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Privacy United States Technology

Some Fitbit Users Say They're Getting Rid of the Devices Because They Don't Trust Google (cnbc.com) 64

Posted by msmash from the let-the-party-begin dept.
The trend of people throwing or threatening to throw out their Fitbit devices comes as Google faces a perception problem that has spanned everyday users and regulators alike. From a report: The company has paid data privacy fines in the EU and made recent strides into the stringently regulated healthcare industry, which has caused the public to re-think seemingly harmless tools. Privacy groups this week began pushing regulators to block the Fitbit acquisition, which the company originally hoped to close in early 2020. Google didn't respond to requests for comment. "I only recently got it and now I'm thinking I don't need Google watching literally my every step or my every heart beat," said Dan Kleinman, who said he is getting rid of his Fitbit Versa. Some people cited Google's 2014 acquisition of Nest Labs, which, at the time consisted of smart home thermostats. Since then, the company has tied Nest's technology, branding and device accounts to its digital assistant and smart speakers. Twitter users have been tweeting about their plans to get rid of their devices upon hearing of the acquisition.
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Some Fitbit Users Say They're Getting Rid of the Devices Because They Don't Trust Google More

Some Fitbit Users Say They're Getting Rid of the Devices Because They Don't Trust Google

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  • craigslist? (Score:3)

    by binarybum ( 468664 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @12:15PM (#59430604) Homepage

    Umm, seems wasteful. These have resale value still. not sure you should really just throw them out with the earth crumbling down around us.

    • What exactly does "get rid of" mean? Are they simply throwing them away, adding them to the junk drawer, getting the mob to put them in cement blocks and "sleep with the fishes" or selling them?

    • Crumbling (Score:4, Funny)

      by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @12:29PM (#59430654)

      with the earth crumbling down around us.

      The earth crumbles naturally as a part of the process of erosion, which sends valuable nutrients into waterways. Are you some kind of crazed Erosion Denier? Why are you seeking to stop or slow this?

    • Maybe, but there could be a few reasons why they don't do that. Maybe they feel so strongly about Google's privacy problems that they don't want to help inflict that on other people. Or maybe they're thinking with their right brain and not their left.
  • They should get an iWatch instead. Apple's not using the data for any other purposes. /s
    • They are? Such as? Post your info!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Z00L00K ( 682162 )

        Companies not to be trusted: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, Facebook, Twitter, Baidu, Yandex... The list is growing.

        Then you have the hidden companies that are worse than the above listed: doubleclick, polyfill, gamereactor, best-prizes-now, leadfeeder, clickmeter and a bunch of others that we usually don't see unless we analyze the traffic to and from out web browsers - where we are a product that we don't get anything in return for at all except possibly getting targeted ads thrown at us.

    • Of course you have to take the leap of faith to trust them, but as I understand it, Apple does say that they do NOT track and keep up with your health data, that it isn't accessible or readable by them, that it all stays on your phone/watch.

      They at least say this....whereas Google isn't even going to pretend they won't be mining and selling this type of data asap.

      • You might want to revise your post. Health data is also stored in the cloud. They also store the iCloud decryption and it is protected by your six digit passcode, which I sure they can get since you have to send it to them to decrypt the iCloud key encryption. So they have some very good security theater "These features and their data are transmitted and stored in iCloud using end-to-end encryption: Home data Health data (requires iOS 12 or later) iCloud Keychain (includes all of your save

        • You might want to revise your post. Health data is also stored in the cloud. They also store the iCloud decryption and it is protected by your six digit passcode, which I sure they can get since you have to send it to them to decrypt the iCloud key encryption. So they have some very good security theater
          "These features and their data are transmitted and stored in iCloud using end-to-end encryption:

          Home data
          Health data (requires iOS 12 or later)
          iCloud Keychain (includes all of your saved accounts and passwords)
          Payment information
          QuickType Keyboard learned vocabulary (requires iOS 11 or later)
          Screen Time
          Siri information
          Wi-Fi passwords
          "

          Why would Apple have to have your Private Key for you to be able to Retrieve and Decrypt iCloud-based information? That would mean that iCloud data was sent from Apple in Decrypted form. Kind of defeats the purpose of End-to-End encryption, doesn't it?

          Fortunately, Apple isn't as stupid as you.

          • I am not talking about the encryption between the iCloud and the device, I am talking about data stored in the cloud portion.
        • It's stores in the cloud if you allow it to be stored in the cloud. I don't.

    • They should get an iWatch instead. Apple's not using the data for any other purposes. /s

      Why the sarcasm tag?

