Database Users

Google TOS & Data Privacy

I have a question about data privacy while using Android and/or any Google service or application. My concern was prompted after installing Google Sky last night and seeing their warning about data collection when starting up.
As a marketing professional, I don't particularly care that Google gathers anonymous data such as browsing history and so on to improve their products and services. They're a business providing employment to others, paying taxes, and contributing to our economy therefore they have both a right to, and deserve to, profit from that. But I do have a very large concern over my privacy where personalized information is concerned.
In particular, I'm talking about whether or not Google has access to my contact, calendar, email, or documents data either on the phone, or especially when synchronizing to their servers. My worry is that Google might be 'snooping' around to see my personal information.
Are my fears unfounded? Do any of you know how the OS and their services are working?

Google will gather all the data it can, including emails and contacts, from your phone, browser, chrome os or any other google product you use. Didn't you read news? Google was even sniffering all traffic from open WI-FI networks.
We can hope that this data is gathered anonymously, but I don't think so. Good thing is that me and you are not interesting to google, so they will collect data, but only use it for targeting advertisement etc.

I guess this is a strong argument for staying with WM, WP7 or even iPhone. Privacy is one of our most valuable assets, and should be protected.

BillTheCat said:
I guess this is a strong argument for staying with WM, WP7 or even iPhone. Privacy is one of our most valuable assets, and should be protected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, WP7 would send all your data to Microsoft as it's all in a cloud. Dunno about iPhone, but probably same, Apple would get everything. And even if you won't be using a phone, goverment is still watching you.
So forget about it and use Android.

Hence why Im not moving to Android yet. I still just want a solution to sync my tasks, calendars at a local level, aka Outlook. Lawl.

The best way for a company to check for trends and how their product is used isn't by creating polls or questionaires of some sort. They almost all, whenever possible, use automatic and passive mechanisms. Yes, google does parse my whole mail. I remember having received a email from my collegue principal and on the ad side of Gmail reading an about about "Tired of putting up with your boss". Facebook does the same think, like many other. Thing is, would you rather have free stuff WITH custom tailored publicity or paying for something to be completly free? Google earns with publicity, and since you are in the marketing area you know better than I that trends are everything. They're just trying to make the best (for their own purposes) of us using their tech. Is it creepy? Yes it is... Will it get worse? You betcha... Just check Google's or Facebook's TOS. Google looks like an angel next to facebook's...

Google drops Exchange ActiveSync. What does it mean for Windows Phone?

Starting February 1st 2013, Windows Phone users won't be able to create full Gmail accounts on Windows Phone. Does Microsoft have a plan?
This afternoon Google has announced the discontinuation of their support of Exchange ActiveSync (EAS aka the standard for many who use email) after January 30th 2013. The question you may be wondering is, how does it affect Windows Phone?
More here from Windows Phone Central http://www.wpcentral.com/google-drops-exchange-activesync-what-s-it-mean-windows-phone
Is this going to affect you ? I sync email, contacts and calendar from google so will this be shut off to existing users who are already setup at the end of January ?
I don't really want to move all my gmail stuff which is work related to microsoft, and I also don't want to give up my 820 so this has thrown a spanner in the works for me.

This means:
1. If you already have your Gmail account set up as a Exchange ActiveSync account on February 1st, it will continue to work for you.
2. If you try to add a new Gmail account (or delete your existing one and try to re-add it, or get a new phone/device/tablet) after February 1st, you will no longer be able to connect it as an Exchange ActiveSync account, which means no tasks, calendar, and contacts.
3. Calendar sync has already been disabled, so if you try to add a Gmail account and sync your Calendar to your phone as of yesterday, it will no longer sync your Calendar.
4. You can still connect your Gmail e-mail using IMAP or POP3, so mail will continue to function after February 1st. Though you may have to recreate your account so that it works properly.
5. This affects any device that uses Exchange ActiveSync as a way to sync information through Google. So not just Windows Phone, but Microsoft Outlook, some older Nokia and Sony devices, other random devices/phones.

Ah thanks
Sent from my RM-825_eu_euro1_217 using Board Express

If you are using Google Apps and hosting a custom domain, nothing should change for you. As far as I know, even Calendar sync still works. However, Google Apps no longer offers a free version, that happened about two weeks ago, most likely in preparation for killing off EAS.

