status/1579835592355237889"> took to Twitter</a> to explain the falsity of both reports, saying "these stories are fabrications." He pointed to the purpose of Cross Check as being to "prevent over-enforcement mistakes," not a tool offered to certain users in order for them to more effectively report posts they dislike. He said the URL shown in the initial report was "not in use" at Facebook, nor was Stone's email address shown in the follow up story. "These accusations are outlandish and riddled with falsities," Rosen added. "Let's hope @thewire_in is the victim not the perpetrator of this hoax."The Wire focused on the claim that Stone's @fb.com email was not in use. Founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan<a href="https://twitter.com/svaradarajan/status/1580171942052577280?s=20&amp;t=wkbiHTmGVIkpiSfyW2BcgQ"> retweeted claims</a> by two people that the email address had indeed recently been used by Stone. <h2>Wednesday, Oct. 12, Facebook writes its own post denouncing the stories</h2>The following day, Facebook published<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2022/10/what-the-wire-reports-got-wrong/"> a post</a> on its corporate Newsroom page, reiterating earlier arguments from Stone and Rosen. It added that, "Our cross-check program does not grant enrolled accounts the power to automatically have content removed from our platform." The company also said it never identified any user report about the @cringearchivist account, that there is no existence of a reporter "watchlist" at the company, and that the emails shown in The Wire's second story "are fake." "There are no such emails," the company said."We accept scrutiny of our content decisions, but we fundamentally reject these false allegations based on what we believe to be fabricated evidence," the company added. Varadarajan responded by saying his publication now had "additional corroborative material" and was preparing another story about Facebook for the following day "answering and debunking all of their obfuscation."<h2>Friday, Oct. 14, Facebook asks where the new story is</h2>After more than two days, The Wire's follow up story had failed to appear. Facebook's Stone again took to Twitter, saying "days ago" the story was expected and in the meantime, "The Wire still has not corrected its reporting" despite the company's repeated denials.<h2>Saturday, Oct. 15, The Wire publishes the fourth story, saying it disproves all Facebook's arguments</h2>In another follow-up, which The Wire described as a<a href="https://thewire.in/tech/meta-andy-stone-email-xcheck"> "point by point response"</a> to everything Facebook had used to refute the earlier stories.The Wire said the Workplace URL shown by its source documents is only accessible to "a limited set of people," including its source. It said it sent a "test email" to Stone's @fb.com address that did not bounce back and that a service offering read receipts of sent emails showed that it was active and in use.The Wire also claimed to show the Stone emails it showed had "been technically verified" as real. The Wire included a video showing the process of verification it used. It showed emails from two "independent domain experts" backing up the claims. As for the claim that the URL shown in the original story did not exist, The Wire published another video. It said the video showed its source inside the company navigating Facebook's internal Workplace forum, where nearly all company communications and activity takes place. The story does not appear to do what The Wire intended. Stone responded on Twitter saying, "as it's been clear from the outset @thewire_in's stories are based on fabrications." He added, "I never sent, wrote, or even thought what's expressed in that supposed email."Many tech experts and current and former Facebook employees and experts pointed out inconsistencies in what The Wire showed. Its former head of business integrity, Rob Leathern,<a href="https://twitter.com/robleathern/status/1581328736917499904?s=20&amp;t=7bj1ayNZ_4TGkkHqRL6dqQ"> wrote on Twitter</a> "It seems ridiculously and obviously fake; crazy." David Thiel, part of Stanford's Internet Observatory and a former Facebook security engineer, called out<a href="https://twitter.com/elegant_wallaby/status/1581377523337728001?s=20&amp;t=c2gP1YE_t2Ft6qCtwFq5pw"> discrepancies</a> in the header information The Wire said it used to verify the Stone email. Others, including Sophie Zhang, another Facebook whistleblower, noted<a href="https://twitter.com/szhang_ds/status/1581478524614955008?s=20&amp;t=QBv80f54eIyb3QnKAFetVA"> more discrepancies</a>, like a lack of two-factor authentication when The Wire's source was recorded entering Workplace and how the platform was organized once there. Alex Stamos, also of Stanford,<a