      Do you have any Citation to support your snark?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      They should get an iWatch instead. Apple's not using the data for any other purposes. /s

      I see your sarcasm tag, but I'm raising you a motto: "All your orgasm are belong to us." Apple has a strong interest in using any data they can get (including iWatch data) to assess your sexual interest insofar as that's what they are selling.

      In contrast, the google's current motto is "All your attention is belong to us." Rather easier to use the Fitbit data to spot increases in attention without worrying about the specific motivations.

      Me? I was wearing a Garmin for a while, but that might be because I have

    • Very expensive iThings? Seriously?

  • Getting rid of my Fitbit Versa (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rlp ( 11898 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @12:26PM (#59430634)

    I really like my FitBit Versa. It has al the features I want in a smartwatch. I was planning on getting a Versa II. Now that Google is taking over Fitbit - I plan to replace my watch with a non-Google smartwatch, possibly one from Garmin. I've been slowly trying to get out of the Google ecosystem. I feel that Google cannot be trusted with personal data of any kind.

    • Curious question, who do you trust and why ?

      • Curious question, who do you trust and why ?

        A valid question, and perhaps difficult to answer, but we could start with eliminating any company that we already know is Too Big To Fail by government standards.

        Why would Google be deemed Too Big To Fail? Simple. The intelligence community needs them. That should tell you something. Or everything.

      • Curious question, who do you trust and why ?

        I don't trust myself half the time, which puts me at the top of my trust list. Remember, "Trust me" is doublespeak for F**k You.

      • I tend to place more trust in companies that meet most of the following:
        * Their customers and users are one and the same (i.e. I alone foot the bill for the service they provide me)
        * Their business model and revenue stream are aligned with delivering what their customers want (i.e. their priorities align with mine)
        * They've accepted no or minimal outside funding (i.e. no investors whose interests conflict with mine)
        * They're already profitable (i.e. less worry of prices skyrocketing later as they scramble t

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

        Likely reason for startpage being low on the list of "mentioning it as an option to google" is the fact that startpage is just a different interface to google's index.

      • DDG is not good? I use it here...

    • > possibly one from Garmin

      Garmin is going to have a huge Christmas thanks to Google.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by t0rkm3 ( 666910 )

        I have a Fenix 5S Plus. (Warning to guys, I have only two loops on the 5S wristband. I have to take it off after a hard lifting workout.)

        It's fantastic. Everything just works, even with my crappy old android phone.

      • > possibly one from Garmin

        Garmin is going to have a huge Christmas thanks to Google.

        By that logic, Apple's will likely be huge-er.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Nest became a non option for me when google bought it. Google primarily has harvesting customer data as a revenue source. Their job is provide data for advertisers and sell it to the highest bidder. Both Amazon and Apple have legitimate retail businesses that depend on end user loyalty and satisfaction. Google has no inherent interest in the end user beyond collecting data. They are like Facebook

      we see this when google arbitrarily eliminates popular end user products because they are not supporting data c

    • I did this, getting a vivoactive 4. It's ten steps forward and ten steps back. Which would be easy to swallow if it weren't twice the price. The app has pretty friendly looking privacy controls, they're granular rather than "accept the EULA or you have a brick." It stays in place on my wrist easier than a Versa. It has abnormal heart rate warning, unlike the versa. The sleep monitoring is excrement compared to the versa, which is a double whammy because it makes the sleep based DND mode worthless too. It ha

  • Seriously, I know that google is bad and can't be trusted. But just can not think of one single tech company health or otherwise that can be trusted with the data. Anyone?

    • Yeah, this. Mistrusting Google is fairly rational, but trusting Fitbit and then not trusting Google is dumb. At best it demonstrates a total failure to comprehend corporatism. Corporations seldom die, and once bought out by some other corporation, all the data that's been collected is now owned by the buyer... and can be sold off again by simply spinning that "business unit" off into a new corporation, and selling it.

    • Itâ(TM)s staggering to think of the amount of data they (Google) have collected on everyone. I know Pandoraâ(TM)s box wonâ(TM)t get closed, but that doesnâ(TM)t mean I have to keep contributing my data to them. I miss the Pebble, it did one of the only things I cared about, notifying me of a text or call. Other than that I could care less about all the other features on offer today.

    • Seriously, I know that google is bad and can't be trusted. But just can not think of one single tech company health or otherwise that can be trusted with the data. Anyone?

      Apple.

      Sorry, but it's true.

  • Privacy ... sigh... (Score:3)

    by Jhon ( 241832 ) on Tuesday November 19, 2019 @12:38PM (#59430694) Homepage Journal

    Do you want ease of use? Be ready to share stuff you might be unhappy about sharing. Or spend 5ish mins a day logging your info in to a non-connected PC and a spreadsheet? Or jotting down in a log book?