A few months ago this would have really irked me, but when I decided to try Outlook.com, it won me over. More importantly, thanks to Microsoft's free Live Domains hosting service, I've moved all my private, custom domains over to use Outlook.com as the default provider.
It's a safe bet that Microsoft will never discontinue support for Exchange Activesync, so I'm actually really happy. Plus, the deep integration with SkyDrive and other MS services means, simply enough, that I don't really give a **** what Google does anymore. I don't use their mediocre online office tools, nor their Drive service, nor their excellent but ultimately irrelevant in the face of Nokia, maps service. On top of that, the TubePro app for WP8 is far superior to the Google provided Youtube app on iOS or Android, so again, I'm not at all worried.
Windows phone 8 doesn't *need* Google.

jasongw said:
A few months ago this would have really irked me, but when I decided to try Outlook.com, it won me over. More importantly, thanks to Microsoft's free Live Domains hosting service, I've moved all my private, custom domains over to use Outlook.com as the default provider.
It's a safe bet that Microsoft will never discontinue support for Exchange Activesync, so I'm actually really happy. Plus, the deep integration with SkyDrive and other MS services means, simply enough, that I don't really give a **** what Google does anymore. I don't use their mediocre online office tools, nor their Drive service, nor their excellent but ultimately irrelevant in the face of Nokia, maps service. On top of that, the TubePro app for WP8 is far superior to the Google provided Youtube app on iOS or Android, so again, I'm not at all worried.
Windows phone 8 doesn't *need* Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OOH, wow, I didn't know they offered that for free, I was about to buy an exchange email thru rackspace! Might have to give that a go.

jasongw said:
A few months ago this would have really irked me, but when I decided to try Outlook.com, it won me over. More importantly, thanks to Microsoft's free Live Domains hosting service, I've moved all my private, custom domains over to use Outlook.com as the default provider.
It's a safe bet that Microsoft will never discontinue support for Exchange Activesync, so I'm actually really happy. Plus, the deep integration with SkyDrive and other MS services means, simply enough, that I don't really give a **** what Google does anymore. I don't use their mediocre online office tools, nor their Drive service, nor their excellent but ultimately irrelevant in the face of Nokia, maps service. On top of that, the TubePro app for WP8 is far superior to the Google provided Youtube app on iOS or Android, so again, I'm not at all worried.
Windows phone 8 doesn't *need* Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could I please ask something about the Live Domains thing. What sort of control do you get on top of a normal Outlook.com account? Can you switch off ads like with a Google Apps account? I have a free Apps account right now and not sure whether to pay for it or move to an Outlook.com account and switch my domain over to Microsoft.

Http://domains.live.com to sign up.
What you get when you setup your domains for the Outlook.com servers, which is fairly simple (it involves proving domain ownership via DNS TXT record creation, and assigning new MX records to point to Microsoft's servers), is basic but robust. You can't turn off ads, but what you can do is create as many free email accounts as you want. Each is an official "Microsoft Account," which means of course that you get the same access to SkyDrive, office web apps, People (for contacts), Calendar, and so on, all wrapped in the sexy new UI. As the admin, you do have access to delete these user accounts, so ideally you won't be a **** to those you give accounts to .
If you want, you can also give away free email accounts on your domains. The first 500 are automatic and free, after that you have to ask them to up your limit, but it's still free (not sure if there's an upper limit, but it's something I'd like to test .
The Outlook.com UI of course offers gobs of advanced filtering options that are user manageable.
Screenshot of the main Control Panel UI attached. There are several more pages of options I didn't show because of course they have personal data, but suffice to say there are a fair few options. Plus, you can do co-branding if you want, which is slick in and of itself.
Now that I think of it...I need to set something up for that
The Jones said:
Could I please ask something about the Live Domains thing. What sort of control do you get on top of a normal Outlook.com account? Can you switch off ads like with a Google Apps account? I have a free Apps account right now and not sure whether to pay for it or move to an Outlook.com account and switch my domain over to Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Awesome reply. Thanks.
Sent from my RM-825_eu_euro1_217 using Board Express

Google will be removing Google sync support for WP. They called it "Winter Cleaning".
So Google contacts and Calender sync will not be available.
I say, if Google is rejecting WP, then Why doesn't Microsoft STOP Android OEMs from using Microsoft's PATENTS. Those Patents for which Android OEMs need to pay to Microsoft for every Android device they sale.
Sent from my GT-S5570 using xda app-developers app

