Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
1–10 of 28 posts
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#2This actually seems like useful data that actually can be used to make the lives of the consumer (as opposed to the advertiser) better. It would be great if Google would open this up and make it available publicly, so we could have good data on what carrier has coverage where.
Having it available publicly, I think, would also spur carriers to increase their data coverage.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#3This actually seems like useful data that actually can be used to make the lives of the consumer (as opposed to the advertiser) better. It would be great if Google would open this up and make it available publicly, so we could have good data on what carrier has coverage where. Having it available publicly, I think, would also spur carriers to increase their data coverage.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#4This actually seems like useful data that actually can be used to make the lives of the consumer (as opposed to the advertiser) better. It would be great if Google would open this up and make it available publicly, so we could have good data on what carrier has coverage where. Having it available publicly, I think, would also spur carriers to increase their data coverage.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
This effectively provided carriers with aggregated, deidentified information about people's locations. It's easy to see from the problems with things like Strava's heatmaps just how much of a privacy headache this could be and how hard it would be to ensure that nothing sensitive leaked out. Also, even if they did people are sensitive enough about privacy that with the right spin it could be turned into a muck-raking story and readers would believe it.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#5This actually seems like useful data that actually can be used to make the lives of the consumer (as opposed to the advertiser) better. It would be great if Google would open this up and make it available publicly, so we could have good data on what carrier has coverage where. Having it available publicly, I think, would also spur carriers to increase their data coverage.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
Between the Nest cam recording light becoming "always on" and this, it's like they've been brainstorming ways to be "pro-privacy" with the caveat that it can't affect the data they collect.
We'll probably see another one next week.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
This effectively provided carriers with aggregated, deidentified information about people's locations. It's easy to see from the problems with things like Strava's heatmaps just how much of a privacy headache this could be and how hard it would be to ensure that nothing sensitive leaked out. Also, even if they did people are sensitive enough about privacy that with the right spin it could be turned into a muck-raking…
Strava heatmaps? I seem to recall the problem that came up there was exposure of military bases?
Google could totally do this properly if it really wanted to.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
This effectively provided carriers with aggregated, deidentified information about people's locations. It's easy to see from the problems with things like Strava's heatmaps just how much of a privacy headache this could be and how hard it would be to ensure that nothing sensitive leaked out. Also, even if they did people are sensitive enough about privacy that with the right spin it could be turned into a muck-raking…
I was about to suggest this, because anonymised data is often not-so-anonymous in aggregate. AT&T's recent disclosure of selling this information to bounty hunters[0] shows that sharing across companies isn't always done with the end goal of user privacy. Examples of over sharing can set precedents in court cases showing that such sensitive data can be treated as a liability rather than an appreciating asset in the wrong hands.
[0] https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-sues-att-data-aggrega...
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
This effectively provided carriers with aggregated, deidentified information about people's locations. It's easy to see from the problems with things like Strava's heatmaps just how much of a privacy headache this could be and how hard it would be to ensure that nothing sensitive leaked out. Also, even if they did people are sensitive enough about privacy that with the right spin it could be turned into a muck-raking…
If you're a carrier then you can do coarse-grained detection of everyone's location by timing-based triangulation - modern cell phone standards require knowing your distance from the cell tower (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timing_advance for example) so it's measured (and thus can be recorded if the carrier wants) as part of every keepalive connection and if you're in range for more than one tower, which is almost always, you can do triangulation.
Of course, getting GPS data will be more accurate, but you should assume that it's unavoidable that the carrier can know roughly where all the phones are right now.
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#9Could this not be about privacy, but have anything to do with Google preparing to launch its own wireless service (no not Google Fi, but maybe Dish Network)?
Re: Fearing data privacy issues, Google cuts some Android phone data for carriers
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't buy the "privacy concern" excuse for this one at all. It almost feels like something one would do purely to spite or trick the regulators and/or consumers for caring about privacy.
This effectively provided carriers with aggregated, deidentified information about people's locations. It's easy to see from the problems with things like Strava's heatmaps just how much of a privacy headache this could be and how hard it would be to ensure that nothing sensitive leaked out. Also, even if they did people are sensitive enough about privacy that with the right spin it could be turned into a muck-raking…
One could also argue that it also provided law enforcement with another potential target for blanket, large scale search warrants.