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Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

businessinsider.com

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Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#171

Post by mbirth »

jmbwell wrote: post #16

Traccar is relatively easy to set up, for those who might be interested in ditching Google for location history altogether.

As an early adopter of Google Latitude, my location database is currently about 400 MB.

During a bout of Degoogling I‘ve imported my Google Location History Takeout into php-owntracks-recorder and used it happily with the OwnTracks app on my phones.

About a year ago I’ve replaced it with PhoneTrack running on my NextCloud - while keeping the OwnTracks app as a client.

These days, I want to check out Traccar and how it compares to PhoneTrack. I believe Traccar can also work with OwnTracks data. So if the Traccar client doesn’t behave, it’s a nice alternative.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#172

Post by kelnos »

cobertos wrote: post #76
jmbwell wrote: post #16

Traccar is relatively easy to set up, for those who might be interested in ditching Google for location history altogether.

Any conflicts with battery optimization? Google's location scraping felt more bulletproof because they seemed to prioritize it at the OS-level on Android over how normal apps function

I've been using OwnTracks for years now with no issues. I disabled battery optimization for it. Granted, I don't have a phone made by a manufacturer that has decided to add garbage to the OS to aggressively kill background apps.

Only annoyance is Android has a thing where it doesn't allow apps that start on boot to automatically start getting GPS data, so on every boot you have to tap a notification to kick things off.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#173

Post by kelnos »

physicles wrote: post #71
kccqzy wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Arc, a paid app to track my location that stores this data on my device and only on my device. It has a good but not great UI to explore this on device, make corrections on transport types which are by default inferred by machine learning, mark and manage points of interest. The UI is somewhat complex so it's not the easiest to use, but it's easy enough after a while. Since you explicitly mentioned moving away…

Thanks, I’ve been looking for something like this since forever. OwnTracks is the thing I previously heard about, but at the time it required you to set up your own mqtt server for data ingestion. I’d rather not have to maintain something like that.

I use OwnTracks. You don't need an MQTT broker (anymore?), though that is one of the options. A HTTP server works just fine, and there's an app (ot-recorder) that will handle saving your location history to disk.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#174

Post by kelnos »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #55
Laforet wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bruce Schneier wrote a similar post back in 2016, and he was ridiculed pretty badly by everybody. Interesting to see how the opinion has shifted to the other extreme in less than 10 years. https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/03/data_is_a_tox...

What I hate is there’s no way for me to say “I know the risks, I still want this feature”. I have been carefully making sure this data is collected for years and I use it all the time.

That's not an option because Google has decided they don't want to bear the risks. Which, frankly, is entirely reasonable.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#175

Post by lakpan »

valiant-comma wrote: post #150
lakpan wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As long as the data on my device is synced to iCloud storage But is it though? That’s the major catch. Something as important as Google Authenticator is not backed up, so you must enable sync to your account to ensure you don’t lose it (which wasn’t a thing at all until recently)

Google Authenticator can sync to your account, now, meaning codes will be available from any new device. https://security.googleblog.com/2023/04/google-authenticator...

That’s what I said, and I think it’s opt-in. GA is just one of many who silently opt out of iCloud.

> you must enable sync to your account

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#176

Post by lakpan »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #143
lakpan wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As long as the data on my device is synced to iCloud storage But is it though? That’s the major catch. Something as important as Google Authenticator is not backed up, so you must enable sync to your account to ensure you don’t lose it (which wasn’t a thing at all until recently)

I don’t use nor recommend Google Authenticator. If you want a secure 2FA/MFA, use a hardware token or a passkey. TOTPs without a backup or sync is pain waiting to happen. Of course, syncing TOTPs comes with its own threat model. Something to keep in mind.

Sometimes you don’t have a choice. Sometimes even if have that set up, the service will still send an SMS.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#177

Post by lakpan »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #154
lakpan wrote: post #135

Tangential: Is anyone else getting burned out from having to transfer data between phones? Let me explain. I’ve been rocking the same iPhone backup since 2010 and I never lost anything… but now if I lose my phone I will lose my eSIMs, as well as any non-passkey 2FA. What next? Just recently I was unable to reinstall my eSIM for an hour and my headache was growing stronger as I imagined what all the services that (sti…

I recently moved my wife to a new phone. It took only a couple of minutes to transfer the esim. But SMS was blocked for 24 hours. Some kind of security measure? So I couldn't activate any apps that required 2FA via SMS. Quite a hassle.

eSIM is a failed technology. Instead of making it easier to move, they just gave the operators more control. In some cases, transfers are simply not possible (like with most eSIMs on Airalo)

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#178

Post by dns_snek »

refulgentis wrote: post #166
dns_snek wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming good faith, the technology makes it possible for your browser, OS and hardware to attest that the website is running in a certain type of environment (e.g. not a bot/scraper) which could be trivially extended to attestations such as "No, this client isn't using an ad blocker". It takes even more control away from users by having their own hardware snitch on them. You can reference numerous previous discussio…

They withdraw it somewhere between 2-6 weeks ago due to the reaction. I used to work at Google, I got over the initial 'gee we're pretty nice and concerned' thing, but would like to gently point out the tendency of people to be slightly histrionic and misinformed about it. The gap between what it was, briefly, and the confidence you have in its intent and current state are quite wide. Certainly well-intentioned and a…

I know the current iteration of WEI was withdrawn and I don't claim to know what their current intentions are. They might be completely innocent, but the fact is that WEI would pave the way for abuse. Once the core functionality is there, there's an obvious financial incentive for them to start expanding WEI in order to boost their advertising revenue.

These types of ideas with significant potential for abuse should be introduced with extreme caution and with at least majority agreement of everyone affected. Instead Google tried to pull a fast one and refused to engage criticisms in good faith. My response might seem alarmist at first glance, but I don't think that's a fair accusation given Google's behavior. I expect this proposal to return under a different name once everyone's forgotten about it and I hope the backlash then will be as severe as it was against WEI.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#179

Post by dns_snek »

modeless wrote: post #149
dns_snek wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's messaging is misleading, too. The data is likely encrypted, but it's impossible for it to be encrypted "end to end" like they claim. > You can encrypt and upload a copy of your Timeline from this device to your Google Account, in case you lose your device or need to switch devices. You can recover the data after losing your device (which would be the only "end" in end to end encryption), which means that the…

You are wrong. It can still be end-to-end encrypted using a password. Android backups are end-to-end encrypted (iPhone backups too but only if you enable the optional "Advanced Data Protection" feature) using your phone unlock code as a password. The phone unlock code is never sent to Google/Apple, it is only processed locally on your phone. Your phone unlock code is typically not complex enough to withstand brute fo…

Today I learned, I'll have to read more about that.

Re: Location history data in Google Maps will soon be stored on user devices

#180

Post by fiddlerwoaroof »

kelnos wrote: post #174
fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I hate is there’s no way for me to say “I know the risks, I still want this feature”. I have been carefully making sure this data is collected for years and I use it all the time.

That's not an option because Google has decided they don't want to bear the risks. Which, frankly, is entirely reasonable.

A great example of the tyranny of the majority[1]

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority

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