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  3. "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

"Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

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  • benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
    benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
    benjaoming@social.data.coop
    wrote last edited by
    #1

    "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

    Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

    Link Preview Image
    Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

    Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

    favicon

    That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

    hacknorris@mstdn.socialH ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA naturemc@mastodon.onlineN dckim@mastodon.socialD epicdemiologist@wandering.shopE 7 Replies Last reply
    1
    0
    • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

      "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

      Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

      Link Preview Image
      Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

      Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

      favicon

      That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

      hacknorris@mstdn.socialH This user is from outside of this forum
      hacknorris@mstdn.socialH This user is from outside of this forum
      hacknorris@mstdn.social
      wrote last edited by
      #2

      @benjaoming at least for offline ai usage like ollama or for other reasons?

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

        "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

        Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

        Link Preview Image
        Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

        Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

        favicon

        That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

        ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
        ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
        ariarhythmic@ohai.social
        wrote last edited by
        #3

        @benjaoming That's 3 FHD pirated movies' worth of traffic and storage wasted on AI slop served to many users many of whom will never touch it

        fucking hell

        axeln@norden.socialA 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA ariarhythmic@ohai.social

          @benjaoming That's 3 FHD pirated movies' worth of traffic and storage wasted on AI slop served to many users many of whom will never touch it

          fucking hell

          axeln@norden.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
          axeln@norden.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
          axeln@norden.social
          wrote last edited by
          #4

          @ariarhythmic @benjaoming If you have that model deployed on a billion machines in your own browser, who’s to stop you from remote controlling it?

          ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • axeln@norden.socialA axeln@norden.social

            @ariarhythmic @benjaoming If you have that model deployed on a billion machines in your own browser, who’s to stop you from remote controlling it?

            ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
            ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
            ariarhythmic@ohai.social
            wrote last edited by
            #5

            @axeln @benjaoming They already have the browser itself for that, downloading the model is part of the control

            axeln@norden.socialA 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

              "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

              Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

              Link Preview Image
              Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

              Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

              favicon

              That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

              naturemc@mastodon.onlineN This user is from outside of this forum
              naturemc@mastodon.onlineN This user is from outside of this forum
              naturemc@mastodon.online
              wrote last edited by
              #6

              @benjaoming #degoogle #Chrome #aisucks ⬆️

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

                "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

                Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

                Link Preview Image
                Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

                Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

                favicon

                That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

                dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                dckim@mastodon.social
                wrote last edited by
                #7

                @benjaoming at least you will know that this is the absolute best one. I think a lot of people will actually be happy about this. I am fairly certain that this has not taken place. It can be verified directly in the file system.

                How can this be verified? I'm pretty sure it's false.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • ariarhythmic@ohai.socialA ariarhythmic@ohai.social

                  @axeln @benjaoming They already have the browser itself for that, downloading the model is part of the control

                  axeln@norden.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                  axeln@norden.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                  axeln@norden.social
                  wrote last edited by
                  #8

                  @ariarhythmic @benjaoming Exactly. Now imagine being able to orchestrate those billions of 4GB LLMs. That’s a huge data center, with your users paying the electricity bill.

                  kichae@wanderingadventure.partyK 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

                    "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

                    Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

                    Link Preview Image
                    Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

                    Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

                    favicon

                    That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

                    epicdemiologist@wandering.shopE This user is from outside of this forum
                    epicdemiologist@wandering.shopE This user is from outside of this forum
                    epicdemiologist@wandering.shop
                    wrote last edited by
                    #9

                    @benjaoming Thank you. Uninstalled Chrome, which I rarely use anyway.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

                      "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

                      Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

                      Link Preview Image
                      Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

                      Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

                      favicon

                      That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

                      kens@mastodon.unoK This user is from outside of this forum
                      kens@mastodon.unoK This user is from outside of this forum
                      kens@mastodon.uno
                      wrote last edited by
                      #10

                      @benjaoming
                      Shortly...
                      Google?
                      Chrome???
                      Never!

