
Tell HN: Using Gmail? You will be force logged into Chrome - ronilan
So, it turns out Chrome 69 is a lot more than just redesign of the tabs and removal of the www from the url.<p>I&#x27;m using the Mac version of Chrome (Version 69.0.3497.81 (Official Build) (64-bit) to be pedantic).<p>Up until two days ago, logging into gmail and logging into chrome were two different things, as they obviously are (one is a web service the other is a web browser, to be pedantic again)<p>I would usually be logged into gmail in the browser, but would only log into Chrome on special occasions and&#x2F;or with specific accounts.<p>As of today, if I hit www.gmail.com and log in, I&#x27;m automatically logged into Chrome. If I log out of Chrome, I&#x27;m also logged out of gmail.<p>This can&#x27;t be a bug... can it?
======
JoshMnem
It started with an older version. Logging into Google automatically linked
your Google account to the settings page.

At least in the last version, clearing your private data (ctrl-shift-delete)
no longer deleted Google cookies. To completely log out required manually
digging into the advanced settings and then rebooting the browser.

Google fundamentally doesn't respect user privacy, and people should use
Firefox.

~~~
beckler
I completely switched whenever FF quantum was released to stable. The
experience is amazing. I will say I think chrome dev tools are better though.

~~~
zmw
I keep hearing how awesome FF quantum is. I always have a copy of
FirefoxDeveloperEdition for the occasional compatibility testing, and I keep
coming back to it over the last few months, the last time being yesterday, but
it just feels as sluggish as ever, whereas Chrome just feels snappier until
there are hundreds of open tabs. Am I using it wrong?

Also, Firefox tabs are as ugly as ever (lots of thick lines), and the search
bar drop down is cluttered as hell. I thought I’d hate the Chrome 69 tab
style, but I got over it in a couple of hours; whereas for Firefox I simply
can’t.

~~~
JoshMnem
Try using a large blocklist[1] in your hosts file and installing umatrix[2]
and/or ublock origin[3] to block garbage scripts from loading. I don't know if
that will help, but that's what I'm doing and Firefox is as fast or faster
than Chrome.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=hosts+blocklists](https://www.google.com/search?q=hosts+blocklists)

[2] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/umatrix/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/umatrix/)

[3] [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-
origin...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/)

~~~
zmw
I confess that I have uMatrix in Chrome but not FF, but I do use pihole, and
it’s not really a third party scripts problem, FF feels slower on perfectly
clean sites.

~~~
JoshMnem
Maybe it has something to do with the combination of your OS and Firefox
versions. I've just tested a few sites (without umatrix, but with Firefox's
built-in privacy protection) and they are about the same speed according to
the network console. Sometimes Firefox is slightly faster, other times Chrome
is slightly faster. (Ubuntu 16.04)

------
r721
"Google calls the feature "Identity consistency between browser and cookie
jar" and a Chrome representative on the official Google Chrome Help Forum
confirmed that this is the intended behavior.

>This is an intended behaviour if you are using the same Google Account for
your Gmail and Chrome. If yes, you'll be signed out of Chrome when you signed
out of Gmail account.

...

Good news is that it is possible currently to disable the feature. Doing to
breaks the link between the Google Account in Chrome that is used to sync data
and Google accounts on Internet sites.

Note: Google may remove experimental flags like the one described below at any
time. As long as it turns up when you run the steps below it is supported.

Here is what you need to do:

1\. Load chrome://flags/#account-consistency in the browser's address bar.
Google Chrome should display the flag Identity consistency between browser and
cookie jar at the top.

2\. Set the flag to disabled with a click on the menu and selecting disabled
from the context menu.

3\. Restart the Chrome browser.

Chrome breaks the link between the Google account in Chrome used to sync data
and Google accounts that you sign in using the browser on Google sites."

[https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/08/disable-the-sign-out-
link-...](https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/08/disable-the-sign-out-link-between-
chrome-gmail-and-other-google-services/)

~~~
ReverseCold
Alternatively just get Firefox, use
[https://ffprofile.com/](https://ffprofile.com/) once, and stop dealing with
Chrome.

