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Google’s ‘Secret’ Update Scans All Your Photos (www.forbes.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”

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[–] 6 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

Its a classic example of using "BUT THE CHILDREN" to be invasive dickheads.

And it immediately reminds me of the story of the guy whose kid had a rash in the diaper area during covid, and the pediatrician requested pictures to remotely diagnose and treat, which google flagged as child pornography and called the cops on him, and banned/locked him out of everything (phone number, emails, pictures, etc etc) because he had everything on google.

and no amount of the police, or even doctor, insisting the pictures were medical necessity and not child pornography would convince google to restore his acount or even let him recover his number/email/pictures/etc.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The fact that Google refused to restore his account even after the police that they called said there was no child porn pisses me off to no end. They are officially allowed to close your account for no reason other than they don't like you.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago*

    not only refused to restore the account, but still insisted he was a pedophile producing child pornography despite the cops and doctors and every other authority involved insisting he wasnt, and that the images were medically necessary, and refuse to even give/let him get a backup of all his family pictures, emails, etc.

    and theres gonna be a lot more of it once this stupid invasive spyware rolls out and gets going.

    If our parents and grandparents photos were digitized, they'd all probably be labled child porn producers, because almost every parent/grandparent/etc has some picture of their newborn getting a sink bath or some other completely harmless, and otherwise normal photo.

    and I think its so they can artificially inflate their numbers. They arent doing shit to stop actual child exploitation, so they hammer hard on this shit so they can make a big show of "cracking down and stopping" it.

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