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.
It’s almost as if Big Tech thinks the stuff we buy with our own money belongs to them…
I’m not sure if you just mean tech only companies, but this sentiment seems to be the new capitalist mindset.
It’s bleeding into the auto and home appliance sectors as well. You buy it, but they control it.
Pretty soon you’ll have to pay a subscription and do an update to get tooth paste from the tube.
That’s why I hate the if you don’t pay for it your the product. Because TVs, cars are all spying on us and we pay for them.