Is Google Evil?

I own a mobile phone, a LG 4 phone to be precise. That phone runs on Android operating system and it runs great. Last week, someone asked me about a certain apartment in a small city nearby. I had no idea where it was and no idea how to come there, so I opened up my Google maps application and voila. The unbelievable ease from the moment I open the app; it knows - of course - exactly where I am. I type in the name of the city, followed by the street name and number, and voila, I know where it is. It also tells me how to come there by car, public transport, bicycle or walking, including detailed route descriptions and alternatives. And if that's not enough, I can preview the house (where the apartment is located on the second floor) from my seat and watch the apartment from all sides. It's amazing. My wife eyes are popping out and she wonders "How do they know that?".

Alternatives for the Google maps are existing of course (HERE Maps, Waze, Scout GPS Maps, MapQuest, MAPS.me, OsmAnd and CoPilot GPS and more). But the problem with those alternatives is that they don't offer the same as Google Maps. Some of them demand payment for their inferior services as well! And they are overly complicated; I can better buy an atlas somewhere ... or use Google maps.

In order to be able to receive this service from Google maps, Google needs to be able to monitor what I'm doing on their Google maps, and on my Android, and where I exactly am each moment of the day, and my email to identify me, and my family, my education, my work history, my intentions in general, my political preference, etc. Maybe they also try to figure out the color of my underwear and my preferences for boxers or briefs. That's not a joke, it's true. Why?

That data about my underwear preferences is being used for the online advertising market. Googles business model is based on surveillance, being executed by all those advanced Google apps and used to make money and to make those apps even better and totally personalized to you. And that data is being shared with governments mass surveillance.

You don't like Google search? Try Bing, or Blekko, Boardreader, BuzzSumo, CC Search, CrunchBase, DuckDuckGo or Quantcast and what do you experience when you try them all? Google is better, faster, more results and much more integrated services, which are superior compared what's out there, even the commercial services. Take a look at Google Maps. Are there alternatives? Sure! HERE Maps, Waze, Scout GPS Maps, MapQuest, MAPS.me, OsmAnd and CoPilot GPS. Google is better, faster, more results, more options, more integrated. Take a look at GMail. Don't like it? Try Mailfence, Tutanota, Mailbox.org, Protonmail and Runbox and there are so many others too. But again, Google is better, faster, more results and much more integrated services, which are superior compared what's out there.

For the readers, who don't like Google and its large product and services range, there are alternatives, like you can find here.

What services and products does Google offer to the public?

  1. Search engine

  2. Mail (Gmail)

  3. Browser (Chrome)

  4. Cloud storage (Drive)

  5. Google calendar

  6. Google docs

  7. Google photos

  8. Google plus

  9. Google translator

  10. Google YouTube

  11. Google analytics

  12. Google maps

  13. Google Play Store

  14. Android Operating System

  15. Google forms

  16. Google keep

  17. Google fonts

  18. Google voice

  19. Google firebase

And, if you want to be free from Google, and get your data removed at Google, forget it. All that data is there and will not be removed; it stays there. If you try it, it seems to be gone (after a huge amount of trouble and efforts), but it isn't. And it's even worse, if you try to go to the Internet after that, and Google catches and identifies you, it continues to monitor you, updating your profiles.