Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Gemini's Unauthorized Intrusion Into Your Email
If you use Gmail, you may have noticed that AI summaries of your email exchanges have started to appear in your email feed, even though you did not request this feature.
Many people want to turn this off, and online forums are full of people asking how. I went straight to Gemini with my query. Following is the "conversation" I had with the bot.
Note that I have used red to add emphasis to some parts of this text.
ME:
How can I make Gemini stop reading my email, and stop providing those summaries?
GEMINI:
To stop Gemini from summarizing your emails and reading your inbox, you have to navigate a few layers of Google's settings. Because Gemini is deeply integrated into "Smart Features," turning it off often requires disabling those broader tools.
### 1. Disable "Smart Features" (Desktop)
This is the most direct way to remove the "Summarize this email" button and the Gemini side panel.
1. Open [Gmail](https://mail.google.com) on your computer.
2. Click the **Settings (gear icon)** in the top right → **See all settings**.
3. Under the **General** tab, scroll down to **Smart features and personalization**.
4. **Uncheck** the box.
5. Scroll further down to **Smart features and personalization in other Google products** and **uncheck** that as well.
6. Scroll to the bottom and click **Save Changes**. Gmail will reload.>
**Note:** Turning this off will also disable non-AI features like automatic email categorization (Promotions/Social tabs), summary cards for flights/packages, and Smart Compose.
---
### 2. Disable the Gemini Extension (Account Level)
If you want to ensure the Gemini AI (the standalone chatbot) can't "reach into" your Gmail to answer questions:
1. Go to [gemini.google.com](https://gemini.google.com).
2. Click **Settings** (gear icon) at the bottom left.
3. Select **Extensions**.
4. Find the **Google Workspace** extension and toggle it **Off**.
* This prevents the Gemini chatbot from searching your Drive, Docs, and Gmail when you talk to it.
--- ### 3. Disable in the Gmail Mobile App
The mobile settings are separate from the desktop settings.
1. Open the Gmail app on your phone.
2. Tap the **Menu (three lines)** → **Settings**.
3. Select your specific **email account**.
4. Scroll to the **General** section.
5. Uncheck **Smart features and personalization**.
---
### 4. For Google Workspace (Work/School) Users
If you are using a company account and still see Gemini after doing the above, your IT administrator may have "forced" the feature.
* **If you are the Admin:** Go to the [Google Admin Console](https://admin.google.com) →
**Apps** → **Google Workspace** → **Gemini**. From there, you can turn off Gemini for specific organizational units.
* **If you are an Employee:** You may only be able to hide the side panel, but you cannot fully remove the integration unless your admin disables it for the whole company.
Would you like me to show you how to also clear your existing Gemini activity history so Google doesn't keep a record of past summaries?
ME:
It verges on criminal that turning off this intrusive violation of my privacy will also turn off other features. Whoever designed this should be fired.
GEMINI:
It is completely understandable why that feels like a "digital hostage" situation. Having to sacrifice basic tools like spell-check and organized inbox tabs just to regain your privacy is a classic example of **forced bundling**.
Since Google currently links Gemini to the "Smart Features" toggle, here is the most effective way to handle this without completely breaking your workflow:
### 1. The "Ad-Blocker" Solution (Highly Recommended)
If you use Gmail in a desktop browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), you can "delete" the Gemini UI elements while keeping your Smart Features (like tabs and spell-check) active.
* **Install a blocker:** Use a free, open-source extension like **uBlock Origin**.
* **Target the "Sparkle":** 1. Right-click on the Gemini icon (or the summary box).
2. Select **"Block element..."**
3. A small window will pop up in the corner; click **Create**.
* **The Result:** The summary box and Gemini buttons disappear from your screen, but your "Social" and "Promotions" tabs stay exactly where they are.
---
### 2. Move to a Third-Party App
You can bypass the Gemini interface entirely by using a different email client. This allows you to keep your `@gmail.com` address but use an interface that doesn't include Google's AI overlays.
* **Desktop:** Use **Thunderbird** or **Apple Mail**. These apps will handle your spell-check and local organization without triggering Gemini's summarization.
* **Mobile:** Use an app like **Spark** or **Outlook mobile**. They connect to your Gmail servers but use their own interface, usually ignoring the Gemini summary injection.
---
### 3. Disable "Gemini Apps Activity"
While the instructions I gave you earlier stop the *display* of Gemini, Google still has a background setting for what it does with your data. To ensure your interactions aren't being logged:
1. Go to [myactivity.google.com](https://myactivity.google.com).
2. Look for **Gemini Apps Activity**.
3. Turn it **Off** and select **Delete Activity**.
### Why did they do this?
From a product design standpoint, Google has moved features like "Smart Compose" and "Autocorrect" onto the same backend infrastructure as Gemini. By their logic, if you "opt out" of AI, you are opting out of the entire engine that powers those features. It is a controversial move that many privacy advocates have flagged as a "dark pattern" designed to discourage users from opting out.