href="https://twitter.com/alexstamos/status/1581357047924158466?s=20&amp;t=747ixRW-wzofN7X_qPmhiQ"> noted</a> all of the purported tickets in the source's Workplace were created by that user in the previous few hours. Elsewhere it was found that the dates in the emails from experts The Wire published had the incorrect year and that they<a href="https://twitter.com/pranesh/status/1581785403602145280?s=20&amp;t=vSuZUaKTSaEt1jkq3H6yhA"> were manually changed</a>. An employee of The Wire said<a href="https://twitter.com/onosmosis/status/1581403157871046656?s=20&amp;t=vSuZUaKTSaEt1jkq3H6yhA"> the discrepancy</a> was due to a technical issue he failed to catch before publication. The publication later added a "note" to the bottom of the story explaining the change.<h2>Sunday, Oct. 16, Facebook again responds, saying website shown is "a spoof" </h2>Facebook's Rosen took to Twitter the following day to say The Wire's latest reporting didn't actually show Facebook's internal system like it claimed. "Our investigation has identified a spoof created on October 13 using our enterprise Meta Workplace product," Rosen added. Spoofing in tech or cybersecurity is when a source of information is fake but appears real through access to publicly accessible information and imagery. Any person can set up a Workplace account through a free trial. Rosen said that's part of what happened with The Wire's source."The spoof was set up as a free trial Workplace account under the name 'Instagram' and using the IG brand as its profile pic," Rosen said. "We've locked the account for violating policies and are continuing to investigate."Facebook also added to its own newsroom post, saying simply the Workplace account purportedly shown by The Wire "is not an internal account.""Based on the timing of this account's creation on October 13, it appears to have been set up specifically in order to manufacture evidence to support the Wire's inaccurate reporting," Facebook said. "We have locked the account because it's in violation of our policies and is being used to perpetuate fraud and mislead journalists."Varadarajan<a href="https://twitter.com/svaradarajan/status/1581575931004846081?s=20&amp;t=wkbiHTmGVIkpiSfyW2BcgQ"> wrote on Twitter</a> that the email account The Wire uses, a protonmail.com address, had been "hacked via the hacking of a MacBook." The Gmail and Twitter accounts of an employee, Devesh Kumar, the same employee who said he was to blame for the earlier date discrepancy on the expert emails, had<a href="https://twitter.com/svaradarajan/status/1581638634553630720?s=20&amp;t=wkbiHTmGVIkpiSfyW2BcgQ"> also been hacked</a>. Of the hacks, Varadarajan said they had been resolved and "the Andy Stone email is safe and sound and will not fall into the hands of those keen to identify The Wire's whistleblower in Meta in this manner."<h2>Monday, Oct. 17, The Wire triples down</h2>The Wire responded again, this time<a href="https://thewire.in/media/statement-by-the-wire-on-metas-responses-so-far"> with a statement</a> not attributed to any one person "on Meta's responses so far." The publication said Facebook was merely attempting to "goad us into releasing more and more corroborative information in the hope that this would somehow help them glean the identity of our sources." The publication reiterated "the faith we have in our sources, whose identities and positions in Meta are known to us." It added that it was "still trying to develop, with recognized experts, a transparent method for the independent verification of Andy Stone's email."The Wire separately updated its rebuttal story from Saturday, removing all mention of one of the two experts, saying the expert had asked to be expunged from it. A story came out from the tech newsletter Platformer, with The Wire reporters<a href="https://www.platformer.news/p/inside-the-messy-fight-between-meta"> insisting its key source was real</a>, had been met in person and had provided real documents.Later, Pranesh Parkash, a fellow at Yale Law School's Information Society Project who had previously detailed technical discrepancies in The Wire's reporting,<a href="https://twitter.com/pranesh/status/1582197482615758851?s=20&amp;t=QBv80f54eIyb3QnKAFetVA"> said on Twitter</a> that he'd been in touch with one of the experts the publication used to back up its claims that the Stone email was legitimate. He claimed the expert told him "he never sent the mail he's purported to have sent and that he never undertook any DKIM verification for them."