Ta-da, no more spyware.

~~~
colordrops
Yes, this move is a deal breaker. Defaults matter, so I'm switching to
Firefox.

~~~
cm2187
I just did the same. After having used chrome since pretty much version 1.

------
Androider
Once again G Suite customers get the shaft.

I have a personal Gmail account, and a business G Suite account, and this
change makes working with the two accounts a complete pain. All my years of
Chrome bookmarks/settings/etc. are associated with my personal account, so I
want the browser itself to always be logged in with that identity. But I want
to be logged into my business G Suite email account "by default" when I hit
gmail.com, when I open Google Analytics, Drive etc. so I don't have to use the
account picker a hundred times a day. It just doesn't seem possible. Argh.

I wonder if Google employee accounts were to be considered business G Suite-
like instead of consumer Gmail like, all these kinds of problems that
constantly keep popping up for G Suite customers wouldn't be fixed overnight.

~~~
blfr
The most straightforward solution is to create a separate Chrome user/profile
for your work account. It's a great way to keep your private and
organizational accounts completely separate. You can even sync all Chrome
settings, extensions, and bookmars though the company account if they allow
you to use your own devices.

Unlike Firefox (major pain point btw), you can run Chrome with multiple
profiles at once, each in a separate window.

~~~
Hello71
Firefox has had profiles since at least 0.8, released in 2004, when it was
renamed from Firebird, more than four and a half years prior to Google
Chrome's release. This code, however, was inherited from Netscape Communicator
4, released more than a decade before Google Chrome. Hell, Netscape 4 predates
_Google_!

However, since the profile code is so old, it is not accessible from the main
interface; it must be accessed via a command line flag. Chrome learned from
this mistake and exposed it in the graphical interface.

It is utterly false however to say that Firefox does not support profiles.

~~~
hdima
Firefox also has Multi-Account Containers add-on which is much more
lightweight than profiles: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-
US/kb/containers](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers)

~~~
Hello71
Ah, yes, I forgot to mention that. This is basically Firefox learning from
Chrome's mistakes after 10 years, just as Chrome learned from Netscape's
mistakes. Chrome added in-browser support to profiles, then Firefox added
preference and add-on sharing.

~~~
Flimm
I don't quite understand your comment. I think you are assuming that Firefox's
containers are like Chrome's profiles, but they're not.

------
bubblethink
Related: Google also tightened the link between gmail and youtube. Logging
into gmail logs you into youtube too (which is quite pointless at least for
me). This had been the case for a while, but earlier it was possible to
manually delete youtube cookies, which would log you out of yt but keep you
logged into gmail. They removed this workaround a few months ago. My solution
to this was to use chrome only for gmail, and use chromium for everything
else. This is poor-man's isolation, for what should be a browser feature (like
firefox containers). Also, extensions like cookie-auto-delete don't work
nearly as well on chrome as they do on firefox due to long standing bugs in
chromium that are likely not getting resolved any time soon. More reason to
switch to firefox eventually.

~~~
vignesh_m
firefox containers work great for precisely this use case

------
superkuh
If it's a problem you should stop using both gmail and Chrome. Don't support
companies that are anti-user.

~~~
rosser
My choice to use gmail was made by my employer.

I like my job.

How am I supposed to pass, again?

~~~
superkuh
Sounds like you've made your choice. A bad employer at a job you like is more
important than software ethics. No need for my input here. But it _is_ your
choice.

~~~
epicide
> A bad employer at a job you like is more important than software ethics.

Using gmail doesn't automatically make them a bad employer. That is incredibly
shallow and naive.

This mentality does nothing to help "software ethics" since it forces people
to make an extremely unrealistic choice. I wouldn't expect anybody to quit
their job over their employer using gmail. You're just pitting more people
against the idea of standing up for software ethics by making it about
extremes.

It is akin to telling someone, after an oil spill, that they don't care about
the planet since they didn't immediately sell their car to quit buying gas.

------
lurker456
The cynic in me thinks this is in anticipation of GDPR related challenges.
Users that accepted a TOS are easier to track (at least, it's easier to mount
a legal argument that some tracking and profile linking is ok) compared to
users that never accepted anything at all.

next up: push for new standards that favor chrome over other browsers.

