The Pixel 10 lineup is rumored to be unveiled on August 20. The Pixel 9 smartphones launched last year came with upgraded biometrics as Google switched...
Considering this is Google we’re talking about and they’re moving towards the “Let’s be evil for the heck of it” motto, is there a chance they’re uploading the scanned biometrics for keepsies?
Probably not. IIRC for security the fingerprint data is stored and processed entirely in the reader, and not accessible at all by the OS. Of course they could have some sort of backdoor that allows collecting that data, but that would be a huge scandal waiting to happen.
In theory the biometric data lives in a special part of the phone hardware that the software can’t (generally) access. It’s one of the big deals about phone biometrics - it should be really hard to leak.
AFAIU, the fingerprint stored on the phone is incredibly low quality, so I’m not sure how much value it would have.
Could they mess with that? Yes. Is there profit in getting a really low quality hash of every user’s fingerprint? Probably not worth the hassle.
I’m sorry, are you trying to suggest that Google is now going to store and track every Pixel user’s biometrics? Why would you think that? What’s changed now that suggests Google would even try that?
This site is almost worse than Reddit sometimes with the hyperbole and the nutty takes. No, Google isn’t about to abuse its position, squander decades of goodwill and open itself up to regulatory hell to sell biometric data to some mythical boogie man.
Why is it a nutty take to be concerned? It used to be a nutty take that the ability to be able to repair your own stuff was being taken away, then it was the ability for your cars to track you and to listen to you.
Why wouldn’t Google save biometric data to get a paycheck from the US NSA/CIA/FBI for “terrorism counterintelligence”? What ethics or moral code hold them back from this. There are no laws in place saying they can’t do this. All they have to do is specify some vague term in their privacy policy, and regulators would just have to be out-lobbied, which would be no problem for Google and their infinite amounts of money us in the bottom 99% will never see.
Corporations are not your friends. They do not care about you. They care about profit, and if they can make profit they will make profit. This is not an attempt to argue with you. You’re allowed to have your opinion, but being skeptical of changes that corporations are making isn’t a bad thing, especially if you end up being right so early that you can make a change.
Tl;Dr: write your legislator, tell them that you want better consumer protections, even if you think you already have them. It never hurts to make sure you dont get fucked over.
Thankfully I’m not American so have waaaay more protections from “evil corporations” than you. But you sound like you should start wearing tinfoil around your brain to stop them from reading your thoughts - I mean, why wouldn’t they if they could, right?
Google isn’t sharing your fingerprint to the government, mate. Let’s be serious.
You’re more privileged than you will ever realize being in a country that actually sees human life as something other than capital for profit. I hope you never have to understand what we go through and why these are even things we would have to consider in the first place.
Thanks for being a condescending dick about it ig.
Considering this is Google we’re talking about and they’re moving towards the “Let’s be evil for the heck of it” motto, is there a chance they’re uploading the scanned biometrics for keepsies?
Probably not. IIRC for security the fingerprint data is stored and processed entirely in the reader, and not accessible at all by the OS. Of course they could have some sort of backdoor that allows collecting that data, but that would be a huge scandal waiting to happen.
In theory the biometric data lives in a special part of the phone hardware that the software can’t (generally) access. It’s one of the big deals about phone biometrics - it should be really hard to leak.
AFAIU, the fingerprint stored on the phone is incredibly low quality, so I’m not sure how much value it would have.
Could they mess with that? Yes. Is there profit in getting a really low quality hash of every user’s fingerprint? Probably not worth the hassle.
I’m sorry, are you trying to suggest that Google is now going to store and track every Pixel user’s biometrics? Why would you think that? What’s changed now that suggests Google would even try that?
Why would you think they wouldn’t. Data is literally money.
This site is almost worse than Reddit sometimes with the hyperbole and the nutty takes. No, Google isn’t about to abuse its position, squander decades of goodwill and open itself up to regulatory hell to sell biometric data to some mythical boogie man.
Why is it a nutty take to be concerned? It used to be a nutty take that the ability to be able to repair your own stuff was being taken away, then it was the ability for your cars to track you and to listen to you.
Why wouldn’t Google save biometric data to get a paycheck from the US NSA/CIA/FBI for “terrorism counterintelligence”? What ethics or moral code hold them back from this. There are no laws in place saying they can’t do this. All they have to do is specify some vague term in their privacy policy, and regulators would just have to be out-lobbied, which would be no problem for Google and their infinite amounts of money us in the bottom 99% will never see.
Corporations are not your friends. They do not care about you. They care about profit, and if they can make profit they will make profit. This is not an attempt to argue with you. You’re allowed to have your opinion, but being skeptical of changes that corporations are making isn’t a bad thing, especially if you end up being right so early that you can make a change.
Tl;Dr: write your legislator, tell them that you want better consumer protections, even if you think you already have them. It never hurts to make sure you dont get fucked over.
Thankfully I’m not American so have waaaay more protections from “evil corporations” than you. But you sound like you should start wearing tinfoil around your brain to stop them from reading your thoughts - I mean, why wouldn’t they if they could, right?
Google isn’t sharing your fingerprint to the government, mate. Let’s be serious.
You’re more privileged than you will ever realize being in a country that actually sees human life as something other than capital for profit. I hope you never have to understand what we go through and why these are even things we would have to consider in the first place.
Thanks for being a condescending dick about it ig.