Re: Annoying news and ads from Google app

Andy Burns wrote on Mon, 9 Dec 2024 22:42:25 +0000 :

On that topic alone of Google monitoring your reading to figure out what it is that you like to read and then presenting you with similar offerings....

I told my launcher pane to not use my google account, and refused all cookies, that way it game me more news stories, from more sources (not just .uk) including cat vids and stuff ...

I do the same (conceptually) when, on a PC, I use a privacy-based web
browser to read the Google News web page which collates articles for me.
 <https://news.google.com/home?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en>
Since it asks me every time to accept or reject cookies, I reject them.
Then it gives me whatever it thinks is a generic page for people in the US.
For World News, I have a similar bookmark which serves news alphabetically.
 <https://www.google.com/search?q=world+news+today>
Interestingly, the good stuff (such as BBC & CNN) show up early (due to the
accident of alphabetics); but then the utterly fantastically atrocious
garbage is soon listed thereafter (e.g., Al Jazeera & Hindustan Times).
Obviously I pick some (e.g., the BBC) yet I ignore others (Al Jazeera).
With those two pages alone, I pick through today's news WITHOUT anyone
correlating my reading choices so as to "Discover" what it is I like.
Everything you do, every second of the day, is one of planned privacy.