~~~
hegz
The gdpr agreement form on websites usually requires you to enable 3rd party
scripts and cookies otherwise you get hit with endless popups about it.
Someone should make a browser extension that automatically denies every gdpr
popup.

~~~
noisem4ker
[https://www.i-dont-care-about-cookies.eu/](https://www.i-dont-care-about-
cookies.eu/)

This one aims to automatically close all such popups. It doesn't "deny"
permissions, but that's what content blockers such as uMatrix are for.

------
marssaxman
This kind of chicanery is the reason I won't use Chrome for anything but
browsing Facebook.

~~~
duiker101
A while ago I switched to Vivaldi. I have never been happier with a browser.

~~~
abandonliberty
Why do you like Vivaldi?

I'm using it but am fairly ambivalent.

~~~
ldarby
I use Vivaldi because the CEO is Jon von Tetzchner. Here's a quote from him
from a recent interview:

Q: Other browser companies tell us that too many options and features confuse
users, and they remove or limit functionality based on that claim. Is that
true in your opinion?

A: No. [...]

[https://www.ghacks.net/2018/07/25/an-interview-with-
vivaldis...](https://www.ghacks.net/2018/07/25/an-interview-with-vivaldis-ceo-
jon-stephenson-von-tetzchner/)

~~~
duiker101
I didn't know this one. Love it.

------
fareesh
This causes a few other problems. For example I use Hangouts Chat
(chat.google.com) on my Google Apps account, and I also have a personal gmail.
Ever since the change I have to log out from my personal gmail to use Hangouts
Chat, because it is looking at my Chrome account and telling me that I'm not
part of the organization. I can't switch to the Google Apps account at all.

~~~
ganoushoreilly
This is why setting up user profiles is handy in chrome. Keep one for work,
one for home.

~~~
the_duke
This is why it's handy to just use Firefox.

~~~
tokyodude
firefox's multiple profile support is crap. I actually do want multiple
profiles that do things like sync passwords, bookmarks, extensions, themes
across machines per profile. AFAIK firefox can't run multiple profiles at once

~~~
asadotzler
You can run multiple profiles at once in Firefox. I've been doing this for the
better part of two decades with Mozilla browsers. You just need to add the no-
remote option to your launcher.

------
vemv
A typical tendency in distasteful projects: couple everything, remove choice.
Make it one-size-fits-all.

Switching to Chromium.

~~~
nextos
Chromium was previously downloading a binary blob on its own, which is a bit
upsetting:

[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909](https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909)

[https://lwn.net/Articles/648392/](https://lwn.net/Articles/648392/)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9724409](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9724409)

~~~
ChristianBundy
I've posted this a few days ago, but I switched from Chrome to Chromium to
Firefox to GNOME Web (aka Epiphany) and it's everything I wanted: a stable and
mature WebKit browser for all users (not just tech workers) with Firefox sync
integration and no Google bullshit.

------
dgudkov
To make it worse, the Chrome account is always user id = 0. You can't have
other account logged in first, then log into Chrome -- it will kick out the
first account. This breaks all bookmarks that use particular user, i.e.
contain /u/1 or /u/2\. What a mess.

------
raverbashing
It probably is not a bug

Though "Chrome integration" with Google is pointless at best and an awful user
experience.

I made the mistake of logging in w/ Google on Chrome mobile. Resulting in all
my bookmarks being synced on the phone (because _of course_ I want my desktop
bookmarks on my phone. Obviously. Thanks Google). This is a mistake I'm not
doing again.

