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Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

businessinsider.com

131–140 of 348 posts

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#131

what about users who don't sign into their android phones with a google account and don't actively use google apps like maps or chrome or whatever they have? i suspect they still have your data but it isn't tied to "you" unless you tell them by linking who you are so you should be fine?

so an android phone without the store? intriguing. at that point you might as well switch to a dumbphone. are dumb phones still a thing?

aurora store is a thing.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#132
post #28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh? I certainly paid for my phone so I don't see the applicability of that soundbite here.

In some ways, it sounds like you didn't pay enough, if the cost is subsidised by data collection and advertising.

Regardless of how much you pay, what is their incentive as a large organization not to get more money out of you, if they know they can get away with it?

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, but it’s essentially a social/legal problem, not a technical one. the onus is on the company holding data to show the chain of consent, which doesn’t require anything fancy outside a purpose-built database.

So how does that work then? How does Google prove that I clicked that accept-EULA button? Or that I approve of them keeping track of my information? I never put my signature anywhere and still there are companies holding or even trading my information. > it’s essentially a social/legal problem, not a technical one And ironically, it's the tech companies who are getting away with it.

right, that’s the social/legal problem, that consent is assumed, and i’d argue, coerced. bundling like this is actually an anti-trust concern, because it’s using power in one market (for instance, search) to exert control in another (data brokerage), but we’ve collectively lost sight of this being a problem.

but yes, they should be required to get your unambiguous consent for data sharing separate from any other transaction, otherwise it shouldn’t be considered consent.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#134
post #85
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way it seems pragmatic. You say all the boundaries are being violated, you might as well get something out of it. Also I’m not sure there’s a lot of difference in loss of privacy and tapping or swiping a credit card.

> Also I’m not sure there’s a lot of difference in loss of privacy and tapping or swiping a credit card. Well for one thing, at least in my experience, most credit card transaction data does not include granular information about the transaction (like the list of groceries you bought).

I was ambiguous in my comment, but in my mind I was thinking about the loss of privacy from newer electronic transaction standards vs credit cards transactions. I suspect itemized data is generally not transmitted with the newer standards but I could be wrong.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#135
I saw some people saying that this makes them want to switch towards iphones next.

I'm not gonna lie, I considered it for a moment too, like a year ago... But apple is now engaging in its own share of dark patterns and is now collecting data too. There have been multiple articles on the matter shared here even.

Thinking that apple is better than google for privacy (or, even if it is right now, that it will remain so for any reasonable amount of time) is... overly optimistic, at best.

Unless it chances paths, of course, which I don't see likely.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#136
post #88
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way it seems pragmatic. You say all the boundaries are being violated, you might as well get something out of it. Also I’m not sure there’s a lot of difference in loss of privacy and tapping or swiping a credit card.

Using a credit card still has an easily recognizable physical interaction element that’s easy for most people to understand. “I swipe my card, so my card company and maybe others know what I bought and where”. The pervasive passive collection on a mobile phone is harder to internalize. “I carry a persistent, always on radio beacon that can record and transmit to arbitrary third parties all of my actions, searches, co…

Sorry I was ambiguous in my comment. The smartphone itself is a different privacy question, but is the digital transaction interface losing anything more than a credit card swipe?

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#137
post #90
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which specific factual aspect of this story do you believe contradicts those claims? I'm a Xoogler, not a Googler, but in my post-Google experience I haven't seen anything that was even in the same league as Google's privacy controls. In my personal privacy threat model I think Google scores 10/10. They protect my data against external attackers, which in my view is the main problem faced by personal data, and their…

What you suggest shows that individuals within the Google organisation do not have blatant open access to personal information. What do you think about the access of personal information to the organisation Google itself? Today the data is safe from menial concerns such as a google employee looking over private information, but what about tomorrow when whole troughs of such private information are made available to o…

I’m suggesting that based on my experience google has better organizational defenses against individuals or even groups intentionally or accidentally setting a privacy-invasive agenda than other organizations with which I have first-hand experience.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#138
post #61
post #13

There’s a huge privacy battle on the horizon in tech. The initial scuffles are just the beginning. Google and Facebook’s business models depend deeply on being able to track information that consumers are increasingly unhappy to share. Both companies attempts to diversify their dependency on such info for their revenue have been broadly unsuccessful (Google fiber or a Google car anyone?). Meanwhile the likes of Apple…

The best part is, that it's not proven that all this tailored ads really have the desired effect. Especially if many buy those ads. Most of them are useless because the targeted customer only choose one to buy from for a wanted product, if he is choice is based on ads at all.

This is the real rub to me.

It would be one thing if you rip off all my data but I am constantly seeing ads for cool things I would never have found otherwise and can't wait to buy. Instead the ads are always shit that I never even consider.

If things were not tailored I would probably randomly run across products that are just outside my current taste but at least spark some interest.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#139
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t the point of the article. The point is that you can’t share your data with your friends without sharing that data with Google the company as well.

Going to have to say "duh" here. Short of an e2ee location sharing app, you have to send your location through an intermediary for your friend to see it.

It is "duh" that google has access to the information as they relay it from your phone to another party. But you could imagine it being like the post office, where in the US it is a federal offense to read someone's mail en route. Google could convey the location information with a "sealed envelope" policy. But they don't.

Re: Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their location private

#140
You can't even use most of the new Chromecast's features without enabling Web & App Activity tracking on your Google account.

Web & App Activity tracking keeps detailed logs of every search term you use, every time you install or open an app, the sites you visit, etc.

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