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[birba]

So i bought my first smart-phone last month.  Don't know why i did.  I guess i was envious watching everyone intent over theirs, poking at it like three-year-olds mesmerized by their toys. In japan, EVERYONE has a smart or i-phone.  At any rate, i found that the pictures that i was taking every once in a while were  coming back to me on my g-mail account.  What the hell?!  Isn't that an invasion of privacy?!   Can anyone tell me what's going on here?

[outin]

So i bought my first smart-phone last month.  Don't know why i did.  I guess i was envious watching everyone intent over theirs, poking at it like three-year-olds mesmerized by their toys. In japan, EVERYONE has a smart or i-phone.  At any rate, i found that the pictures that i was taking every once in a while were  coming back to me on my g-mail account.  What the hell?!  Isn't that an invasion of privacy?!   Can anyone tell me what's going on here?

Your phone has been preset to do this and I guess it's somehow married to Google. You should find out how to change the setting in your phone. I was forced to start to use one last fall and in the beginning it did all kinds of silly things. It corrected my messages to important people so that they made no sense

It's ok now, but some settings were very difficult to find.

[chopin2015]

Omg, I know! I had to deactivate my google+ page because I didn't want my youtube vids being posted there without my permission! I was so pissed!

[oxy60]

I finally got a "dumb phone" blackberry style to be able to send emails and texts faster from a qwerty keyboard. It also has wifi capabilities I can use in coffee shops and bars.

However there are a lot of ins and outs of these devices of which I was unaware. One aspect is that a software/web site wants to brand itself with hardware. It started out first with providers and now extends to google, facebook, etc. Factory modifications to the configuration which are VERY difficult to undo are made by the brand. I just work around the AT&T modifications. But it is not easy!

Good luck with google+ and the rest. There are some advantages. Be careful!

[quantum]

Personally, the first thing I do when getting a new device as this is to check all privacy and security settings.  It is astonishing how much these manufacturers assume you want to share all your info with the world. 

I've got a completely separate e-mail associated with my phone.  That way any personal data that slips through the cracks doesn't automatically get spewed everywhere. 

You've really got to be diligent with these devices and "social" accounts.  Sometimes they like to add new features, that automatically assume you want to share all your personal info with such feature, all without asking you first.