~~~
chris_mc
Most people _do_ want that, though. They literally want Google to sync
everything for them. Makes sense to me, I don't see your POV to be super
common, honestly, except maybe amongst the die hard tech people of hn and
such.

~~~
raverbashing
In mobile I want/have the bookmarks that make sense for mobile usage. I
believe this applies to most people.

~~~
Ajedi32
Which is why there's a seperate folder in Google bookmarks for mobile
bookmarks.

------
anonytrary
It's not a bug -- it's asshole design.

------
curiousDog
This is just a grab at getting more user data. Where are all the Google
employees who jump on any mention of Google to defend it with disclosures?

~~~
srtjstjsj
How is it more data? This only affects people who choose to set up Google
accounts and then log in to them.

~~~
curiousDog
What do you mean? I have a gmail account but don't want Google to have my
browsing history. How is that so hard to understand?

------
sosilkj
If you have gmail, consider using an imap client. it might take a bit of
tweaking the configuration, but i'd say it's worthwhile.

~~~
yborg
They'll get rid of that loophole next. Monopolies doing monopoly things.

~~~
acct1771
RIP federation-friendly XMPP gChat

------
phyller
I thought I had this experience years ago, I'm surprised this is only
happening now.

I use an email app (just regular Mail on the mac) to access my Gmail. Your
email is stored and synced locally so it is accessible offline, and you don't
get these shenanigans. Also I use Firefox.

But let's be honest, even if you aren't logged in, and aren't using Chrome, at
this point if Google is not recognizing you it is only because they are
pretending not to. I'd bet they have a pretty good record of my internet
activity.

~~~
zitterbewegung
What they mean is to log into the sync feature which is part of Chrome .

------
steve_taylor
This has been around for a long time. You’ve only just noticed it. It’s time
you accept that Chrome is spyware and start using Firefox instead.

------
Havoc
huh...so that's why chrome suddenly wants to sync my bookmarks to my gmail
username.

Firefox it is then. This is a little too shady for my liking.

------
kerng
I stopped using Chrome entirely six months ago. Firefox it is!

------
forrestthewoods
Firefox Quantum is really, really good. I was a Chrome user for years but now
use Firefox at home and work.

A+++ would recommend.

------
esalman
I was searching for apartments on zillow.com yesterday and a login pop up came
up- which included another box giving me option to sign up with my Google
addresses. Here's a screenshot:
[https://i.imgur.com/dYtg5u6.png](https://i.imgur.com/dYtg5u6.png)

It did seem strange to me but I didn't bother because I was busy with the
search. Now after reading this post this certainly does not seem strange
anymore.

Edit: Like OP, I never logged in to Chrome, only on gmail.com.

~~~
strictnein
Saw that for the first time yesterday. Was really, really off-putting. Felt
like the website I was visiting knew about all of my Google accounts.

The Chrome Dev team is off the rails.

------
Mikho
For long already I use many personas/users of Chrome simultaneously. It's very
useful. Especially when you create a dedicated shortcut to a service/web-site
on a desktop or even pin it to the taskbar. So I have direct Gmail icon on my
taskbar that launches GMail as a standalone headless window and for a
particular Chrome persona. Next is another GMail icon (it's possible to change
icons if you need or turn on in W10 taskbar settings illustration of Chrome
persona in the bottom right corner) with a different account via different
Chrome user. They both work simultaneously. For social accounts I use one
persona, for business another, for news and entertainment third. So every
session very comfortably is saved and loaded only to a selected persona when I
start the session. Since any link in any tab could be opened via a different
persona/user it's not a problem to open a link from twitter or facebook in
completely different persona where I'm not logged in for socials and basically
incognito for the services.

------
zwaps
Google will be doing everything to associate your behavior over all
boundaries, device, profile, account, job and home as well as private stuff.

This is just one of the many changes that explicitly show that google wants
all data aggregated.

You might get by for now by thus technique or that, but eventually Google will
close those holes.

------
xte
Personally I drop Chrome few months ago, tired by it's INVOLUTION. I also drop
GMail about an year ago for a personal mail (which cost around 20 euros/year)
and features standard IMAP and Roundcube instead of the monster WebUI that
GMail have since few months.