Apourv said:
Google will be removing Google sync support for WP. They called it "Winter Cleaning".
So Google contacts and Calender sync will not be available.
I say, if Google is rejecting WP, then Why doesn't Microsoft STOP Android OEMs from using Microsoft's PATENTS. Those Patents for which Android OEMs need to pay to Microsoft for every Android device they sale.
Sent from my GT-S5570 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because that there is more income than all of windows phone

Win.
Inviato dal mio ST26i con Tapatalk 2

Hate it when companies stop providing features just to push themselves and make other services/companies look bad.
Google's been a **** to Microsoft for a while now. Google pushes the abysmal mobile site that works on my ancient Nokia 5200, instead of the nice version to iOS and Android, to WinPhone7, the Youtube app is ridiculous, no maps. I bet Microsoft is a **** to Google too, but this whole thing sucks.
So then Microsoft goes around and doesn't give Google+ any love (Google+ is still trying to force me to use it, but I wont have any of it.)
Google's increasingly getting on my nerves and being more and more pushy, like a stalker. Reading my mail to push me ads, saving my searches to push me ads, it's just pissing me off. It's been consistently useless for all except domain name searching (For eg. if I want to find the official site for a product). Bing needs to up it's game so I can move to an alternative.
Apple is a master at this game too - they don't want to improve their touch APIs for WebKit, or make it open. They wont show any love to Microsoft's alternative touch API which even Chrome and Firefox people are supporting.

I'm trolling google everyday by using adblock.

Yeah, in 2013 ppl still don't know that such a tool exists...ffs

mcosmin222 said:
I'm trolling google everyday by using adblock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's a big 10-4....
As far as "reading my email" goes, anyone that isn't encrypting their emails is fooling themselves if there is any belief it is private, at any point along the intraweeb.

To support google's ecosystem, which MS will have to if they want to be competitive, they will need to adopt CalDAV and CardDAV, which is no bad thing because it gives us consumers choice.
The days of pushing proprietary technologies are, thankfully, over.

But how are consumers affected by these kind of technologies? It is not as obvious as using WP over android, or the other way around.
Microsoft exchange is still used by the overwhelming majority of people on this planet. Pretty much every single email service, apart from the one provided by Google and some business specific emails, uses this system. Almost every single email user on the planet has another email address than google.
Google is just afraid of microsoft cutting their services, that's all.
As a email user of this planet, I could not care less what technology lies behind my email address. It could MS exchange, it could be google's new framework. I don't care. And why? because the end result is basically the same: I can check my email address.
On the other hand, dropping support of such services disrupts my ability to check my email from my WP, for example. Now what? I don't see any benefit from that, only more tiresome things to do. Will I see Windows Phone as the problem? Hell no!. Google will be my problem. Will I drop google services? very likely.
Just as a side-note, the only google service is use is their search, because bing is nowhere near as powerful in my region.

mcosmin222 said:
But how are consumers affected by these kind of technologies? It is not as obvious as using WP over android, or the other way around.
Microsoft exchange is still used by the overwhelming majority of people on this planet. Pretty much every single email service, apart from the one provided by Google and some business specific emails, uses this system. Almost every single email user on the planet has another email address than google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, no. This is completely wrong. Exchange is but no means used by 'the overwhelming majority of people'. In business maybe, consumers no way.
Google have over 425 million users on gmail, Yahoo over 310 million and most people use either IMAP or POP3. Very, very few consumers are willing to pay for exchange.

uuh. You;re right, I was thinking about something else lol.
anyway
You said...
To support google's ecosystem, which MS will have to if they want to be competitive, they will need to adopt CalDAV and CardDAV, which is no bad thing because it gives us consumers choice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is this favoring the customers? My point is, if google is doing something to break what it is working, how will this be beneficial for users?

Admob account closed, is it proper to register a new?

Hello,
my AdMob account has been disabled since this morning however, I have a slight suggestion where I might have violated the policies. I have read too much negative opinions about this ad network, not to mention that I have only ONE opportunity to send them an appeal email. So not only have I lost about 500$ but I dont have any chance to reinstantiate my account either. Though I dont admit the violation, the possibility that I get my account back equals zero and I dont want to bother writing the e-mail. So my question: is it legal to set up a new admob acc with another existing gmail account with the same paypal address, same name etc? So I could create a new admob id for every app I have and replace the ids with the new ones. Is it proper? Or will they shut me down again? The only thing that I found related to this, that I will never able to use the shut down admob account again.
Thank you in advance!