<h2>Tuesday, Oct. 18, an expert used by The Wire to verify the Stone email denies any involvement</h2>One of the security experts The Wire cited, Kanishk Karan, as having independently verified the authenticity of the Stone email it published said he had<a href="https://twitter.com/Kani5hk/status/1582380474198261761?s=20&amp;t=g-vgDpYSZNMERwe3x9W9zg"> nothing to do</a> with the publication's reporting and never participated in any verification effort."A fake email and my persona were used to suggest that I am the person who did it," Karan said. He noted that while he had "considered" trying to verify the email, after Kumar had contacted him for the story, he ultimately did not participate and recommended two other people who may be able to do it. When he learned he was cited as an expert, Karan said it was a "surprise."Kumar of The Wire deactivated his Twitter account. He had spent several days responding to critics and defending The Wire's stories. Varadarajan appears to have gone quiet on Twitter as well. Facebook has yet to formally respond, but Stone retweeted Karan's denial.

Facebook said an Indian publication, The Wire, used faked documents in an investigation. Now the publication is taking the stories down. Here's a timeline of the escalating conflict.

REUTERS/Yves HermanSundar Pichai, CEO of Google<ul class="summary-list"><li>Google is cancelling its legendary April Fool's Day jokes this year.</li><li>The company is worried about seeming in bad taste if it went ahead with them due to the pandemic.</li><li>In an email obtained by Business Insider, it asked managers to make sure no teams were still planning pranks.</li><li>"Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned," the email by Google's marketing boss Lorraine Twohill said.</li><li>In previous years, Google has added treasure hunts to Google Maps and announced plans for a human settlement on Mars.</li><li>But society is now in the grips of a pandemic that has sickened more than half a million people and killed more than 23,000.</li></ul>Google is rushing to cancel its plans for April Fool's Day this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.In an email obtained by Business Insider, the company asked workers to ensure that any plans they have for the traditionally prank-filled holiday are put on hold lest they be considered in poor taste.Google's April Fool's Day pranks have historically been extremely elaborate affairs that have become the stuff of tech legends - from announcing a spurious plan for a human settlement on Mars to adding a mic drop button to Gmail, adding a "treasure hunt" option to Google Maps, and adding "Google Translate for Animals."But over the last few months COVID-19 has sickened more than half a million people around the globe and killed more than 23,000, bringing economies to a screeching halt and sparking unprecedented numbers of layoffs. As such, Google has now taken the decision not to run any centralized April Fool's day jokes - and is urging managers to make sure no smaller gags slip through the net."Under normal circumstances April Fool's is a Google tradition and a time to celebrate what makes us an unconventional company," Google marketing boss Lorraine Twohill wrote in an email to the company's managers."This year, we're going to take the year off from that tradition out of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so let's save the jokes for next April, which will undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one."We've already stopped any centralized April Fool's efforts but realize there may be smaller projects within teams that we don't know about. Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned - internally or externally."In part guided by Google's lead, ambitious April Fool's Day pranks have become widespread across the tech industry over the last decade. It's not yet clear if other companies still plan to go ahead with theirs, or if they will follow Google's lead and put the traidition on ice for a year.Like almost every other business, Google is feeling the effects of the coronavirus. Its workforce is largely working remotely, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-delays-employee-performance-reviews-promotions-covid-19-2020-3">and it recently opted to delay performance reviews to focus on "mission-critical activities."</a> Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-extends-contracts-of-temporary-workers-due-to-coronavirus-2020-3">it extended the contracts of temporary workers who were due to leave amid the pandemic</a>, and it has faced criticism internally <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-workers-raise-internal-concerns-tvc-policies-for-covid-19-2020-3">for allegedly not doing enough to protect some contract workers</a>.Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also encouraged employees to volunteer in their local communities during the pandemic, and is boosting the company's employee donation matching to $10,000 per employee per year.Do you work at Google or another Silicon Valley tech company? How is COVID-19 impacting your workplace? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 650-636-6268), encrypted email (robaeprice@protonmail.com), standard email (rprice@businessinsider.com), Telegram/Wickr/WeChat (robaeprice), or Twitter DM (<a href="https://twitter.com/robaeprice">@robaeprice</a>). Use a non-work device to reach out. We can keep you anonymous. PR pitches via standard email only, please.Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bidets-better-than-using-just-toilet-paper-2019-9">Why bidets are better than buying countless rolls of toilet paper</a></h3>