Would you like me to help you find the specific CSS codes to hide the Gemini side panel more permanently in your browser?
ME:
I'd like to print this entire conversation.
GEMINI:
Since I am an AI interface, there isn't a direct "Print" button built into the chat window, but you can easily capture the full formatting using your browser's native tools.
Here are the two best ways to get a clean printout of our conversation:
### Option 1: The "Ctrl + P" Method (Fastest)
1. **Select the text:** Highlight the entire conversation from your first question down to this response.
2. **Right-click** and select **Print** (or press `Ctrl + P` on Windows / `Cmd + P` on Mac).
3. **Change the setting:** In the print preview window, look for a setting that says **"Selection Only"** (usually under "More Settings" or "Options").
4. **Print to PDF or Paper:** This ensures you don't print the sidebar or other website clutter.
### Option 2: The "Clean Copy" Method (Best Formatting)
1. Click the **Copy** icon (usually looks like two overlapping squares) at the bottom of each of my responses.
2. Paste them into a document (Google Docs, Word, or NotePad).
3. Go to **File → Print**. This allows you to adjust the font size and remove any extra white space before you print.
---
**A quick tip for the road:** If you ever decide to try the **uBlock Origin** method I mentioned earlier to hide the Gemini buttons, it works on almost any website element you find annoying. It’s a great way to "clean up" the internet without waiting for companies to change their settings.
Would you like me to summarize the steps for disabling Gemini into a single, one-page "cheat sheet" so it's easier to read once printed?
ME:
Yes
GEMINI: ## Gemini Deactivation & Privacy Cheat Sheet
This guide provides the steps to disable Gemini’s presence in Gmail while maintaining as much control as possible over your workspace.
---
### 1. Disable Gemini UI (The "Hostage" Method)
* **Location:** Gmail Settings (Desktop) → **See all settings** → **General**.
* **Action:** Uncheck **Smart features and personalization**.
* **Trade-off:** This removes the "Summarize" button, but you will lose auto-categorization (Tabs) and Smart Compose.
### 2. Block the "Side Panel" (The Visual Clean-up)
If the Gemini side panel or "Sparkle" icons still appear:
* **Manual Close:** Click the **Close (X)** or the **Side Panel icon** in the top right of Gmail to collapse the AI panel.
* **Ad-Blocker (uBlock Origin):** Right-click any Gemini element → Select **"Block element"** → Click **Create**. This "erases" the buttons from your screen without disabling other Gmail features.
### 3. Cut off Data Access (The Privacy Method)
To prevent the Gemini chatbot from "reading" your emails to answer questions:
1. Go to [gemini.google.com](https://gemini.google.com).
2. Click **Settings (Gear Icon)** → **Extensions**.
3. Toggle **Google Workspace** to **OFF**.
### 4. Delete AI Activity History
Ensure Google isn't keeping a log of your AI-related interactions:
1. Visit [myactivity.google.com](https://myactivity.google.com).
2. Select **Gemini Apps Activity**.
3. Toggle it **OFF** and select **Delete Activity**.
### 5. Mobile App Deactivation
1. Open the Gmail App → **Settings** → **[Your Account]**.
2. Scroll to **General** → Uncheck **Smart features and personalization**.
---
**Summary of Impact:** Disabling these features moves your Gmail back toward a "static" inbox. For a completely AI-free experience without losing functionality, consider using a third-party desktop client like **Thunderbird**, which ignores Google’s AI overlays entirely.
Would You Let This Guy Hold Your Lunch Money?
In 2022, Elon Musk paid 44 billion dollars for the social media platform Twitter. Under Musk's management (or, some would say, mismanagement), the company, inexplicably renamed "X", lost nearly 80% of its value within two years.
At the start of 2024, Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle business, was valued at $58.3 billion. By the end of the year, its value was estimated at $43 billion, a drop of nearly 26%. Although Tesla's decline may have been partly fueled by Musk's reputation as a bullying goon involved in right-wing extremist politics, the ugliness of the Cybertruck, along with a series of vehicles fires and explosions, didn't help.
Musk also owns the Boring Company, a tunnel construction service notable for impractical proposals and failed or abandoned projects.
SpaceX is another Musk business, a space exploration technology company. Although the company's failed launches and rocket explosions have attracted attention, it has also succeeded in many of its ventures, which include cargo delivery to the International Space Station. SpaceX's rapid success was built on financial support from the U.S. government, in the form of lucrative federal contracts and grants.