AdMob account disabled - no explanation
caoladder said:
Hello,
my AdMob account has been disabled since this morning however, I have a slight suggestion where I might have violated the policies. I have read too much negative opinions about this ad network, not to mention that I have only ONE opportunity to send them an appeal email. So not only have I lost about 500$ but I dont have any chance to reinstantiate my account either. Though I dont admit the violation, the possibility that I get my account back equals zero and I dont want to bother writing the e-mail. So my question: is it legal to set up a new admob acc with another existing gmail account with the same paypal address, same name etc? So I could create a new admob id for every app I have and replace the ids with the new ones. Is it proper? Or will they shut me down again? The only thing that I found related to this, that I will never able to use the shut down admob account again.
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My account was also disabled without explanation 3 weeks ago after 2 years of activity. I didn't change anything with my applications and didn't violate policies.
Few days before, my earnings went up beacuse application was presented on TV. I guess that was the trigger to disable my account.
I sent an appeal mail three times but didn't receive reply. I'm so dissapointed because not only that they won't pay my earnings, but I also had some money left for advertising which I can't access now. I don't know how to call that but STEALING!
I wouldn't bother to set up new AdMob account because they would certainly shut it down again. I already switched to the new network.

stu9 said:
My account was also disabled without explanation 3 weeks ago after 2 years of activity. I didn't change anything with my applications and didn't violate policies.
Few days before, my earnings went up beacuse application was presented on TV. I guess that was the trigger to disable my account.
I sent an appeal mail three times but didn't receive reply. I'm so dissapointed because not only that they won't pay my earnings, but I also had some money left for advertising which I can't access now. I don't know how to call that but STEALING!
I wouldn't bother to set up new AdMob account because they would certainly shut it down again. I already switched to the new network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens to my Google Developer account, if my Admob Publisher account gets banned? Do they ban Google developer account also?

Me too had the same problem
I have been publishing ads from Admob for few years now.
Although performance is not good as last year, when it comes to generating income, it still is the best mobile ad networks out there.
Not so best on other aspects of a healthy business relationship! Today they have closed my publisher account. When I try to login I get below message
“Your account has been disabled for invalid activity or repeated policy violations. Some examples include recurring manual clicks or impressions, violation of our content policies which can be found here, robots, automated click and impression generating tools, third-party services that generate clicks or impressions such as pay-to-click, pay-to-surf, autosurf, and click-exchange programs, or any deceptive software.”
There is no other explanation, contact or email from Admob regarding the reason. I don’t know what wasn’t right with my site that caused my account to be closed.
As I’ve said I’ve been with them long time and as a sane person I would never jeopardise income coming from Admob with fake clicks. The only thing I think of is possible some adult content on my site. My site is community site and it is almost impossible to moderate content fast enough. I’ve to rely on automated check and reports from other users.
This shows how valuable we publishers are to Admob and Google. They just dismiss you even though you have been loyal to them long time.
I felt sad, I shouldn’t. This is business and putting all of your eggs in one basket makes you vulnerable!
Take my advice and never ever rely on one company! One day they might stab you at the back!
Share your exprience if you had your Adsense / Admob publisher account was disabled. Tweet this post or your exprience!