Google is cancelling its legendary April Fool's Day jokes this year because of the pandemic

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Samantha Lee/Business InsiderReddit users are taking the hammer to Google.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Thousands of Reddit users have joined r/deGoogle, a community dedicated to surviving on the internet without Google.</li><li>The goal is to try and avoid handing any personal information over to Google, and involves avoiding services like Google search, YouTube, Gmail, and Google Docs.</li><li>The exercise shows how Google has come to dominate almost every aspect of how we use the internet.</li><li>A privacy expert warned that the more people rely on Google, the more it can lock people into an ecosystem that sucks up data.</li></ul>It's 7.30 a.m., and you've just woken up.How many seconds into your day can you last without using Google?If you used the alarm clock on your phone that runs Google-owned Android, you've failed.If you're an information junkie who checks the news first thing, you've also probably failed. Most news sites - including this one - run Google-owned analytics or ad tools.Don't feel too smug if you're an iPhone owner either. Perhaps you checked your route to work on Google Maps, because it's so much better than Apple Maps.Or you opened up the Safari browser, which uses Google as its default search engine (Google pays Apple $3 billion a year for that privilege.)Maybe you hopped into an Uber to get somewhere - I'm afraid to say, your Uber app relies on Google Maps data.In other words, it's really tough to avoid Google from the moment you pick up your phone from to the moment you put it down and go to sleep. Chances are, you're using Google even if you don't consciously know you're using Google. It is omnipresent.For a dedicated community of Reddit users, Google's all-consuming power has become too terrifying to contemplate. Called <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/">r/deGoogle</a>, the community began in 2018 and has grown to more than 6,000 users.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Shona Ghosh/Business Insider</div></div></div>"Google extracts data from us in so many ways which don't involve ads directly," one r/deGoogle moderator, who goes by the username Firemex, told Business Insider."We think Google's effect on society is dangerous as it is unaccountable. Spying on people to this extent isn't normal and shouldn't be. We should each control the technology we interact with, not the other way around."The deGooglers, as they call themselves, have vowed to avoid using any and all Google services in their day-to-day lives. The trouble is that it's almost impossible.<h2>Trying to avoid using Google requires constant vigilance</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://twitter.com/angeljimenez/status/217723210052009985/photo/1">Angel Jimenez, via Twitter</a>Android is the most popular mobile operating system in the world.</div></div></div>Google, or its parent Alphabet, now owns the most popular online video service with YouTube, the most popular email service with Gmail, the most popular mobile operating system with Android, and a number of popular cloud services with its G Suite apps. At least <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/25/17613442/google-drive-one-billion-users">eight of its products have a billion users</a>.It has tentacles in artificial intelligence, fibre internet, and healthcare. Along with Facebook, Google commands<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/may/02/google-and-facebook-bring-in-one-fifth-of-global-ad-revenue"> a fifth of all advertising spend</a>. Now it's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-console-stadia-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">just entered another hugely popular sector: gaming</a>.While its consumer services may be avoidable, Google is also increasingly tied up with the internet's core infrastructure. Like Amazon, Google runs a cloud service which powers some of the world's most popular apps and sites. <a href="https://mashable.com/article/google-cloud-outage-brings-down-snapchat-discord-spotify/?europe=true#DBbNgxGF4OqJ">When Google Cloud fell over in 2018</a>, it took out Snapchat, Discord, Spotify, and "Pokémon Go."In essence, you can't really function on the modern internet without running into Google in some way, which makes the de-Googlers' mission all the more difficult."