Some of you are aware of how "paranoid" I am, and refuse to have my Calendar and Contact synced via google.
Just before I did my firmware upgrade today, I used an application in the market place called MyBackup, but I carefully avoided choosing to backup to local (SD card) and not Online.
After I flashed the new firmware and made the restore, I discoverd to my horror that all my contacts are now having the symbol "g" within a square, which I understood to be indicative of the fact that these contact are now also stored in Google's server somewhere, and none of the contact are coming from my phone! So, MyBackup restored my entire contact database from my phone to the cloud rather than my phone? There is not single contact entry on my phone now. Everything I have is shown to be from Google.
Anyone knows how the hell could this happen? Is MyBackup a sneaky program which steal all these information and put it to the cloud without my consent?
I'm really really pissed
Now I'm forced to put in dummy tel number and address, birthday to all my contact and let Google get the false data, before abandoning Google phone platform all together. THIS IS EVIL, SNEAKY, UNETHICAL !!!
You really are paranoid .
I don't think MyBackup Pro actually stores all your contacts on some Google server - I think the app just assumes they are Google contacts. I've stopped using it for backing up contacts for a different reason: because it duplicates everything when restoring it - a real PITA. And by everything I mean everything - linked contacts become multiple independent contacts, some of them without any details and impossible to delete without a factory reset. I'm actually using Kies for that now (ironic, no? ).
Do you have a Google account for using the phone with? The simple thing do is to log in there and check whether your contacts are actually in there. If not then they probably aren't.
If you are that paranoid perhaps put the phone into airplane mode when you backup?
I think you are being a bit paranoid here. Besides google might just keep changelogs on the contact which would render you attempt with dummy info useless.
I just checked. I don't see any entry under contact when I signed in. Whew!
But please explain to me why all my contacts now are displayed under the google heading? (You know the display option in contact lets us select contact on the SIM, Phone, or Google?), now all my entries are under google. Yet, I don't see any thing there (yet?)
According to this thread, I think there's still a possibility that my details has already been taken without my permission, although it's not reflected in the contact list in google account.
I'm confused...
To anyone of you thinking that I'm paranoid, one day you will know I'm right. The world just isn't as innocent as you think.
I have to very seriously re-evaluate whether I would want an Android phone. It's way too open, anyone can take information from me, since there is no QA done on the market place applications.
Think someone's had a bit too much wacky tobacco.
GOT you info
I could be wrong but all my contact say Google except the one i use my HTC Sync to transfer my work email from Outlook.
By the way i can see all of your contacts. You were too late!!!
eaglesteve said:
To anyone of you thinking that I'm paranoid, one day you will know I'm right. The world just isn't as innocent as you think.
I have to very seriously re-evaluate whether I would want an Android phone. It's way too open, anyone can take information from me, since there is no QA done on the market place applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, for starters,
1) The [G] means they have been imported into your Google account. Probably, as mentioned by your backup. Go to Google Contacts and you can wipe them. But no, I don't believe they took them without your permissions.
2) What makes your email addresses so valuable? Do you honestly believe Google cares? Hahaha... Clearly, you don't know anyone who works at Google. I met a bunch and they really are all legends, and they know your rights. They are normal people, not politicians. This is in comparison to Apple people I know, who I post stuff to on their facebook wall, they remove it secretly and tell me by email that they didn't want their manager to see it.
3) If you are concerned about privacy, why can you trust the "MyBackup" program. did you install an applications which isn't open source?
Perhaps you should get a dumb phone or hack up your own firmware and remove Google's services?
You should also consider avoiding entering ANY google account if you don't trust them. Why did you enter them in the first place? To enter the market where Google could track your downloads, your location and your firmware? Seriously, I strongly urge you to sell your Android phone if you don't trust them. Instead, get a dumb phone. I however believe my contacts list is useless to Google, so have no problems sharing information with them
i don't know about that backup program you are using.
however, if you are concerned about the contacts @ google.
just login to your google account, and select DELETE all contacts, in your account.
then it'll be all gone
you can do the same for all the emails too.
once deleted they will no longer have your data on their servers.
eaglesteve said:
Some of you are aware of how "paranoid" I am, and refuse to have my Calendar and Contact synced via google.
