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Google – My Location History

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Re: Google – My Location History

#71

Post by spidermango »

ryandrake wrote: post #57
tdb7893 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I've never gotten. I don't really mind targeted ads, they generally are more interesting to me than non targeted ads (which is a super low bar) and are worth more money, which is how all of these services are able to be "free" (and personally I would rather they are free with targeted ads in a lot of cases than having to pay, streaming services being the main exception. I know much of HN would disag…

I don’t click on ads so, if given the choice between targeted and non-targeted ads, I’d rather have non-targeted ones, because then at least I have a little more assurance that I’m not being tracked. The “relevance” of an ad is totally unimportant to me since I disregard them. What’s important is whether my PII is being traded around like baseball cards.

yes the government is tracking you, youre very important

Re: Google – My Location History

#72

Post by tdb7893 »

ryandrake wrote: post #57
tdb7893 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I've never gotten. I don't really mind targeted ads, they generally are more interesting to me than non targeted ads (which is a super low bar) and are worth more money, which is how all of these services are able to be "free" (and personally I would rather they are free with targeted ads in a lot of cases than having to pay, streaming services being the main exception. I know much of HN would disag…

I don’t click on ads so, if given the choice between targeted and non-targeted ads, I’d rather have non-targeted ones, because then at least I have a little more assurance that I’m not being tracked. The “relevance” of an ad is totally unimportant to me since I disregard them. What’s important is whether my PII is being traded around like baseball cards.

My thing I would like first is some visibility into the data that people have about me and what other entities that data goes to (Google does this somewhat which had been cool for me but I haven't found it for other places). I don't mind being tracked in many cases but no visibility makes it so even if there were things I really care about I wouldn't know about it.

Re: Google – My Location History

#73

Post by periferral »

buckminster wrote: post #48
futureastronaut wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it was in fact a regular 101 ride home Confused... you make it sound like faulty location history led you to erroneously report your Lyft driver. But that doesn't jive with the tone and thrust of your comment.

It sounds like the Google map confirmed his intuition but the Lyft map had a lengthy bogus route. So he was overcharged.

Sorry my post was confusing.

Lyft had the wrong route (280 and longer) Google confirmed my suspicion that we took the shorter route (101) Lyft credited back regardless but it was good to know what really happened

Re: Google – My Location History

#74

Post by ballenf »

wppick wrote: post #44
m0dest wrote: post #19

I used to willingly enable this and enjoyed this page. But it was recently revealed that Google shares bulk location data with law enforcement, offering the list of all devices that were in a certain area. That was the line for me. Disabled. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/13/us/google-loc... > The new orders, sometimes called “geofence” warrants, specify an area and a time period, and Google gathers info…

Unless you are planning criminal activity in the future, this feature could act as an alibi to absolve you of being in the place where a crime was committed. And, false positives aside, I think it's great that law enforcement has the tools to keep society safe and civil. Law enforcement is not always == bad

That really makes no sense given how easy it would be to fake. You'd have to also prove you had possession of the device at the time.

What I could see happening is the absence of the data becoming a factor for increased scrutiny. Because, of course, if you don't have anything to hide... why did you stop Google from tracking you?

Re: Google – My Location History

#76

Post by andybak »

spidermango wrote: post #69
andybak wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's bad if law enforcement has your location data because...? I'm on the lax and forgiving end of the privacy debate but even I find this statement breathtaking. Would you be as cavalier about giving up other similar protections? i.e. unwarranted search, self-incrimination etc. They can all be attacked with similar "if you've done nothing wrong..." arguments.

Tell me how someone going into your home and searching or self-incrimination is the same as law enforcement knowing where you are

Someone going into your home and self-incrimination are different to each other but they both exist for the same underlying reason.

Re: Google – My Location History

#77

Post by danielecook »

anoonmoose wrote: post #22
danielecook wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it as well - but google is almost certainly using this data to target you. I also wish I more control. Is there a way to export to GPX? It would be fun to create a heat map of your daily locations over the course of years.

By "target", do you mean that they're using the information I voluntarily give them to provide me with more accurate and useful ads? Because, I mean, that's not a terrible trade-off.

I look at it more through a behavioral lens. If you know a lot about someone you can use that information to modify their behavior and decisions. I'd prefer to minimize behavioral triggers like and retain more influence over my own destiny.
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