[There are] lots of sacrifices," Firemex told Business Insider. "It's not always practical, but it's worth it in the long run. There's a perpetual renewed vindication each time there's a new story about a huge hack, a huge accidental leak of data or some new assault on privacy by Google and others."<h2>r/deGoogle is like a TV thriller where people hide from an all-powerful authority</h2>The r/deGoogle Reddit thread is a little like a virtual version of reality TV shows <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunted_(2015_TV_series)">where "fugitives" try and avoid being caught</a> by all-powerful authorities. Download the wrong app, or visit a website without an ad blocker on, and you've fallen into Google's net.The de-Googlers' reasons for quitting Google are varied - some have bought into the idea that Google suppresses free speech by prioritising certain search results, while others are freaked out by stories of the company <a href="https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-location-services-are-disabled/">hoovering up location data without permission</a>. Either way, the goal is to untangle themselves from the search giant.<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/8tt5uo/woohoo_mostly_degoogled/?st=jtebb246&amp;sh=bc29a762">One cheery post</a> is titled "Woohoo! Mostly de-Googled!"The person, apparently a college student, writes that they have replaced Gmail with Yahoo Mail ("not impressive, but at least it's not full Google"); Chrome with the open source web browser Pale Moon; and Google search with privacy-focused DuckDuckGo.Even this de-Googler couldn't fully escape. "Youtube is the one area I really couldn't leave, so I still use Youtube (and hence, unfortunately, have a Google account as a result of that) but I've had a look at [alternative] Vidlii and I hope that'll grow, and will post my next video on both Youtube and Vidlii," the person wrote.<a href="https://www.vidlii.com/about">VidLii was founded in 2015</a> as an alternative to YouTube, but it doesn't seem to have gained much traction. Its Twitter account has just 836 followers.For others, the workarounds quickly become too annoying.One despairing user explained that his company runs on Google's business services. While he opts out where possible, Google Calendar doesn't play all that well with non-Google calendars and that creates problems.In a post titled "<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/8tpouv/degooglers_im_at_a_moment_of_weakness_help/?st=jtebif8w&amp;sh=bede8d67">DeGooglers - i'm at a moment of weakness. Help!</a>" the user wrote that they kept missing and being late to meetings because they can't sync with Google Calendar."Google have designed a system that f**ks over anyone not COMPLETELY operating within it. And that's just bullshit," the person fumed. "I'm feeling on the brink of just sucking it up and using Google services. I desperately don't want to, but I also don't want for my life to just be ridiculously hard - or harder than it should be - just as a matter of principle."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reddit</div></div></div>Firemex is adamant it's possible to survive totally without Google."My work doesn't require Google use... I think [I'd] be prepared to find a different job if it was," he told Business Insider. "Because this is a serious issue, which isn't made any better by short-term acquiescence to being exposed."For the less hardcore deGooglers it's just easier to admit defeat. "Sometimes we just have to do our best," one commenter replied. "Remember that any steps we do take help. It doesn't have to be all or nothing."<h2>Google has accumulated too much power, and that is ultimately bad for consumers</h2>Given billions of users touch Google's services every day and find their lives are made easier for it, why is it problematic that Google is so big and wide-reaching? It's essentially about the accumulation of power, according to privacy experts.None of Google's services are free, although they look like it. Google scans the free version of Gmail for keywords which are then used for targeted ads. Google tracks what you watch on YouTube, then shows you pre-roll ads that might be relevant. So it goes for all of Google's "free" services - you pay with your attention to ads.