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It’s one thing when MALWARE hacks my Android; but what do you do when the hacker is GOOGLE itself?

Today, I received an email making suggestions for Google+ circles based upon:

"Suggestions from Gmail, Android, or other Google products you already use appear here. Add them to your circles to connect."

I was surprised by their suggestions, because I have no Google calendar, no contacts, and I never sent the “suggestions” any email using my Google account; which left only one source: My Android Phone Contact List--which I confirmed when I clicked “Suggest more” and they were all from my Android cellphone.

I WAS TOTALLY FREAKED OUT!

The idea that Google is spying on my android contact list is beyond creepy and totally unacceptable! I don't want that information anywhere near or on the internet. That's why my online calendar and contact list is EMPTY. I can just imagine a circle of a circle, six times removed from me crashing a plane into another skyscraper and off I go to Gitmo!

I searched for over an hour on their help/forum files looking for a setting I could turn off or on and could find none. Finally I sent them an email telling them to send me solution or I will be forced to delete my Google+ account entirely, and get a dumb phone.

I deleted my Google account!

Outrageous!!!!

RingoesMan, on 25 March 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

The only way to be sure is to line your hat with foil.

RingoesMan, on 25 March 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

While I agree with your concerns about privacy, you should read the fine print of the EULA's these days. Almost every SmartPhone app has some level of ad-driven revenue generation, meaning they send information to other servers about things you do, places you go, things you say (in e-mails and even text messages), people you call, etc. If what you read isn't what you want, don't install those apps.

As for Google, I installed a separate e-mail client and connect to it through IMAP, then logged out of Google completely, then set up one of their home pages that can't track ME by name. Your contact sharing can be turned off, provided you don't use other social media sites.

Keep in mind that social media isn't a FREE service. They trade in data - whatever you put out there or comes to you is fair game for them.

I don't (and never have) done Facebook with my real name. My real name is associated with my Gmail account, but I removed all other information from my profile.

As for the contact issue, you can log into Google, go to your name (usually at the upper right of the screen) go to Account Settings, click on "connecting your accounts" and near the bottom of that page is a check box that tells them to make suggestions based on your contacts. That is checked by default. Uncheck it and it will stop making suggestions based on your contacts.

It won't stop them from using your contacts.

Welcome to the wonderful world of social networking. I expect it will be the trend of the future for those who use it. My only suggestion: Don't use it. Keep your SmartPhone stupid, stick to texting and calling and don't put anything out on the Internet. You don't get to play with all the new toys of the future, but your privacy will stay less invaded than people usually are these days.

This article claiming Android has more malware because it's the largest mobile OS is actually wrong.

Android had more malware before it surpassed iOS in popularity. I should know I got my Android phone before Android become popular.

So these people blaming Android having more malware because it's the larger mobile OS, need to go back and do more research. Because Android had more malware at the end of 2009 than iOS did and in case you didn't know Droid which made Android a name wasn't even released until the end of 2009 and Android didn't surpass iOS in popularity until late 2010 I believe.

PS: I am very careful with apps and social media. I use multiple aliases to protect my privacy. I do not put accurate information anywhere online. On facebook, my birthday is false (Jan 1) so is my home town, and no dates for my college or HS graduations. I don't see how google+ gets to search my phone list. And as I said I searched for over an hour for a way to turn it off. Ditto not finding any mention in the EULA that would have warned me.

RingoesMan, on 25 March 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

Google synced and backed up your contacts to your Google account. Nothing really strange. NSA prolly already know who you have contact with and propably all major us telecom companies allow them to scan, record and save both voice and messages without court orders. There is a reason why they spent billions on a data center big enough to save a signficant part of all communications for indefinitive time

This post has been edited by JohnGustavsson: 26 March 2012 - 10:43 AM

"3. Always check app permissions. Whenever you download or update an app, you get a list of permissions for it. An alarm clock app, for instance, shouldn't need to look through your contacts."

But what about System Apps that are pre-installed and cannot be uninstalled without rooting the device? Check out these possible issues as I see it: http://blog.athigo.c...main-tenet.html