RabbileGames said:
I have been publishing ads from Admob for few years now.
Although performance is not good as last year, when it comes to generating income, it still is the best mobile ad networks out there.
Not so best on other aspects of a healthy business relationship! Today they have closed my publisher account. When I try to login I get below message
“Your account has been disabled for invalid activity or repeated policy violations. Some examples include recurring manual clicks or impressions, violation of our content policies which can be found here, robots, automated click and impression generating tools, third-party services that generate clicks or impressions such as pay-to-click, pay-to-surf, autosurf, and click-exchange programs, or any deceptive software.”
There is no other explanation, contact or email from Admob regarding the reason. I don’t know what wasn’t right with my site that caused my account to be closed.
As I’ve said I’ve been with them long time and as a sane person I would never jeopardise income coming from Admob with fake clicks. The only thing I think of is possible some adult content on my site. My site is community site and it is almost impossible to moderate content fast enough. I’ve to rely on automated check and reports from other users.
This shows how valuable we publishers are to Admob and Google. They just dismiss you even though you have been loyal to them long time.
I felt sad, I shouldn’t. This is business and putting all of your eggs in one basket makes you vulnerable!
Take my advice and never ever rely on one company! One day they might stab you at the back!
Share your exprience if you had your Adsense / Admob publisher account was disabled. Tweet this post or your exprience!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will eventually reply to your email if you send it to AdMob support. This is the explanation that I finally received:
Your account was disabled for violating AdMob's terms and conditions in a way that's treated as spam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what is Google's definition of spam but my application or anything related to it is definitely not spam.
At least they returned me advertising funds which I didn't spent. I'm now using notification ads from Leadbolt and was started to earn five more times than with Admob but now with this new Google content policy unfortunately it won't last too long

Can i use same publisher id for multiple app?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

hisee said:
Can i use same publisher id for multiple app?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
Sent from my LT18i using xda premium

Account Google developer
Hello
In my account I have 3 suspended apps, by miracle I'm still operational.
If I create a new account, like in your description, new pc, new credit card etc ...
1) I transfer only 5 apps, those where I earn more, and close the old account.
I would be clean again with zero suspension, correct?
2) In the passage of these apps, there is the danger that they find a problem and I close the account?
3) If they close the account, I also lose money from the payment of the previous month that should make me day 21?
Until the day 21 I'm not doing anything, not even an update, but as I understand if they check for any reason they can close the account, then wait for me to pay this month and then I try to create a new account, I transfer my app where I gain and close the old forever.
If I close the developer account, can I use the same admob account for the new developer account?
Thank you!

Yes, it is possible.
caoladder said:
Hello,
my AdMob account has been disabled since this morning however, I have a slight suggestion where I might have violated the policies. I have read too much negative opinions about this ad network, not to mention that I have only ONE opportunity to send them an appeal email. So not only have I lost about 500$ but I dont have any chance to reinstantiate my account either. Though I dont admit the violation, the possibility that I get my account back equals zero and I dont want to bother writing the e-mail. So my question: is it legal to set up a new admob acc with another existing gmail account with the same paypal address, same name etc? So I could create a new admob id for every app I have and replace the ids with the new ones. Is it proper? Or will they shut me down again? The only thing that I found related to this, that I will never able to use the shut down admob account again.
Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can create a new Admob account, but please ensure to resolve the policy violation or else the new account may also be blocked.

Admob account closed abruptly. Help!

Help! My admob account was closed 2 days back all of a sudden without any warning or notice. My app was featured on AppGratis last month, and my admob account was shut down yesterday without any warning or reason.
My app has stopped showing ads altogether! I did file an appeal, but have not heard anything back in the last 2 days. How long till they get back to me? Which alternate ad networks are you guys using? HELP!!!!

oh now(
Google is very difficult to reach (if they have blocked your account , then there is nothing you can do ... Alternatively can use mophun or milennial media !

I got banned too, lost a $300 account. Sending lots of emails and appeals. Receive no explanation or answers. The incident made me wonder: "should I always depend on Admob?".
So I decide to combine several Ad networks. It works. And I realize something about Admob:
Pros: It is reliable and has huge users database. Admob is backed by Google - a prestigious corporation who tracks every steps of anyone who use its service.
Cons:
- Its eCPM is low (I don't know exactly why but everytime I try another Ad network, they outperform Admob in terms of eCPM. I guess that Admob know it has advantages over competitors when it comes to reputation and users database, so It charge advertisers and publishers more)
- Its ban users more frequently. (Some of my friends' accounts got banned because Google thinks they was cheating, while infact he didn't. It was very difficult for him to reach Google support to recover his accounts).
after combining Admob and with Airpush, Leadbolt, StartApp, ChartBoost, I end up with Adsota - a lesser known ad network. Adsota is an has much higher eCPM, 100% fill-rate, variousa ads format, and swift payment. You can find it by googling "ads.appota".
Best of luck, mate!