Also I'm in process to ditch Google contacts on Android (actually sync-ed one-
way via Goobook/XML files since vdirsyncer seems unable to sync many contacts)
switching to Radicale on home server and DAVDroid on mobile.

For years I say to many ditching GMail&Google in general: you drop a working
solution for another equally held by another company with a mission of making
money. Now I have to say they were wright, I still drop a company for another
but some others are less parasite than Google.

Sorry for my poor English, not my mother-tongue...

------
amelius
> This can't be a bug... can it?

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

(Hanlon's razor)

~~~
explainplease
I imagine all the spooks and blackhats around the world utter a hearty chortle
whenever they see someone cite that on the Internet. All they have to do for
plausible deniability is plant a few obvious noob mistakes and, boom: that
couldn't possibly be a backdoor, it's just a stupid mistake!

The real question is how Hanlon's Razor applies to itself.

------
williamscales
You didn't say why this is important to you so it comes off as a bit of a
complaint for the sake of it. Are you concerned about your web history going
to your Google account? You can turn that off. Don't believe that will really
turn it off? Then don't believe that Chrome wasn't already logging your web
history without your knowledge. Is it sad that respect for privacy has
degraded this far? Absolutely. Is the merging of Google website logins with
Google Chrome browser login a significant decrease in privacy? I believe it
really isn't at this point.

I've switched over to Firefox and it's quite fast and nice these days.

~~~
RaleyField
> to you so it comes off as a bit of a complaint for the sake of it.

People like you really rise my blood pressure. No, it's not important to
him/her, bad defaults[1] are important for everyone because they are incorrect
design. The correct design is not to synchronize anything before obtaining
informed consent.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_pattern)

~~~
yesenadam
_People like you really rise my blood pressure._

May I suggest that this is a very ugly, condescending, dismissive way of
talking to anyone. The phrase has no place on a forum like HN.

~~~
RaleyField
> May I suggest

Perhaps your suggestion could be valid.

Since you pointed that out, what set me off primarily is similar sentiment
when parent hinted that op might be arguing in bad faith with "so it comes off
as a bit of a complaint for the sake of it". General dismissive attitude of HN
to anything privacy related (like this thread getting downvoted) only
exacerbates things further.

------
bdz
ungoogled-chromium is what I use

[https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-
chromium](https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium)

~~~
fiiv
This is a great project. Contains many of the patches out there to de-fang a
lot of these garbage integrations.

------
duxup
I wish I could just have multiple Chrome installs segregated from each other
for different purposes.

I used to use Firefox for work and chrome for personal stuff. My new employer
uses Google's business apps so it is easiest in Chrome....but that knocks out
my two browsers at once system.

Often I'll need something I saved to drive (sample code, doc, something) or
bookmarked in my personal account that suddenly was relevant to work....
swapping logins is a pain....

~~~
qalmakka
You are fundamentally describing Firefox Containers. They are awesome and they
work just like that, allowing you to have multiple independent sets of cookies
for each context you need.

~~~
explainplease
That sounds great! But if Mozilla follows the pattern they have set, they will
discontinue that extension, just like they dumped Tab Groups, etc. So why
should users invest in using it and building workflows around it, when it's
probably just another rug to be ripped out from under them?

~~~
noisem4ker
Fair criticism. This one feature, however, is something they've recently been
pushing quite hard. I'd bet on medium-term first party support.

------
nostrademons
I just switched to Brave yesterday for all my consumer surfing. (I still use
Chrome for work because Amazon S3's "Open" link has a glitch in Brave.) Been
quite happy so far - it's remarkable how clean and snappy the web is when
there are no ads.

The advantage over Firefox is that it's still Chromium, so all those websites
that are Chrome-only or have rendering glitches in other browsers still work
perfectly.

------
Cockbrand
This I can't reproduce with Chrome 69 on the Mac. I just logged into Gmail
without being logged into Chrome. Or did I misunderstand something here?