    It's not that complicated...

  • Mine cuts out every six months or so, refusing to charge then all of a sudden “wakes up” for no apparent reason.

    [John]

  • Fitbit was a cloud thing before the acquisition. If it isn't OK for Google to collect that information, it wasn't OK when Fitbit did it. You idiots enabled this shit when you bought into it.

  • "After quite a bit looking and some very leading questions, our reporters were able to find no fewer than two Fitbit users that said that they might consider switching brands."

  • I'm an ex-Googler (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You can totally trust this company with your worthless information. Google talks about collecting high quality information, but barring that they go for quantity.

    Marketing partners buy indirect access to useless garbage as if it is some kind of benefit. Partners have never recorded an increase in revenue that could be traced to these market research programs. They are unproven, and frankly a lot of snake oil.

    Good for Google for turning a profit on information that you and I would have dismissed as trivial.

  • Is it a perception problem if the perception seems to be accurate based on available evidence?
  • https://www.technologyreview.c... [technologyreview.com]

    Maybe instead of this fuckwit kabuki theater that is today's congress, we could get some real protections... sigh.

    • https://www.technologyreview.c... [technologyreview.com]

      Maybe instead of this fuckwit kabuki theater that is today's congress, we could get some real protections... sigh.

      Why bother?

      Sen. Mitch McConnell will just sit on it like the other 300+ pieces of Legislation he refuses to even let come to the floor of the Senate.

      But that's ok; they're all partisan political hot-potatoes, like this one, that criminalizes Animal Cruelty:

      https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23... [cnn.com]

      So, tell me another bedtime story, daddy!

  • Disney's the one with the dazzling-yet-mind-boggling tracking system (this doesn't let Google et al off the hook, btw). I wonder how many of those contemplating getting rid of their FitBits are still willing to trust The Mouse.

  • The Fitbit device can't send anything out to Google without the app. That device has been around for a good number of years, surely there is an open source app that lacks all off the telemetry spyware, yes?
  • Who is to say that Fitbit was not worse than Google? What was the customer's decision based on, was it anything more than emotions? For all we know Fitbit might be storing data on some Chinese cloud and it might be all over darkweb and the company will disclose it 2 years from now.
  • ... to insurance companies? Irregular heartbeat? Well statistics show that those with an irregular heartbeat are more likely to be in a car accident, so your car insurance is doubled. Nah, that would never happen.

  • Why bother throwing it away before it inevitably dies? Fitbits often only last slightly longer than the warranty. Mine completely died at 18 months.

    • Consider yourself lucky. I had one of the fitbit wrist bands. It was replaced 3 times under warranty. After the 4th time, the LiPo battery lives on in a small project.

    • My Fitbit is still going strong since July 2018 when I bought it. I have taken 7,105,788 steps with it and have replaced the band on it once. I wear it pretty much constantly except for about 30 minutes a day when it charges while I get ready for work.

      I had to clean the charging contacts once or twice since they can get a little gunky, but other than that, the device has been working great and appears to hold a charge as well as it did when I bought it.

  • Do you own one and have a problem with your fitbit now? If so you have no argument. Their getting that data regardless. /thread

  • I don’t trust google at all. :/

    • Meh.... they can know the number of steps I take.... BFD... I have an android phone so they already are privy to a much larger data set concerning my movements. Now, I guess, they will know how many steps it took me to reach a place instead of just knowing only where I was.

  • Apparently not everyone are sheep, there is still some actual intelligence out there. Good for you, soon-to-be-ex fitbit users. BTW they were always just tracking devices so you're late to the security party but better late than never.
  • ...because it doesn't work. The Bluetooth syncing is horribly broken and, frankly, that's why I have it - to look up my stats on my phone not the tiny device. When you have to reboot both the phone AND Fitbit every time you want to sync, that's stupid in my book and not worth the hassle.

  • If you're just gonna "throw them away" toss them my way, I'll take 'em all.

    • If you're just gonna "throw them away" toss them my way, I'll take 'em all.

      Oooo!

      A Beowulf Cluster of Fitbits!

  • I shut mine off from the internet and deleted the app as soon as I found out Google bought them. Thanks for ruining these things for us Google!

  • Advertisers like Google don't really care about you or your private data. All they care about is selling you stuff. To do that, they love getting their hands on details about you, but they aren't really coming after YOU, they just want some of your money. So if you have self-control and can decide how to spend your money in ways that are appropriate, what's the problem with sharing a bit of your data? If you are so lacking in self-control that it scares you to death that you might spend money for something

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