Just before I did my firmware upgrade today, I used an application in the market place called MyBackup, but I carefully avoided choosing to backup to local (SD card) and not Online.
After I flashed the new firmware and made the restore, I discoverd to my horror that all my contacts are now having the symbol "g" within a square, which I understood to be indicative of the fact that these contact are now also stored in Google's server somewhere, and none of the contact are coming from my phone! So, MyBackup restored my entire contact database from my phone to the cloud rather than my phone? There is not single contact entry on my phone now. Everything I have is shown to be from Google.
Anyone knows how the hell could this happen? Is MyBackup a sneaky program which steal all these information and put it to the cloud without my consent?
I'm really really pissed
Now I'm forced to put in dummy tel number and address, birthday to all my contact and let Google get the false data, before abandoning Google phone platform all together. THIS IS EVIL, SNEAKY, UNETHICAL !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's BackupPro when it restores the contacts it assigns them as Google. I made the mistake of backing-up and restoring contacts with this and spent the next hour wondering how I've got contacts with 3 Google entries when I was expecting only two.
I have no problem syncing all my data with Google's servers, but I want to remember everyone that the right of privacy is an absolute requirement for a working democracy.
If eaglesteve does not want his data being stored at a central repository then he has every right to freak out when it appears as if his contacts were synced with Google's Servers.
Of course, if he should believe that Google is after him personally, well, then this is probably a bad sign of paranoia
flamingpitofhell said:
You really are paranoid .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the same until I saw he's in Australia.... the government over there is screwed up big time. The crap they are trying to do to their Internet is appalling.
I'm also paranoid about the same...i did this to solve (ive not an english firmware so will try to give simmilar instructions):
go to contacts -> menu -> more -> import/export and save all contacts to a vcard on SD, and connect to pc and save that vcard on pc.
Go into settings -> privacy -> "erase all data" (dunno how its called on english firmware)
then i chose to erase data on SD also after unmounting it.
After that i restarted phone without simcard and with volup+home+power i cleared cache and hard reseted it.
After that the phone boots with factory settings and without simcard and keep it that way and connect to internet via wireless after booting.
Then i checked if i had no contacts, there were none so all okay... went to menu, definitions -> "accounts and sincronization" and i added my google account, but i unchecked first the auto sync and data in second plan above (the options above, dunno how they are called in english firmware). Then the google account was added. Then i disabled wireless and checked the options i disabled in last step (the auto sync and the other), i opened the google account i added in last step and disabled all syncs there (sync calendar, contacts and gmail).
After that i went to contacts and restored all contacts via the vcard, all are stored on phone after that (via the same import/export option).
As a final option i went to my gmail and deleted all contacts synced... now the phone is not syncing with google in any way but i can use the market because i have a google acc added...
dunno if i explained myself well, it worked for me that way.
I'd love to hear some worst case scenarios of what you think might happen if mr google checks your contacts and finds your mate Fred's email address.
And also why you'd think anyone would want to know your contacts.
are you worried that your network provider has a log of who you called and when?
if they find Fred's address, Fred is effed.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
well.... i dont like to give my info/data away, just really when needed.... some years ago maybe not, but today, google and other companies have so much info about so much people around the world, and you dont even know if they use it or not, you are not there to check... they can for example see the places you visit more because of gps tracking, if people in some zone visit shoppings a lot and at what times, who your friends are and if they use android and gmail also (by contacts), and assemble strategies for their business based on that, because all we are giving is free info about what we do, who we are, who our friends are....that, for business activities is very valuable. And im not talking about gmail, with all valuable info about everyone, they are able to see all your info since you have all stuff stored on their servers and they dont need to tell to you anything about it and you dont even know they maybe will do it... i may be wrong, but thats my point of view, i didnt had that oppinion since a friend i have, erased all his mails from gmail telling me "google can use all my info for marketing purposes or another stuff"...
They give us free services, but there is no such things as free services... we pay with info to improve their business, thats my point of view...
