<![CDATA[Uninstall Chrome.]]>Uninstall Chrome.

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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.

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That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/bcc756da-bf34-4463-84cf-b1621e254ddf/uninstall-chrome.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 07:44:32 GMTTue, 05 May 2026 11:47:23 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 17:56:49 GMT]]>@mhoye And what are users going to do about Mozilla's "anonymized" ad tracking?

Waterfox and Librewolf are preferable.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/tasket/statuses/116523257637175914https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/tasket/statuses/116523257637175914Tue, 05 May 2026 17:56:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 17:24:44 GMT]]>@mhoye @mpjgregoire Speed was why I used it for a while. I stopped when they decided to undermine adblockers.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://h4.io/users/joshisanonymous/statuses/116523131485724401https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://h4.io/users/joshisanonymous/statuses/116523131485724401Tue, 05 May 2026 17:24:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:55:49 GMT]]>@mpjgregoire There was a period of a few years there when literally everyone who did a Google search was given a popup to download and install Chrome, with the claim that it was a faster browser.

(And in truth for a long time it was. Firefox was very complacent for a long time.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116523017775100286https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116523017775100286Tue, 05 May 2026 16:55:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:51:12 GMT]]>@mhoye I've never understood why so any people switched to Chrome in the first place. I've been using Firefox consistently since the 90s on my personal devices.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mpjgregoire/statuses/116522999674081994https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mpjgregoire/statuses/116522999674081994Tue, 05 May 2026 16:51:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:42:26 GMT]]>@mhoye or Vivaldi? Chrome based but AI free.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.hansup.be/users/hans/statuses/116522965145327229https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.hansup.be/users/hans/statuses/116522965145327229Tue, 05 May 2026 16:42:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:35:45 GMT]]>@aerique @noscript Noscript is a godsend on low-resource machines.

I've also got an extensive pile of uBlock bonus content here - gist.github.com/mhoye/dcc2c2febeba230ca7ceb25c970390a1 - that makes life a lot more pleasant.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522938904574629https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522938904574629Tue, 05 May 2026 16:35:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:22:47 GMT]]>@mhoye It's an acquired taste but also try to get used to using @noscript.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://genart.social/users/aerique/statuses/116522887924579368https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://genart.social/users/aerique/statuses/116522887924579368Tue, 05 May 2026 16:22:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 16:01:52 GMT]]>@elebertus But when you can show them what adblocked internet looks like, it's like giving them clean running water for the first time.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522805625101547https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522805625101547Tue, 05 May 2026 16:01:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 15:23:00 GMT]]>@sol_hsa edge

May I recommend something less intrusive and non-consensual, yet, in my admittedly narrow personal experience, very compatible?

@mhoye

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sunny.garden/users/dacmot/statuses/116522652832800307https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sunny.garden/users/dacmot/statuses/116522652832800307Tue, 05 May 2026 15:23:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 15:08:36 GMT]]>@Footle @mhoye @mhcat think it's more like

  • install Firefox
  • Uncheck the AI pref
  • No really uncheck all the AI prefs
  • Uncheck the advertising ones too
  • Set a monthly reminder to uncheck them all again later, and uncheck whatever new ones got added since

(still way better than Chrome obvs)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hey.hagelb.org/users/technomancy/statuses/01KQWAY4QBNG5TKN31281HEMZShttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hey.hagelb.org/users/technomancy/statuses/01KQWAY4QBNG5TKN31281HEMZSTue, 05 May 2026 15:08:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 15:05:15 GMT]]>@mhoye @mhcat So from what I gather, it's pretty much what I already knew: It's upstream Firefox with hardening and privacy focused changes, with community testing. It's not a funded effort, it's a community effort to improve security and privacy on the notoriously insecure and privacy-eroding Firefox. It makes sense that they rely on community testing and feedback as they are not a huge corporation with funding to do that themselves. I can't find fault with that; there are countless successful and useful projects out there in a similar position and if we faulted them all for lack of paid personnel we wouldn't have the open source ecosystem we all enjoy.

I get why someone would be cautious about a project like Librewolf; I was myself when I first heard of it but the fact is that it's simply a modified Firefox where all of the changes are positive and beneficial, if a bit heavy-handed in the name of security and privacy. I recently explored building it from source on OpenBSD and had the opportunity to compare changes in the source to upstream, and while I'm not a developer by trade I do have a little experience with coding and I never saw anything malicious or harmful. Then again, I am one person and it's a huge project.

