What is Google Software Updater? It wants to control my Mac!

Apparently Google feels the need to use Accessibility features in the OS. Because that is essentially a back door to rooting your system, Apple requires user consent. I guess it all depends on how much you trust Google.

You can see these requests in System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility. Your Google Updater should be listed there with an unchecked checkbox. You can turn it on or leave it off.

You have to trust somebody. This stuff is too big to do alone. Even if you used Linux you would have to trust all the programmers who contributed to it. But there, the expectation is that if you didn't like something it would be your responsibility to fix it.

It isn't a simple matter of trust per se, but trusting each entity to act in its own interests. From that perspective, you can have complete trust in both Apple and Google. Apple wants to sell computers and devices and uses the privacy of its customers as a selling point. Google's customers are advertisers and it wants to sell ads leveraging the private information it knows about it the users of its services. That pretty much explains why Google doesn't use Apple's software distribution ecosystem. It isn't in Google's interests to provide more explanations. Google wants you to use Chrome so they will handle all the details. Your use of Chrome is Google's product. To be fair, you do get a free, high quality product from Google and you aren't obliged to buy anything from those advertisers.

Ali Soltani wrote:

... But how is this any different from Apple Updates? Aren't we trusting Apple by granting control of the computer?

Yes, absolutely. The difference is that Apple's business model is not built upon collecting and selling one's personal information, whereas those activities are Google's very reason for existence:

"We believe that our customers have a right to understand how their personal information is handled, and we consider it our responsibility to provide them with the best privacy protections available. ...

Perhaps most important, our business does not depend on collecting personal data. We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers. We protect personal conversations by providing end-to-end encryption over iMessage and FaceTime. We do not store location data, Maps searches, or Siri requests in any identifiable form."

http://images.apple.com/pr/pdf/131105reportongovinforequests3.pdf

Google is relentless in its pursuit of controlling your devices and all the personal information they contain, to be harvested and used for their own purposes.

It's your Mac, do with it what you wish, but Google will invade it in precisely the same manner as a virus - if you let it. That's for you to decide.

Short Answer:

This article (link below) helped. It gives more detail than my paragraph (my rant) below, helped explain just what Google is doing and more importantly, how to solve the problem by installing a program to prevent the auto updates while keeping the Google applications.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1168243/disabling_google_auto_updates.html

Long Answer:

In doing some research on this what I found is that Google now want's to auto update ALL the Google apps running on your mac without asking your permission each time. It does this by running a program called Google Auto Update which checks Google regurally for updates on any Google applications you have installed and updates them in the background and without the approval you regurally give for updates. If you are cool with this and trust Google to update behind the seens then no problem. (Besides the fact that it causes some additional load on your computer and additional internet traffic). But that's not how I feel.

While I like some of Google's software, I don't actually trust Google enough to let them do auto updates on my Mac without my permission. And I think it's just decient for any software to ask permission to update. I like the security of knowing what's being updated and entering my password to approve of the update (especially non apple updates) each time the update occures.

And I ABSOLUTELY HATE to be given an ultimatium on MY MAC - which is what Google does in this case - i.e. "if you do not let us do auto updates (because we know what's best for you) then unstall our software and don't use it".

So I used Wireload's freeGoogle Update Uninstaller to get rid of the updater.

Hope this helps someone else...

Ali Soltani wrote:

For the first time, the message popped up on the screen wanting to control my Mac.

What did the message say exactly?

Pete

Love this response.

You rock.

Google represents everything that's evil in the world.

(Well, that and the NRA).