Why can’t we win the AI race and still not have a surveillance state? Those don’t seem like they have to be linked…

Yeah, journalistic integrity is important, and they shouldn’t slander Google, due diligence and what not.

But there wouldn’t even be a need for an article or any investigation if Google and other tech companies weren’t treating user data as something they have a god given right to.

That’s my point. It doesn’t matter what Google does or doesn’t do with the data. They shouldn’t collect it unless I tell them they can. It’s MY data. It’s MY right to keep it private or destroy it as I please. That’s the baseline all tech companies should adhere to.

Play Services does collect data it shouldn’t collect, by sending it back to Google.

Right. And my argument is that this shouldn’t happen without users opting in.

But the difference between “I am collecting your data” and “I wrote software you are running” is important and needs defending,

I don’t disagree. Not am I arguing the content of the article. I just disagree with your notion that we have to prove negligence or malfeasance to deserve privacy.

Your original post placed the burden on users to prove that Google mismanages the data they collect. That’s not how this should work. I should own that data, just as I own the text I write with a text editor. I shouldn’t have to prove that Google is mismanaging it in order to keep that data private. I shouldn’t need any other reason than “it’s my data and I don’t want to share it beyond what is necessary for this technology to operate.”

If you don’t collect the data in the first place, there’s nothing to mismanage.

Rather than users having to prove that Google is mismanaging OUR data, Google should prove it has a need to collect, aggregate, and sell access to that data beyond surveillance capitalism.

The default option should be that only fully anonymized data that is essential to device functions should be collected, and this should be validated through an independent audit. Everything else should be opt-in.

Imagine if angels performed a miracle that allowed a tater tot and a McDonald’s hashbrown to produce a child, after which someone found the least expensive way to replicate that product by mundane and industrial means.

Hearty, weighty, and substantial, yet still crispy on the outside while soft on the inside.

I like to use the sauce packets to draw little designs on them, elevating an already divine side dish into the perfect amuse-bouche.

Re: Regular vs. Curly fries.

Clearly, this debate sparks from a deep cultural ignorance of what it truly means to eat at an Arby’s.

Although this practice was interrupted for a while by an episode of sheer corporate madness, the only proper potato-based side dish are potato cakes that have been set upon the wrapper of a large beef and cheddar to catch the excess cheese and sauce that falls from the sandwich.

Only once they have been drizzled in a combo of surplus liquid cheddar, horsey, and Arby’s sauce can you truly appreciate what potatoes were meant to be.

Much like eating an Ortolan, it’s best to cover your head with a handkerchief while indulging, so as to hide the shame of such a decadent meal from God.