Google Account Hacked - New Joying Head Unit

I had the Google account login issues that many had in here, after contacting Joying they sent me a link to two changed files to copy onto their original firmware update. I updated with this new "firmware" and my Google account worked.
Then 2 days later (March 16th 2021) my Google account was compromised for the first time in 15 years. I only use this password for my Google account so I don't know how it was hacked but the Google Admin audit logs say the hacker just input my password.
They opened up a Google Adwords account and started selling fortnight ads, then attempted to get into my brokerage account, then logged into a dormant Etsy account and tried to do something with Square before I caught on (40min total in my account). They were quickly deleting any account change emails that came in so I wouldn't receive notices of changes.
I am highly suspicious of this new update to my head unit. The timing is spot on, and I haven't used my Google account anywhere other than my Pixel phones, Nvidia Shield, Laptop and this Joying unit.
I am very concerned now about the security of this device. I also don't understand the claim by Joying that "Google updated their servers" and that's why their firmware wasn't working with Google accounts. Smells very fishy to me, and I hope somebody that knows more about device security can help figure this out. I still have copies of the update that they sent me, but I will not be using this brand new head unit anymore with my Google Account.
I posted this thread because I have seen other comments about Google accounts being hacked and concerns about third party device security and thought it would be best to consolidate them here in one thread rather to take other threads on a tangent.

Just be aware that Joying in particular didn't have anything to do with it, they are just resellers and pass on software given to them by the actual manufacturer of the hardware, FYT. Also be aware, that data breaches are happening very often nowadays so that is also a possibility. I'm not defending the manufacturer in any way, but there's too many variables in order to single out the headunit itself. You did mention that you use this google account on your phone as well. It could be that you installed an app on your phone that stole your account information as well. Also a new "virus" has been discovered that disguises itself as a system update that can steal your info. Info here: https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/...retends-to-be-a-system-update-for-your-phone/
Only way to know for sure if it was the headunit itself is to use a new dummy Google account on it and see if it gets taken over as well. Also, I don't see the purpose of needing to login to Google on these devices anyways since we're not using them like phones and, me in particular, I don't consume streaming media on it so i don't give it network access at all. These new units have spotty GPS reception at best and sometimes i find myself forced to use Android Auto anyways so the only streaming media consumed is straight from my phone.
What I can recommend you do is install a firewall app on your headunit and monitor where it tries to connect and determine if it needs to access it or not. To put yourself at ease, I would change your password and enable 2 step authentication on your account.
Let us know if you decide to sideload a firewall app and post your results. With that info, we can take this concern up to Joying/Teyes/etc and have them press their supplier for information. I can assure you that with the proper evidence, the resellers will put some effort into fixing this wrongdoing, since they wouldn't want to tarnish their reputation and possibly lose out on some sales.

I was also hacked in mid March soon after installing a joying unit and connecting to my google account. The hacker opened a google ads account and used a credit card associated with my google account to charge 260 dollars to my visa. They would have charged more but my limit on the card is low for just this reason. Visa had to cancel my card and send me a new one. I never even connected the hack in my mind to the joying head unit until explorer_200 happened to post his experience, but this seems like far to much of a coincidence given that we both have had the same experience at the same time and all we have in common is the joying unit.
I agree that it may not be something joying knows about, but its probably a good idea to see how many have been affected by this hack. For now I will be setting up a locked down google account just for the joying box and my head unit will only be connected to apps that are no real risk to my passwords and personal data.
I need to login to google to use voice commands and google assistant as well.

explorer_200 said:
I posted this thread because I have seen other comments about Google accounts being hacked and thought it would be best to consolidate them in one thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please link to these other comments. Right now there is just your say so which is a sample size of one. Not doubting what you are saying, but correlation is not necessarily causation.

6KayZee9 said:
I never even connected the hack in my mind to the joying head unit until explorer_200 happened to post his experience, but this seems like far to much of a coincidence given that we both have had the same experience at the same time and all we have in common is the joying unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is flawed logic.
Allow me to use similar thinking in another way.
I notice that everytime I go outside when it is raining, there are people with umbrellas. I deduct that it is too much of a coincidence to see people with umbrellas when it is raining to think they are not linked. I don't see these same people carrying umbrellas when it is not raining. I can only conclude that the umbrellas are causing the rain.
You say that you and one other have the same head unit and have been hacked therefore it is the headunit's fault. DO a survey on how many people with Samsung phones were hacked yesterday and get back to me to let me know if the number was greater than two.
We can then move on from there.