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • benjaoming@social.data.coopB benjaoming@social.data.coop

                        "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

                        Recommended to read some of the details in this report... It's completely bonkers and immoral, whether because of privacy or climate. There is zero respect for the user nor planet left.

                        Link Preview Image
                        Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

                        Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

                        favicon

                        That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

                        ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                        ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                        ferricoxide@blahaj.zone
                        wrote last edited by
                        #11

                        @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                        So, while I
                        have Chrome installed, I'm going to guess I haven't launched Chrome since they started this fuckery?

                        Link Preview Image
                        benjaoming@social.data.coopB ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF 3 Replies Last reply
                        0
                        • ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF ferricoxide@blahaj.zone

                          @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                          So, while I
                          have Chrome installed, I'm going to guess I haven't launched Chrome since they started this fuckery?

                          Link Preview Image
                          benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
                          benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
                          benjaoming@social.data.coop
                          wrote last edited by
                          #12

                          @ferricoxide it would be interesting with a before/after test for sure! thanks for sharing!

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF ferricoxide@blahaj.zone

                            @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                            So, while I
                            have Chrome installed, I'm going to guess I haven't launched Chrome since they started this fuckery?

                            Link Preview Image
                            ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                            ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                            ferricoxide@blahaj.zone
                            wrote last edited by
                            #13

                            @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                            Also, I tend to make use of multiple (per) browser profiles to keep "personal" and "work" (etc.) wholly separate from each other. If I had two profiles under my user account, would I end up with 8GiB in models getting shoved onto my system?

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF ferricoxide@blahaj.zone

                              @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                              So, while I
                              have Chrome installed, I'm going to guess I haven't launched Chrome since they started this fuckery?

                              Link Preview Image
                              ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                              ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF This user is from outside of this forum
                              ferricoxide@blahaj.zone
                              wrote last edited by
                              #14

                              @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                              Also, I tend to make use of multiple (per) browser profiles to keep "personal" and "work" (etc.) wholly separate from each other. If I had two profiles under my user account, would I end up with 8GiB in models getting shoved onto my system?

                              benjaoming@social.data.coopB 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneF ferricoxide@blahaj.zone

                                @benjaoming@social.data.coop

                                Also, I tend to make use of multiple (per) browser profiles to keep "personal" and "work" (etc.) wholly separate from each other. If I had two profiles under my user account, would I end up with 8GiB in models getting shoved onto my system?

                                benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
                                benjaoming@social.data.coopB This user is from outside of this forum
                                benjaoming@social.data.coop
                                wrote last edited by
                                #15

                                @ferricoxide those are all good questions - I'm cheering for you to go and make the experiment with your local installation and share your findings (before uninstalling Chrome)

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • axeln@norden.socialA axeln@norden.social

                                  @ariarhythmic @benjaoming Exactly. Now imagine being able to orchestrate those billions of 4GB LLMs. That’s a huge data center, with your users paying the electricity bill.

                                  kichae@wanderingadventure.partyK This user is from outside of this forum
                                  kichae@wanderingadventure.partyK This user is from outside of this forum
                                  kichae@wanderingadventure.party
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #16

                                  axel. No one wants to use 4GB LLMs, though. Even the 20GB version of Gemma is frustratingly "stupid" and "insubordinate". A 4GB model is going be impossibly unreliable. There's no value in using these as a distributed data centre.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                                    dckim@mastodon.social
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #17

                                    @liquor_american @benjaoming i think i'll search for it now. And maybe I should read the blog post... hmmm...

                                    dckim@mastodon.socialD 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • dckim@mastodon.socialD dckim@mastodon.social

                                      @liquor_american @benjaoming i think i'll search for it now. And maybe I should read the blog post... hmmm...

                                      dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                                      dckim@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
                                      dckim@mastodon.social
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #18

                                      @liquor_american @benjaoming

                                      I don't think I have it, so I feel sort of ripped off right now.

                                      I tried asking the AI from google to tell me where it is.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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