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Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

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Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#111

Post by dawnbreez »

lotso wrote: post #110
dawnbreez wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>the solution is to buy a (much more expensive) phone from this specific competitor This sounds like advertising. Also, I'm fairly sure that Apple also sells data. Indeed, given current privacy laws, it's basically guaranteed that if a company has proprietary software, it is selling data from that software.

> Also, I'm fairly sure that Apple also sells data. Can you point to a source that shows this? This sounds like a lie to me.

As mentioned in the reply to the sibling comment, we can't know for sure unless we have source code.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#112

Post by throw2016 »

This is the kind of creepy stalking behavior that Google and its apologists have normalized and seek to further extend. It's ok to need a job but no responsible individual can defend this massive, intensive and extensive invasion of people's privacy.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#113

Post by mxuribe »

ksenzee wrote: post #104
chiefalchemist wrote: post #91

This could trigger a new line of wearables, one with a Faraday Cage sewn right in. Right pocket is open, left pocket is a cage ;)

My first instinct was to laugh. My second was "I want this."

I had the same exact reaction as you! :-)

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#114

Post by aeorgnoieang »

urda wrote: post #61
alwaysdoit wrote: post #56

If you're concerned about this level of location tracking, don't carry a cell phone at all. Keeping track of which cell tower your phone is closest to is fundamental to cellular technology. You can't make or receive calls unless Verizon, T-Mobile, or whichever carrier you have knows which cell to communicate with you through. Regardless of whether Google is tracking this, your carrier certainly is, and with a warrant…

> I can guarantee you Google protects this data more securely than your carrier does. This sentence is completely insane in this context, did we read the same article? Google should not have access to this data, and it sure as hell shouldn't be sending it up to itself when disabled by the end-user. It's absurd that you typed that out for an article titled "Google collects cell tower info even if location services are…

They were making a related but cogent point about the security implications of Google having this info versus the cell phone carriers. It did not, directly or even by implication, contradict anything you wrote – you're right that this is a privacy violation, but I didn't interpret the comment to which you replied as denying that.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#115

Post by chimeracoder »

IBM wrote: post #63

It's amazing to me how many comments here excuse Google's behavior by offering the impractical "solution" of just not using a smartphone (a false dilemma) when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone. That's the advice of pretty much everyone in the infosec field and I'm sure some of them will attest to that in this thread.

> It's amazing to me how many comments here excuse Google's behavior by offering the impractical "solution" of just not using a smartphone (a false dilemma) when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone.

Smartphone or not, carrying any phone means providing this information to your carrier at all times.

I don't like the idea of sending this information to anybody, but to be honest, Google is the entity that I'm the last concerned with at the moment. Unlike literally every cell carrier on the market, hey have an excellent track record from a data security perspective, and their entire competitive advantage relies on them not providing that raw data to any third party.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#116

Post by bob_theslob646 »

legohead wrote: post #26
bob_theslob646 wrote: post #15

Why is this a problem? What is the harm of them collecting cell tower information? Is it possible to provide the same quality of service(s) without the cell tower information?

bob_theslob646, we have identified you as being the only person around while a murder was committed. We need you to come into the station.

What are you afraid of? Correlation does not equal causation.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#117

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

eknkc wrote: post #81
IBM wrote: post #63

It's amazing to me how many comments here excuse Google's behavior by offering the impractical "solution" of just not using a smartphone (a false dilemma) when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone. That's the advice of pretty much everyone in the infosec field and I'm sure some of them will attest to that in this thread.

I tell all my friends / family to get an iPhone if they are upgrading. I used iOS and Android phones and I like both. However it makes even me nerveous to use a banking application or similar on an Android. Can’t imagine what kind of shit my dad would have running on an Android device with all the fake fishing apps, bloatware, tracking etc going around. With a non jailbroken iPhone I have a lot more peace of mind.

> With a non jailbroken iPhone I have a lot more peace of mind.

Ignorance is bliss.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#118

Post by pjmlp »

IBM wrote: post #63

It's amazing to me how many comments here excuse Google's behavior by offering the impractical "solution" of just not using a smartphone (a false dilemma) when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone. That's the advice of pretty much everyone in the infosec field and I'm sure some of them will attest to that in this thread.

> when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone.

It is only obvious when one enjoys a wealthy life.

There are lots of countries out where people can barely afford something better than a feature phone, and when they do, their hard worked savings are just enough for an Android device.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#119

Post by aeorgnoieang »

Brakenshire wrote: post #69
growse wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Claiming sophistry doesn't make it so, you have to try a little harder than that. The original assertion was "If you care about privacy, don't use Android". A more nuanced and useful assertion would be this: If you don't trust a specific private company with your information, don't volunteer it to them. If you don't trust Apple/Google/Microsoft with all of your data, don't buy a device with a radio they have root acc…

Sophistry in the sense that according to any reasonable idea of privacy, meeting someone in public, so that they know where you are, your name and your face, is distinctly different from a private company knowing exactly where you are at all moments. Imagine if it came out that a company had hired private investigators to follow you around, and collected a list of every location you visited. You tell someone else, an…

> a private company knowing exactly where you are at all moments

Someone else commented that this has already been the case for ... at least a decade, for basically everyone (in the U.S.) – the cell phone carriers are those private companies. And there is substantial evidence that they're even less trustworthy than Google.

Re: Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

#120

Post by lemagedurage »

IBM wrote: post #63

It's amazing to me how many comments here excuse Google's behavior by offering the impractical "solution" of just not using a smartphone (a false dilemma) when the obvious answer is to get an iPhone. That's the advice of pretty much everyone in the infosec field and I'm sure some of them will attest to that in this thread.

Apple provides a black box with iOS, they have full control. Maybe the next iOS update comes with privacy intrusion because it's more lucrative.

A more sensible way of dealing wirh the issue would be to use an open source Android version like AOSP or LineageOS, not run proprietary gapps, and replace its functionality with F-Droid, MicroG and Yalp-store. Your location will stay out of Apple's/Google's hands and you can still enjoy all convenience of a smartphone. Keeping your freedom in your own hands.

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