Once bitten, twice shy... learn or get burned.
If you had a secure password that you managed well until 2 days ago that should narrow down your list of suspects substantially.
Time to take out the trash...
Results are all that matter; take out anything that might have been involved. The napalm method.
Overkill yes, but it's effective.
Breaching your Google account is completely unacceptable and I go nuts on anything/one that was potentially involved.

explorer_200 said:
I had the Google account login issues that many had in here, after contacting Joying they sent me a link to two changed files to copy onto their original firmware update. I updated with this new "firmware" and my Google account worked.
Then 2 days later (March 16th 2021) my Google account was compromised for the first time in 15 years. I only use this password for my Google account so I don't know how it was hacked but the Google Admin audit logs say the hacker just input my password.
They opened up a Google Adwords account and started selling fortnight ads, then attempted to get into my brokerage account, then logged into a dormant Etsy account and tried to do something with Square before I caught on (40min total in my account). They were quickly deleting any account change emails that came in so I wouldn't receive notices of changes.
I am highly suspicious of this new update to my head unit. The timing is spot on, and I haven't used my Google account anywhere other than my phone and this Joying unit.
I am very concerned now about the security of this device. I also don't understand the claim by Joying that "Google updated their servers" and that's why their firmware wasn't working with Google accounts. Smells very fishy to me, and I hope somebody that knows more about device security can help figure this out. I still have copies of the update that they sent me, but I will not be using this brand new head unit anymore with my Google Account.
I posted this thread because I have seen other comments about Google accounts being hacked and thought it would be best to consolidate them in one thread.
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If you're not using MFA/2FA on your account(s) expect it be a matter of time until your account(s) be compromised again.
The joying update is what I would call purely coincidence and post hoc (Post hoc ergo propter hoc.)

Exactly this, without hard evidence that the Joying/Teyes/etc update is the cause of your Google account getting hacked, this is all pure coincidence. So far I'm aware of only 2 reports of accounts getting hacked, @explorer_200 and @6KayZee9. I've been lurking "the other" forum and i haven't seen any reports there either. Get some evidence to back up your claims and then start pointing fingers and have fyt (the software comes from them) be held accountable.

gamer765 said:
Exactly this, without hard evidence that the Joying/Teyes/etc update is the cause of your Google account getting hacked, this is all pure coincidence. So far I'm aware of only 2 reports of accounts getting hacked, @explorer_200 and @6KayZee9. I've been lurking "the other" forum and i haven't seen any reports there either. Get some evidence to back up your claims and then start pointing fingers and have fyt (the software comes from them) be held accountable.
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It's not so much as proving anything as it is plugging the most probably source(s) of the leak to prevent it from ever happening again for the user.
If that means never using the software even the hardware, it's a small price to pay.
An OS reload may also be good idea at this point on all potentially infected devices and another password reset. Go nuts... this could get real messy if it's in the data drive and gets into the backups.
The perp may only target high value targets and leave the smaller fish be giving the illusion the site, software or whatever is safe.

blackhawk said:
Once bitten, twice shy... learn or get burned.
If you had a secure password that you managed well until 2 days ago that should narrow down your list of suspects substantially.
Time to take out the trash...
Results are all that matter; take out anything that might have been involved. The napalm method.
Overkill yes, but it's effective.
Breaching your Google account is completely unacceptable and I go nuts on anything/one that was potentially involved.
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Have you considered aliens? Or ghosts? They both fit in with your assumptions thus far.
I guess you failed statistics 101. Your conclusion is flawed. You have failed to take into account the number of hackers in the world that were active 2 days ago and you have failed to take into account all the other apps you have attached to your account / sideloaded onto other devices that have access to that account.
Do that and then you are starting to get somewhere.
By all means change your password. But don't attempt to pass off your unsubstantiated claim as fact or anywhere in the realms of probability without some data to back it up.

ludditefornow said:
I guess you failed statistics 101. Your conclusion is flawed.
By all means change your password. But don't attempt to pass off your unsubstantiated claim as fact or anywhere in the realms of probability without some data to back it up.
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If every 1 in 1k accounts gets hacked by an unscrupulous site or device and you're that one, you're still statistically 100% boned
The OP should suspect the use of their Google password; it's probably the most recent sites it was used on or the device.
I'd purged both, no remorse...