------
bkfh
Ever since it came out I started using Firefox' Containers for that purpose
and they work like a charm.

Maybe something similar exists for Chrome?

~~~
akerro
The exact idea behind this unwanted feature in Google Chrome is the opposite
idea of containers.

------
SllX
Google continues the war against their own users.

------
spookyahell
You are not essentially logging into Chrome, well yes you are but only for
local purposes and that's not so bad... the link is only local, it will not be
syncing any data without your consent, it used to mean that.. and Google DID
do very poorly presenting this version of their browser (proven by other posts
here)

------
yolandaruiz
People have been reporting the same for YouTube in the other direction.
Logging off YouTube logs you off Chrome.

------
fiatjaf
Thinking about switching and wanting a couple of recent, non-ideological
opinions on how Firefox is better than Chrome?
[https://fiatjaf.alhur.es/entulho/firefox-vs-
chrome.txt](https://fiatjaf.alhur.es/entulho/firefox-vs-chrome.txt)

------
gianpaj
If you're on v68 and want to stop Chrome from upgrading add this on
/etc/hosts: 0.0.0.0 tools.google.com

H/T:
[https://stackoverflow.com/a/36183372/728287](https://stackoverflow.com/a/36183372/728287)

------
geuis
So... I just updated Chrome and restarted it. I'm signed in to my gmail and
gsuite accounts. Other than my gmail interface being annoyingly updated
without asking me, I'm not being automatically signed into Chrome.

------
_RPM
Over the past 2 years I've slowly migrated myself away from Google. I do not
use a Google account regularly anymore. I have private email, with my own
domain. I use an iPhone. I use Firefox for browsing.

------
rectang
I run a dedicated site-specific browser instance of Chrome for Gmail. That way
I don't need to stay logged into Google for any browsing I do in my main
instance of Chrome.

------
rmbeard
Can you break this via the incognito mode? I have two gmail accounts one for
work and one private, this is generally how I keep both open. Is this still
going to be possible?

------
skybrian
Maybe create a profile just for Gmail and other Google stuff? (I do this for
Facebook.)

Or multiple profiles if you also have a work account.

For your main profile, don't log into Google at all.

------
gergelypolonkai
The part when you are logged out from GMail when you log out from Chrome might
be a bug. Logging into Chrome when logging into GMail? Don’t think so.

------
mirimir
Hey, can't log me into Chrome if I don't have it ;)

Unless they also forced _download and installation_ of Chrome. But nobody
would tolerate that, right?

------
vbezhenar
I can confirm on Windows, exactly the same behavior. I guess, it's time to
start using Chrome account, never needed it, but whatever.

------
psergeant
I’ve been using Gmail, etc in Mailplane for quite a while.

I do note that Gmail sign-in on my iPhone appears to have logged me into it on
the YouTube app

------
a13n
You could use Missive to avoid this. It'd let you keep using your gmail
account without having to ever log in to gmail in Chrome.

------
ezoe
I don't use Chrome or Chromium for years now. It's bloated, slow and eat a lot
of precious CPU and memory resources.

------
guptarohit
Not just Gmail, but I got logged out from other websites as well! [chrome 69,
linux, ubuntu 16.04]

------
Ajedi32
So... why is this a problem? If I sign into my Google account, I already get
signed into Maps, Drive, YouTube, Gmail, Calendar, etc. Why shouldn't Chrome
be part of that list?

I can perhaps understand there being some scenarios where this might not be
desirable (depending on exactly how it's implemented), but for 99% of users
this is a good thing, isn't it?

------
ComputerGuru
This happened to me yesterday on Windows too, to add another datapoint to your
sample set.

------
wellyeah
Will it force me to login to Chrome even if I've never created a Chrome
account?

~~~
ninjaranter
Your google account _is_ your Chrome account.

------
barcoder
I noticed similar on Android Chrome. I can't log out of my email in the
browser

------
nickthemagicman
You can switch 'people' to have one browser for each account you want.

------
ravenstine
It's time to start replacing Google in your life.

