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Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

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Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#71

Post by alwayslikethis »

cavisne wrote: post #69
barbazoo wrote: post #64

Genuine question. Does Apple just not do these things? Is my privacy *actually* protected better with an iphone? I still have to use Google Mail for work and occasionally use Google Maps to find things.

Google Maps on iOS asks to track your location in the background by default. Apple tracks your location as long as Location Services is turned on.

You can't truly turn off location on iPhone. Find My iPhone still works even if you, which demonstrate that your location is still going to them. In fact even if you turn the phone off, it still has bluetooth on, acting like Airtags.

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#72

Post by plorg »

freitasm wrote: post #21

Not you IP address but your router/access point's MAC address and been doing it for many years. For example, I receive quite a few devices for reviews, and I mostly give things away after using those. Many years ago, I gave a friend in another city a router. For a few weeks his computer and other devices reported his location as being my city instead of his. It took a couple of weeks for Google services to catch up.…

I'm curious how this actually works. My workplace has extremely bad cell coverage and no GPS coverage indoors. I work at a satellite office about a mile from the main headquarters, but we have facilities (mostly small storefronts) over about a 1000mi radius from that location. Few employees have company-issued phones connected to the network. Whether or not we're connected (or have ever been connected) to the company network, people in my office will find that our detected location is maybe 200 mi away from our office, often in places that have none of the same ISPs as our headquarters and are nowhere near any of our facilities. The location will change maybe every few months. Currently we are showing up as being in the middle of a lake outside a town of 30000 people, though the FCC believes that area is only served by satellite internet providers. I assume our locations are being provided based on the MAC of the nearest router(s), but it's not clear why those router MACs get associated with such far-flung and uncorrelated places.

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#73

Post by alwayslikethis »

Ctyra wrote: post #65

I am facing a different tyranny from Google. I just moved to US from a different country. I am not able to install any US based apps as Google play store has my original country tied in. Google knows I am in the US, but they want me to give a payment instrument (Paypal, or Credit card) before they allow me to update the country.

Use an alternative app store, like Aurora which allows you to access Play Store anonymously, or just download from an apk hosting site (apkpure or similar). For your privacy, just log out of google completely on your phone and preferably install a custom ROM that doesn't spy on you (GrapheneOS, CalyxOS if you have pixel, /e/ os otherwise)

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#74

Post by realusername »

lupire wrote: post #52

Google changes the UI language in its first party apps based on IP, which is a much bigger deal than advertisers chosing to send Spanish ads to people who spend time in Spanish language countries.

They still haven't understood that there's multilingual countries and immigration is a thing, I wonder how long it's going to take then to fix this annoying bug, this issue has been there forever.

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#75

Post by alwayslikethis »

zqf11 wrote: post #33

Yes I fucking hate that. Google knows where I am and all searches take into account my location and I can't change it. If I change IPs, it's a matter of days before they find out. I think they do it using physical geolocation (gps, wifi routers nearby) from Android phones connected to my wifi network.

You can mitigate it greatly though. Never log in at your home without vpn, especially don't log in on your devices. Clear cookies at the end of session when logging in on your browser.

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#77

Post by dwrodri »

barbazoo wrote: post #64

Genuine question. Does Apple just not do these things? Is my privacy *actually* protected better with an iphone? I still have to use Google Mail for work and occasionally use Google Maps to find things.

Apple does this, but to a lesser extent. I think the important distinction is in the business reasons that Apple and Google collect data.

When Google collects data on you, it's mainly so they can let other companies interact with you (ads), and those companies pay Google so that Google makes money.

When Apple collects data on you, it's mainly so that Apple can interact with you, and get you to pay Apple so that Apple makes money.

The existence of that third party in Google's motive (i.e., advertisers) incentivizes Google to collect data more aggressively, because as long as the people using Google are "happy enough" to not leave the platform, Google stands to benefit from collecting more data for advertisers. And "advertisers" isn't a well-defined demographic.

Apple's cost-benefit analysis when it comes to collecting user data is much ore clear-cut. If they can't tie data they're collecting to more revenue, there's not as much incentive for them to collect that data.

In my opinion, that's why the reporting earlier this year about Apple's pivot towards advertising is such a big deal[1]. It completely changes the relationship it's users have with the company.

1: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-08-14/apple-...

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#78

Post by Operative0198 »

flatiron wrote: post #68
barbazoo wrote: post #64

Genuine question. Does Apple just not do these things? Is my privacy *actually* protected better with an iphone? I still have to use Google Mail for work and occasionally use Google Maps to find things.

Apple makes their money on their products and not your data. Google is “free” because it makes its money off your data.

This position is outdated. Apple now makes (some) money from your data with advertisements.

Re: Tell HN: Google is correlating location data to your IP

#80

Post by Operative0198 »

freitasm wrote: post #21

Not you IP address but your router/access point's MAC address and been doing it for many years. For example, I receive quite a few devices for reviews, and I mostly give things away after using those. Many years ago, I gave a friend in another city a router. For a few weeks his computer and other devices reported his location as being my city instead of his. It took a couple of weeks for Google services to catch up.…

Can confirm this. In my naive days I used to use Google's Maps together with location tracking on my Android phone. When I moved location, the ISP I was using was available in the new location so I just moved with my router and my IP address and device Mac address remained the same.

Google Maps still thought I was living in my old address. My phone was stuck on the old location for days iirc.

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