blackhawk said:
If every 1 in 1k accounts gets hacked by an unscrupulous site or device and you're that one, you're still statistically 100% boned
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What does that have to do with the subject at hand? The ramification from being hacked has nothing to do with how one was hacked based on the OP.
And besides, the OP wasn't 100% boned as you put it. It was less than an hour before they realised and steps were taken to counter the hack. They had a couple of hundred dollars put on a card that will be reversed no doubt.
So that is another statistic failure. Friendly advice. Stop posting about stats in anyway until you get the fundamentals of them right

ludditefornow said:
What does that have to do with the subject at hand? The ramification from being hacked has nothing to do with how one was hacked based on the OP.
And besides, the OP wasn't 100% boned as you put it. It was less than an hour before they realised and steps were taken to counter the hack. They had a couple of hundred dollars put on a card that will be reversed no doubt.
So that is another statistic failure. Friendly advice. Stop posting about stats in anyway until you get the fundamentals of them right
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You're the one that wanted a go at me.
Is that all you got?
All my data is redundantly* backed up without Google but some use it to back up everything.
Some have a lot to lose in just a couple minutes with a hacked Google account.
Don't trivialize it... on my account

Boy you guys are grumpy, neither of us are saying anything is definitively joyings fault, however its a much bigger coincidence when you consider that neither of us ever had a problem til now and ive had gmail since soon after it came online. Here is an alternate hypothesis I have carwebguru on my head unit as well. Maybe both explorer_200 and I have it on our head units and that code is the true culprit. Other than that all my apps ive had for a long time. Im not really sure that I believe this is all that sophisticated unless its on a huge scale since they only got a few hundred from visa and or google. And for that they have some pretty powerful entities who may now be taking an interest. We are just sending all this up the flag pole to see how many salute...

blackhawk said:
You're the one that wanted a go at me.
Is that all you got?
All my data is redundantly* backed up without Google but some use it to back up everything.
Some have a lot to lose in just a couple minutes with a hacked Google account.
Don't trivialize it... on my account
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I'm not trivalizing being hacked at all. I think you need to reread my posts. Because your response tells me you haven't understood them.

Wow. I didn't expect this to be a controversial thread. I've seen a few posts in here from people who have gone through the code on these units and found Chinese URL's that don't appear to have any uses. I am not definitively saying anything here, but Reddit is full of people wary of running Android on these devices because they have such huge potential to be compromised.
I am VERY careful with my Google account information online. I am highly aware of phishing schemes, and haven't used an external device other than my Pixel2, Pixel4, Laptop, Nvidia Shield, to log into Google in over 5 years.
The attack was similar in both of our cases, and happened within a few days of us logging into Google with a new Joying head unit (that had verified Google Login issues from a 2021 firmware update)
Anyways... I've changed my Google password 3 times since this happened, and am monitoring my Google audit log multiple times per day. So far so good, but unfortunately I won't be using this head unit with my Google account going forward

After activating my Google account on the new Navifly headunit, I received a notification from Google that I need to change all passwords (about 350 pieces). In addition, all contacts from the phonebook (on the mobile phone) and automatic backup have disappeared. I deactivated the account on headunit, but it didn't help. I plan to contact Google to see if they can help me.

nenadhebiv said:
After activating my Google account on the new Navifly headunit, I received a notification from Google that I need to change all passwords (about 350 pieces). In addition, all contacts from the phonebook (on the mobile phone) and automatic backup have disappeared. I deactivated the account on headunit, but it didn't help. I plan to contact Google to see if they can help me.
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This doesn't make any sense.

I'll say it again; enable 2fa/mfa on your Google account.
If not using multifactor authentication or doing questionable things like accepting apps access to your Google account, expect to be compromised.

nenadhebiv said:
After activating my Google account on the new Navifly headunit, I received a notification from Google that I need to change all passwords (about 350 pieces). In addition, all contacts from the phonebook (on the mobile phone) and automatic backup have disappeared. I deactivated the account on headunit, but it didn't help. I plan to contact Google to see if they can help me.
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Actually I lost all my Google contacts as well with the Joying unit, but I found out it had to do with the bluetooth syncing from my phone to the head unit. You've gotta disable it.
Search for "head unit deleted all my Google Contacts" and you'll see lots of threads.