Still, I'm put off by your statement "...librewolf is a misguided spite-fork...", that sounds deeply personal and emotional. I try not to let one person's negative interaction with another person or project color my viewpoint; if they have attacked you or otherwise acted negatively towards you I can understand your opinion, but I can't share it as that has not been my experience at all.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://exquisite.social/users/kaidenshi/statuses/116522583026763651https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://exquisite.social/users/kaidenshi/statuses/116522583026763651Tue, 05 May 2026 15:05:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:25:13 GMT]]>@kaidenshi @mhcat Not sure what to tell you:

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]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522425618042167https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522425618042167Tue, 05 May 2026 14:25:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:23:59 GMT]]>@mhoye then I guess @torproject / is the way to go…

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/ap/users/116307071344437495/statuses/116522420735995199https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://c.im/ap/users/116307071344437495/statuses/116522420735995199Tue, 05 May 2026 14:23:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:14:30 GMT]]>@mhoye @mhcat that’s a bit harsh, have you had a negative personal interaction with the Librewolf team? I’ve found that even with the toggles you mentioned, Firefox still sends data back to Mozilla constantly. It’s as if they don’t honor their own settings. With Librewolf I have yet to find any nefarious or secret behavior like that. I can’t speak to their test environment since I’m not a developer, but the fact that the entire reason for their existence is to secure and harden Firefox is why I use their browser.

I’m going to dig into your claims about their lack of security and testing because that kind of thing is deeply concerning.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://exquisite.social/users/kaidenshi/statuses/116522383463243398https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://exquisite.social/users/kaidenshi/statuses/116522383463243398Tue, 05 May 2026 14:14:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:08:25 GMT]]>@kkarhan @Waterfox @torproject Waterfox and Librewolf are both spite-forks with no security team and no update mechanism. You can do what you want with your computer, but if you care about security at all you're far better off on mainline Firefox with the options you don't like turned off.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522359532351672https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522359532351672Tue, 05 May 2026 14:08:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:08:21 GMT]]>@mhoye I mostly use Firefox, but have to switch to edge for many web stores 😞

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/sol_hsa/statuses/116522359289584215https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/sol_hsa/statuses/116522359289584215Tue, 05 May 2026 14:08:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:04:37 GMT]]>@sibrosan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich
@mhoye

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/tip/statuses/116522344596462861https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/tip/statuses/116522344596462861Tue, 05 May 2026 14:04:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:02:28 GMT]]>@sibrosan the founder.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522336145130937https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522336145130937Tue, 05 May 2026 14:02:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 14:01:08 GMT]]>@Footle @mhcat yes.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522330942962635https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522330942962635Tue, 05 May 2026 14:01:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:58:24 GMT]]>@mhoye 💕

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://corteximplant.com/users/ann3nova/statuses/116522320141857460https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://corteximplant.com/users/ann3nova/statuses/116522320141857460Tue, 05 May 2026 13:58:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:50:35 GMT]]>@mhoye @mhcat There's at least one additional checkbox now because AI use is opt-out in mainline Firefox isn't it?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/Footle/statuses/116522289447060407https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tech.lgbt/users/Footle/statuses/116522289447060407Tue, 05 May 2026 13:50:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:45:33 GMT]]>@mhoye what is "eich" 🤔

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sibrosan/statuses/116522269650513773https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sibrosan/statuses/116522269650513773Tue, 05 May 2026 13:45:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:33:39 GMT]]>@sibrosan the cryptocurrency scam and eich specifically.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522222827110098https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/mhoye/statuses/116522222827110098Tue, 05 May 2026 13:33:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Uninstall Chrome. on Tue, 05 May 2026 13:31:04 GMT]]>@mhoye why not Brave

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The browser that puts you first | Brave

The Brave browser is a fast, private and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile. Download now to enjoy a faster ad-free browsing experience that saves data and battery life by blocking tracking software.

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Brave (brave.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sibrosan/statuses/116522212663041733https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sibrosan/statuses/116522212663041733Tue, 05 May 2026 13:31:04 GMT