I'm not concerned with the email of my friends. I'm concerned that their photos, address, birthday, spouse's name, children's name, telephone number, work place number, fax number, and everything is on the cloud, which means any hacker could get it, and the consequence would be serious. It's not giving MY details away. It's giving my friend's details away, and I don't want to do that to my friends.
In Australia, we have this thing called the Privacy law. You just can't come around and grab my wifi address, email login password, and claim that you make a mistake unintentionally. All these data stealings are deliberate.
For those of you saying that it's not a big deal, could you all in your next post show me your real photos, address, name, telephone numbers, birthday, spouse's name, children's name, and the other typical contact info on this forum.
So, now they grabbed my contact without my consent. Have they also grabbed my eWallet password file and are now cracking it?
I can't believe you guys are not seeing problem here.
Nuf said.
as long as google don't try to sell me anything they can do what they want with my data.
I'm pretty sure my bank and credit card company know more about me than google and their sales and junk mail are certainly more annoying than anything google ever did to me.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I've been working in Germany for a while there I decided to buy a Nexus 4 through the Play Store.
However I came to Portugal, and now on my Play Store continues to show me the categories "Movies" and "Books" with content in German language when not even available here in Portugal.
I already removed my address German Google account and returned to pre-define the abode Portuguese.
I'm sure this is some definition to my account, because I started the session with another Android and appears in Portuguese and all without the categories "Movies" and "Books."
I think my Google account continues to be taken as if it were still in Germany.
Does anyone know how I can resolve this situation?
I leave also two prints of the situation, the same happens on my computer's browser.
Thanks
asm19 said:
I've been working in Germany for a while there I decided to buy a Nexus 4 through the Play Store.
However I came to Portugal, and now on my Play Store continues to show me the categories "Movies" and "Books" with content in German language when not even available here in Portugal.
I already removed my address German Google account and returned to pre-define the abode Portuguese.
I'm sure this is some definition to my account, because I started the session with another Android and appears in Portuguese and all without the categories "Movies" and "Books."
I think my Google account continues to be taken as if it were still in Germany.
Does anyone know how I can resolve this situation?
I leave also two prints of the situation, the same happens on my computer's browser.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can change some things at:
Primary Language: https://www.google.com/settings/account
Credit Cards https://wallet.google.com/manage/#paymentMethods
Home Address: https://wallet.google.com/manage/#settings
Latitude Home & Work: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/dashboard
Also check which Country SIM card you currently have, and what Country IP addess you used to created your Gmail account.
Android Market tends to use current SIM card for Country Location.
SpookyTunes said:
You can change some things at:
Primary Language: https://www.google.com/settings/account
Credit Cards https://wallet.google.com/manage/#paymentMethods
Home Address: https://wallet.google.com/manage/#settings
Latitude Home & Work: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0/dashboard
Also check which Country SIM card you currently have, and what Country IP addess you used to created your Gmail account.
Android Market tends to use current SIM card for Country Location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Primary Language: have in Portuguese, second in english
Credit Cards: Add one Portuguese, when I came to Portugal
Home Address: have in Portuguese
Latitude Home & Work: he had no active service, have enabled now
My country SIM card is Portuguese. IP used in google account which will be also one of Portugal, I'm not using a proxy/VPN foreign.
Already cleared the browser cookies, and the cache of Play Store. I do not know what could be...
some guys from my country (Poland) had exactly the same problem.
as stated 2 posts above, you have to change all your settings back to portugese everywhere in google services, and that also includes google wallet !!
and after that im pretty sure you have to re-login to your google account on the nexus 4 which is basically doing a factory wipe/reset!
also keep in mind that i do recall some guys from polish forums claiming that even after that did all that, the problem didint fix.
i think they ended up calling google for help, after all it is not illegal to buy this phone the way you did
dzumagos said:
some guys from my country (Poland) had exactly the same problem.
as stated 2 posts above, you have to change all your settings back to portugese everywhere in google services, and that also includes google wallet !!
and after that im pretty sure you have to re-login to your google account on the nexus 4 which is basically doing a factory wipe/reset!
also keep in mind that i do recall some guys from polish forums claiming that even after that did all that, the problem didint fix.
i think they ended up calling google for help, after all it is not illegal to buy this phone the way you did
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done all this but still could not solve the problem...