Chrome -> Firefox

Search -> DuckDuckGo

Gmail -> ProtonMail (not strictly, but my recommendation)

Docs -> OnlyOffice

YouTube -> Use NewPipe if you have Android. There's BitChute but it has a lot
of right-wing crap.

Play Store -> F-Droid (if using Android)

Google Drive -> Dropbox

Google Maps -> HERE WeGo, or Mapquest

Google News -> Yahoo! News

~~~
fredsir
> YouTube

I’ve been using YouTube via RSS feeds for a while. Requires no logins or
anything to youtube, and I can still get the content only available there like
Sixty Symbols and Numberphile. It’s great!

------
EastSmith
Horrible. Seems to not work with Google Inbox though.

------
ben_utzer
It did not automatically login here.

------
Animats
Google is getting really pushy about logging in. Can you read any Google Doc
file now without being logged in?

------
tjpnz
Don't be evil?

------
badrabbit
Why on earth are you using chrome if you cared about that kind of stuff so
much?

No,it isn't a bug. It has always been that on android,using chrome browser or
the youtube app meant that whatever google account was used in play store is
also used to log you into google both on on chrome,yt,maps,etc...

They just brought that feature to desktop,I suppose now you'll be logged into
whatever google account last used?

This includes payment info you inputted on the play store or anywhere else.

What exactly is your concern,I can't imagine you'd expect boundaries and
privacy to be a thing google would respect with any of their products. They
say "don't be evil" but they're pretty wishy-washy and flexible as to what
they consider evil. I'd equate complaining about privacy and boundaries with
google and fb to complaining about the rude staff and unpleasant patrons in
prison.

~~~
codezero
A lot of people use chrome because it has the best security according to a lot
of experts, including here on HN. It’s reasonable to complain about a drift in
functionality that spans the web to native gap in my opinion.

~~~
prepend
Really? Perhaps 10 years ago, but Chrome is pretty ok when it comes to
security. This eval that is Google's top result in search [0] has them tied
for 6 out of 9 (5.5) and Chromium is better for security.

[0] [https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/best-browsers-for-
privacy/](https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/best-browsers-for-privacy/)

~~~
overcyn
From that link you posted...

> Security: Google has always been known as a leader for browser security, and
> for good reason... All said, Google’s leading position in browser security
> is undisputed. 5/5

------
yuhong
I wonder how does this exactly work technically. I am still working on the
essay/overview BTW.

------
swingline-747
Does this apply to Chromium as well?

------
kilon
Why is this a problem ?

~~~
vemv
Now Google can (potentially) associate your browsing history with your
identity, whereas before, any read of one's history would be anonymous.

~~~
negutron
Everything you do in chrome is called back to google servers. Even if you
block cookies you can look at the network tab in dev tools and see it calling
back; also it sends the links you click on to a malware check service (you
know, safe browsing) that server tracks everything you click on: no cookies
needed; there are also endpoints for transmitting your urls for 'quality of
service' (to optimize bandwidth), that tracks, and then all the performance
data called bakc to the google servers could potentially have your data
steganographically included in that data

There are many things that chrome is doing that are dubious, quasi legal

one thing they could be doing is a kind of reverse beacon or barium meal
beacon where they generate a unique code and steganographically insert that as
an overlay into images...you won't see the difference when your webpage loads
the image, but then some javascript will send that image back to a server, and
there you ahve a cross site tracking mechanism. This concept has been used in
browser fingerprinting, but now that has evolved with html5 with the canvas
tag which generates unique ids and sends that back in order to track your
browser everywhere around the internet without needing cookies or websocket
sessions or any other newer session mgmt mechanism

~~~
sjellis
Note that the Safe Browsing service is also used by Firefox. If you interact
with a CA or some other services they may also use it to check that a domain
does not have a history of malicious activity.

------
newnewpdro
You do know that Google is first and foremost an advertising company, right?

One should expect this kind of fuckery when using software and services
controlled by such an entity.

There are alternatives, use and/or support them.

