Surprise surprise
Turns out that putting everything you ever type through a third party service probably isn't a great idea.
A critical flaw in the Chrome extension of Grammarly – the grammar-checking software with online ads second only to Geico in terms of their ability to annoy – has left all 22 million users' personal records available to all. The vulnerability, spotted on February 2 by Google Project Zero's Tavis Ormandy – allows any website to …
I once asked a coworker why they had installed Grammarly on all their devices. My argument was four-fold: a) why not use the stock error correction that comes with your web browser/phone keyboard/etc.; b) how can you trust a third-party service with what you type; c) how about learn to type better; and d) personally if I made a typing mistake, I would want it to be my fault and not a machine's—t. everyone that complains about autocorrect.
The response I got was equally as numerous but far less nuanced, probably speaking to why she needed the correction software in the first place: a) it sucks; b) what could go wrong; c) expletive; and d) who cares?
I was then called a lunatic for my opinions. I wish I was still working there so I could rub it in her stupid face how unsafe the application was—but then again, she probably would have made the argument "it didn't happen to me so there's no problem" and keep right on using it!
OTOH, I would not be surprised if any of MSO and Windows native spellchecks have been integrated with MS cloud (including Bing/Cortana). Even their on screen and touch keyboard has key logger capability (to facilitate text text prediction/correction) and trying to clear the history - sure as hell it would try to help with opening password manager's database - is not particularly trivial, who knows what happens when user logged on with MS account. I only accept local and dumb dictionary tools not affiliated with any cloud provider.
"Googler saves Grammarly nazis from hacker invasion"
... with a four-day turn round from reporting to patch release. Am I the only one concerned by the speed of this, and whether or not it has been properly tested?
With that in mind, it's probably a bit premature to say "Google saved" anyone from anything.
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A few months ago Youtube found a way around AdBlock Plus so I kept seeing shitloads of Grammarly ads. They worked. They compelled me to find another way of blocking annoying ads and I'm now a very contented user of uBlock Origin. Had their adverts not been so intrusive and annoying I might not have bothered looking for an alternative to ABP and simply put up with them.
Oh, and Grammarly has made its way onto my list of products I would never buy or use and would strongly recommend others never to buy or use. I cannot repeat that strongly enough: avoid Grammarly at all costs.
So Grammarly adverts certainly changed my way of thinking and modus operandi. They work!
Because I don't really care if I make the odd typo or other error in bits of throwaway personal use text (like this) so long as gist is apparent.
Anything that matters, I type in word processor and it will get examined by (inbuilt non cloudy) spell / grammar checking tool of word processor I use.