This is my first XDA developers post, so please let me know if I've posted this in the wrong place and I'll move it. I've been a silent user of XDA for a while now, it's a fantastic resource with some incredibly talented contributors.
I had a Galaxy S2, it died and I got a Galaxy S5 and now I have a problem with my calendars. Details below.
Old Phone
Device: Galaxy S2 GT-i9100
ROM: Slim-4.4.4.build.9.0-OFFICIAL-8301
Relevant Apps:
"Email" com.android.email version 4.4.4-8301
"Exchange Services" com.android.exchange version 4.4.4-8301
"Exchange Services" com.google.android.gm.exchange version 6.5-1520254
New Phone
Device: Galaxy S5 SM-G900I
ROM: Omega v17 XXUPOCF
Relevant Apps:
"Email" version 5.0.0.0200
"Exchange Services" version 4.4.2.0100
Mail Server
Zimbra 8.6.0_GA_1162 (build 20150225174718) FOSS
Situation
Mail Account has multiple writeable calendars, a shared writeable calendar and a shared read only calendar.
Both Phones connect via activesync (I did previously use IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV & CardDAV, but it was too cumbersome and unreliable, so I use ActiveSync because 1 moving part is better than 4)
Old Phone
Presented all of the calendars separately.
Appointments could be added to any writeable calendar(irrespective of which account owned it. Apointments for read only calendar can be viewed.
All calendars could be separately: identified, displayed and even coloured(via the Calendar Colours app from F Droid).
Problem with New Phone
Merges all calendars into a single calendar.
I can't do any of the above tasks that I could do on my old phone.
Additional Facts
Have tried a few different ROMs on the new phone, same result with one exception. The SM-G900I Alpha for SlimKat gave me separation, though this Alpha has other usability issues which rule it out at this time.
I have tried changing around the versions of the above softwares on the new phone to the newer versions, and even matching versions with those on Slim, but no luck.
I hypothesise that this issue has nothing to do with the Calendar app I use and all to do with the ActiveSync client, which I guess to be "Exchange Services"
I can use S Planner, Business Calendar 2, Google Calendar etc.. changing the calendar app does not give me separation. They all seem to have the ability to handle separation because the different providers such as gmail and local are separate.
I have not made any changes to the Zimbra server or any user accounts/mailboxes/calendars, and there is still another user with the exact same "Old Phone" setup as above, and they have separation working as my "Old Phone" did.
Thanks
So I just flashed MM stock ROM to my unlocked (and rooted) N910C (my device's region is United Arab Emirates and so that's the respective ROM that I downloaded and flashed.) Because of the region, however, S Planner has Islamic holidays (and dates) built-in. Since I'm not a Muslim, I'd rather not have this feature (I quadruple checked and there is no option to disable it.) I even uninstalled S Planner and installed an S7 port of S Planner, but it still had the built-in Islamic holidays/dates.
Because of this, I assume it's a system feature and not an S Planner feature. Does anyone know where to find it in the system? I'm not a developer, so presently this seems more like a needle-in-a-haystack kind of thing that I'm not about to attempt on my own. Otherwise my next option would be to flash an N910C-based MM stock ROM, just from a different region. I've never flashed using a different region before. There are no foreseeable issues, right?
Thanks.
the holidays are probably attached to your gmail account, and can be hidden through the calendars screen(3 dot menu>calendars>holidays in ...) in S planner.
you may also be able to remove the holiday calendar through the Google calendar website.
Its not my Google account, that's for sure (I wish it were that easy.) Going to the Google calendar website shows no Islamic holidays/dates (with my Google account in S Planner, it's "Holidays in the United States" I can check or uncheck.) And unchecking everything from every account calendar in S Planner does nothing. That's what leads me to believe it's part of the system.
Ok, so I'll probably go ahead and flash a different region (as my Googling has only led me to unresolved instances of this same issue.)
Before I reflash, though, do I need to be concerned with CSC/PDA/baseband numbers? Or am I good just so long as it's an N910C firmware? Thanks.
UPDATE (for anyone with this same issue looking for a "fix"): I just finished flashing the Russian region ROM. Islamic holidays/dates are gone.