Another Musk venture is Starlink, an Internet satellite service, hated by many astronomers for blocking our view of the stars. Starlink has had many satellite malfunctions and failures. As an Internet service, it is expensive, and has a reputation for poor customer support. Musk has also been accused of using Starlink in attempts to manipulate global politics by making it either available or unavailable in different areas. As a proponent of vicious and disproportionate revenge, Musk used his influence with America's Republican administration to terminate funding for USAID, an independent agency of the United States government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance, thus cutting off food, medicine, and shelter for millions of needy people, apparently as punishment for the agency's questioning its relationship with Starlink.
Neuralink is a company attempting to build implantable brain-computer interface systems. The company has been criticized for the deaths of primates used in its experiments. Following false statements about the deaths, a national physicians group asked the SEC to investigate Musk for possible securities fraud.
Musk formed a supposedly temporary organization known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which masquerades as a U.S. government department. The formation of new departments requires the approval of Congress, which DOGE did not receive. Although its stated purpose is to find and eliminate government waste, DOGE's most visible activity has been the infiltration of government agencies and departments for the purpose of gaining access to computer systems and allegedly harvesting cititzens' financial and medical data. Despite consensus that DOGE's activities have been illegal, there has been no intervention by law enforcement. Musk has been accused of staging a coup and attempting to completely destroy the U.S. government.
Elon Musk was born to a wealthy family in South Africa in 1971. In 1989, he emigrated to Canada, where he became a citizen. In 1995, he and his brother Kimball moved to California. Kimball has publically admitted that they were illegal immigrants. Somehow, Elon acquired U.S. citizenship in 2002.
- NASDAQ on X/Twitter’s Valuation Decline
- Tesla Fire lists 232 incidents.
- A Forbes contributor compares the Cybertruck to broccoli
- Can we please let the Boring Company die already?
- How Federal Grants and Contracts Helped Elon Musk Reach New Heights
- Alleged USAID Probe Into Starlink Raises Elon Musk Conflict Concerns
- Neuralink faces federal inquiry after killing 1,500 animals
- Physicians Group Asks SEC to Investigate Elon Musk for Securities Frau
- What will it take to stop Elon Musk and DOGE?
- Wikipedia article on Elon Musk
Bond Villains
When people compare someone to a "Bond villain," they may be thinking of Auric Goldfinger, the main baddie of both the novel and the film bearing his name.
Goldfinger is an extremely wealthy man whose obsession with acquiring more money prompts him to cheat at golf and at cards. In particular, he loves gold, and constantly plots to get more of it. There is no limit to the crimes Goldfinger is willing to commit in pursuit of his goal. He plans to murder everyone at Fort Knox as part of his scheme to steal the entire U.S. gold reserve.
Goldfinger's vices do not include smoking or drinking, but he does pay for sex. His kink is that he likes a woman to be covered in gold paint so that he can feel that he is making love to gold.
Bond villains often seem cartoonish. They live in a world of sci-fi gadgets and over-the-top displays of opulence. Unlike Batman's villains, they typically do not sport costumes, makeup and caricatured personas that would be likely to bring them to public attention as insane if they existed in the real world. Nevertheless, their sanity may be in question as they expend vast resources of time, money, and hired help on personal obsessions and maniacal quests.
While many Bond villains are involved in political intrigue, often as agents for Russia or for terrorist organizations seeking world domination, wealth and greed are recurring themes. The villains may need money to support their causes, but often they are already rich and powerful, motivated by the desire for even more wealth and power. Sometimes they are seeking revenge.
Bond villains tend to have sadistic personalities, and may waste time for the sake of indulging in acts of physical or mental cruelty. Their vengeance is generally out of proportion to the original offense.
Lyutsifer Safin, from the film No Time to Die, is a chemist whose main motive is to get revenge on the organization that killed his family. He carries this to extremes by killing individuals uninvolved in the original murder, and becomes willing to kill millions of innocent people, ostensibly as a way of preventing future terrorist organizations from forming. He commands a large security force on a private island and appears to have nearly unlimited financial resources. Like most Bond villains, he seeks world domination.
Another aspiring world dominator, Emilo Largo, from both the novel and film Thunderball, is a leader of a criminal organization. He enjoys an upscale lifestyle, hobnobbing with socialites, and uses a private yacht in his crimes. His plan is to steal nuclear weapons and use the threat of destroying cities to intimidate world leaders into compliance with his demand for a huge payout.
Bond villains couldn't do what they do without the assistance of henchmen. These are usually powerful bodyguards, but may also be co-conspirators, double agents, technology experts, or seductive women. The henchmen may be motivated by personal loyalty to the villain, a shared vision of world domination, or a fat paycheck. Or maybe they are just nasty guys who like doing evil things.
James Bond always destroys the villains in the end. He has plenty of help - from his fellow British agents, from old pals in the CIA, from the villain's own colleagues who have a change of heart, or from good luck and fortunate timing. Perhaps our inclination to characterize certain adversaries as Bond villains reflects the powerful hope that we, too, can be assured of vanquishing them in the end.
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