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i do not want google interference..can I block them and Yahoo?

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  • 10 have this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by jlam45

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gmail has locked many of us out of our accounts...hyjacked is the correct word. I don’t trust anything that can take that kind of control...Yahoo butts in everywhere. I choose to use a individualized, non inforceful individual control with my personal information. Gmail and yahoo will not see me again, neither do they apologize nor acknowledge mistakes? ...CAN I BLOCK GOOGLE AND YAHOO AS I SEARCH AND CONTROL MY INFORMATION??? have WE ALL LOST ANY CONTROL...IF SO, the convenience is too costly in every sense of the word. Are we NOT RELIQUISHING ALL FREEDOM?

gmail has locked many of us out of our accounts...hyjacked is the correct word. I don’t trust anything that can take that kind of control...Yahoo butts in everywhere. I choose to use a individualized, non inforceful individual control with my personal information. Gmail and yahoo will not see me again, neither do they apologize nor acknowledge mistakes? ...CAN I BLOCK GOOGLE AND YAHOO AS I SEARCH AND CONTROL MY INFORMATION??? have WE ALL LOST ANY CONTROL...IF SO, the convenience is too costly in every sense of the word. Are we NOT RELIQUISHING ALL FREEDOM?

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What is Firefox Focus for iOS? partners with Disconnect to provide a list of trackers that are blocked. By default, Google Analytics and related services are blocked. I believe it is the same with Yahoo analytic tools. You can read about Disconnect's tracking standards at their website.

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Hello joycealaina,

Unfortunately apart from simply not using Google's/etc. services your options are limited. You can select what limited options they allow within your google account to opt out of certain aspects of their services, but much like Facebook, etc., you have to keep a watchful eye on changes to options.

On the topic of being locked out of your account, normally this is a positive preventative measure that we should want. The fact that they make it difficult to get back in is both good but very inconvenient, especially if you merely entered your credentials wrong and would like to quickly remedy that. You really have to play their game and have an emergency email address you can use to let yourself back in, or give them your phone number. I understand not wanting to do this, but it has become an accepted practice because of convenience. Convenience is a terrible reason for allowing many things, unfortunately this has become the norm, and unless you go along with some of this it will be very difficult to get back into your account.

You can employ a browser like DuckDuckGo that is not actively keeping a database of you and your searches. You can also tweak some of it's privacy settings in order to not feel like you are constantly being monetized for every click you make online or giving away your personal information in order to use their service. DuckDuckGo does employ some monetizing for top links like Google, but it is so much less aggressive in using you and your information.

You can use browser plugins/extensions like ublock, ka-block (especially made for Safari) to enable you to control what scripts are allowed to run on any given page, which gives some freedom from the hundreds of third party tracking partners/advertisers who aggressively/shamelessly invade your personal information without regard for what you want.

On a Mac you can use Little Snitch Network Monitor to help monitor/control what information apps give to their home servers, as well as other parties. It allows you to see what is coming and going on your computer. It can be overwhelming to use if convenience is your top priority, but you can also select to allow connections silently and look through the log once in a while to see who is doing what in order to set what you would prefer to allow.

Running a Mac with Firefox allows you to use uBlock origins (which is the original extension ublock came from). Ublock origins is probably a better option with Firefox than the ublock extension that is made for Safari. Also https everywhere, privacy badger, self destructing cookies, along with DuckDuckGo are some good options available with Firefox.

None of these will totally exempt you from being assaulted by the "we don't care/your privacy is getting in the way of our monetizing model" crowd, and frankly some of it is necessary to provide services to you. However, using some of the browser options I described may help to slow the descent and give you a small sense of control over what is in your best interests.