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-chrome-drive-youtube-gmail-out-of-life-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I cut Google out of my life for 2 weeks, but the alternatives prove why Google is so much better</a>Being able to find alternatives to Google's ad-funded services gives consumers power. If they don't like the ads or any other feature on YouTube, they could switch to an alternative and take their precious attention and data with them. But if there is no viable alternative to YouTube, consumers are locked into Google's ecosystem, and Google's terms.And Google has shown it is ready to abuse its dominance. Just this week, it was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-fined-17-billion-for-breaking-eu-antitrust-rules-over-adsense-2019-3?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fined for a third time in as many years by the European Union</a> for strong-arming third-party websites into featuring its adverts in search results. As a result, Google has racked up EU penalties worth $9.4 billion since 2017.Tomaso Falchetta, Privacy International's head of policy, told Business Insider via email: "Big companies such as Google, Facebook and others continue to impose terms and conditions on users which allow them to collect, analyse and share more and more personal data in ways that people do not understand given the lack of transparency or cannot genuinely consent to."These privacy harms are directly caused by their business models, which increasingly rely on the availability of users' data, and can impose excessive collection of data on people who have become 'captive users' to their providers, given their lack of genuine choice."There is also a sense of anger among deGooglers that Google is intrusive in non-transparent ways and for inexplicable reasons.One user complained that the Google Translate app on Android <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/9uxpnp/so_now_i_cant_even_use_google_translate_without/?st=jtehjwto&amp;sh=f9449ff0">won't work properly if you don't allow it to access your contact book</a>. It isn't clear why a translate app needs to know who your friends are. "So now I can't even use Google translate without allowing "Contacts" permissions," they wrote.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Reddit</div></div></div>According to its Google Play store listing, Google's Translate app <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&amp;hl=en_GB">has 20 different permission requests for Android</a>, asking for access to the microphone, camera, SMS messages, and even Bluetooth devices. There is no explanation as to why the Android app needs access to all these different functions.By contrast, Apple's mobile software iOS gives users considerably more control over what data apps can access. Google Translate for iOS only requests access to voice assistant Siri, and that's about it.<h2>How to take the first steps and cut Google out of your life</h2>Gizmodo journalist Kashmir Hill <a href="https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-screwed-up-everything-1830565500">tried to cut Google out of her life in January</a>, building a custom VPN that would even block Google-powered apps and websites. This, she wrote, resulted in irritations like having to use worse alternatives and her computer running more slowly.According to the Reddit users who spoke to Business Insider, most people don't need to go as far as creating a custom VPN. According to those we spoke to, these are the first steps they recommended taking if you're thinking about cutting Google out of your life:<ul><li>Switch to an iPhone, because Apple doesn't monetise people's data and allows granular privacy controls.</li><li>If you're on an Android phone, and feel technically up to it, <a href="https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/ultimate-guide-using-android-without-google-0193735/">install a custom ROM like LineageOS</a>. A custom Android ROM is an operating system that can replace the pre-installed version of Android on your phone, and can give you the Android experience without the privacy-invading Google elements tacked on. Be aware that it can void the warranty for your phone too.</li><li>Use privacy-focused DuckDuckGo or Startpage.com as your default search engine.</li><li>Swap Gmail for ProtonMail, an encrypted, paid email service.</li><li>Use Apple Maps.</li><li>BUT... there are no competitive alternatives to YouTube. As one user told Business Insider: "Resign yourself to Alphabet knowing, via YouTube, you know cats are superior to dogs (always) and that, via Google Translate, you're trying (badly) to learn French."</li></ul>Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-stadia-video-game-streaming-platform-console-event-watch-2019-3">Watch Google's Stadia video-game-platform event in 5 minutes</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

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