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No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

fourthamendment.com

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Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#121

Post by massivetree »

zo1 wrote: post #118
modeless wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for posting this. I had no idea that there was a default off option to keep encrypted backups. I would be pretty mad if I lost all my years of timeline data because I switched phones. It's ridiculous that Google didn't even show an option for this in the long and needlessly convoluted migration process.

Google's handling of this "change" was disastrous. I also value my timeline data and would hate to lose it. Google's solution was to force me to acknowledge some weird dialog that had minimal information about the impact. This is beyond asinine and I don't know how they can say they gave me any informed consent on the change - the whole thing is bizarre. I took a screenshot, and left it running for a few hours while…

it is outrageous invasion of privacy to keep constant tracking records of all locations over long periods of time, yet a user is outraged when they "lose" access to it?! Does a faith in personal access to data stores override any and all opaque backend practices of a massive company? like a cargo cult -- the company will return all of our precious data and we will be made whole

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#122

Post by vinay_ys »

cpcallen wrote: post #102
judge2020 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actual accuracy is worse than before but it’s a welcome change. They do still offer a way to keep an encrypted backup of the database on Google servers (so you don’t lose it if you lose your phone) but its disabled by default and it doesn’t even have a modal popup making it easy to enable backups, you have to specifically click the UI button to see the modal with the info sheet and a button to enable backing it u…

Since reading this I've gone looking for the setting in Maps (on iOS) but not been able to find it. Can you tell me where it is?

Google gives most privacy controls than any other major Internet company and actually works really hard to honor it.

Still, you can do two things to maximize your privacy:

1. In https://myactivity.google.com/activitycontrols, disable all activity history – everything should show "off".

2. In iOS, turn off background permission to all Google apps. (You can do this for most apps without loss in functionality). Then, turn off location permission all apps. For maps, give it location permission to "allow while using" only.

This is the least intrusive you can get to. Beyond this, you can also use different google account for different google apps to minimize data mingling. Further beyond that, you can just stop using google apps.

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#123

Post by barroomhero »

jffry wrote: post #114
cpcallen wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since reading this I've gone looking for the setting in Maps (on iOS) but not been able to find it. Can you tell me where it is?

Maybe it's similar to the Android app. If so: 1. Open Google Maps 2. Tap my profile photo at top right 3. Pick "Your Timeline" from the menu 4. Tap the cloud icon in top navbar 5. Toggle the option to enable cloud backup

I'm using Android and do not have the cloud icon? Can you share a screenshot?

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#124

Post by dylan604 »

tomcam wrote: post #104
epigramx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a welcome change Can someone explain why it's good that your official law infrastructure has no access to Google when in need? Is this some kind of bizzaro-extermist-libertarianism "government is evil" from America again?

Is it your thought that government agencies are generally competent and respectful of your data? Do you think the kind of people who run bureaucracies with zero accountability are likely to keep your info private?

No. "The cyberattack and data breach were reported to be among the worst cyber-espionage incidents ever suffered by the U.S., due to the sensitivity and high profile of the targets and the long duration (eight to nine months) in which the hackers had access."[0]

8 to 9 months of undetected access. Not hours. Not minutes. Months.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_federal_gov...

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#125

Post by autoexec »

gruez wrote: post #25
autoexec wrote: post #6

> Location History is turned off by default, so a user must take several affirmative steps before Google begins tracking and storing his Location History data. Do people really think Google isn't tracking location data without this setting enabled? How would anyone (save for a whistleblower) know? Location history seems like the data Google lets you collect/see for yourself, and not the totality of location data (whi…

>Do people really think Google isn't tracking location data without this setting enabled? How would anyone (save for a whistleblower) know? [...] You can't, in the same way you wouldn't know whether Carl Sagan really has an invisible dragon in his garage or not. It's impossible to prove a negative. >It doesn't matter if you delete the list of GPS coordinates from your google account because what you can't delete is t…

> You can't

Sounds like a good reason not to trust them. That said, it's not impossible to be reasonably assured that our data isn't being stored or used inappropriately, but that would require strong regulations which protected that data and a proven record of companies being caught and facing meaningful consequences for violating those regulations. It'd be nice if we had strong whistleblower protections as well. Maybe a massive bounty to anyone who can prove to regulators that their company is violating customer's privacy would help.

> Is there any evidence this actually happens?

Well, yeah. That's literally Google's entire business model. They collect as much data as they can about you, so that advertisers can request their ads to be show to certain segments of the population. That's what targeted advertising is. Nobody is sending Google updates on their lives, google just makes a bunch of guesses and inferences using the massive amounts of data they collect about you, and as long as they are correct most of the time it pays off for advertisers.

Google isn't alone in that either. Many many companies do it, as well as data brokers. You can be extremely specific in who you target. See for example: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-data-brokers-selling-your-p...

Among the worst are lists of people with mental illness, dementia, poor education/literacy, low intelligence, etc. I doubt Google lets you target people based on predatory lists like that, but they might keep them for their own uses. They have collected the test scores and grades of a lot of children through schools that force students to create google accounts and use chromebooks. It'd be pretty easy for them to sort people into buckets like "smart" or "dumb".

Lots of companies privacy polices state specifically that they collect this kind of data. For example, here a company that collects "Personal Information used to create a profile about you, which may include your preferences, reading or writing levels, abilities, aptitudes, and other data or analytics provided about you or your account by our third-party partners or data aggregators. " (https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site/public/entry/privacy_p...)

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#126

Post by paiute »

renewiltord wrote: post #69
modeless wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for posting this. I had no idea that there was a default off option to keep encrypted backups. I would be pretty mad if I lost all my years of timeline data because I switched phones. It's ridiculous that Google didn't even show an option for this in the long and needlessly convoluted migration process.

It looks like they did the right thing since privacy advocates don't even consider that sufficiently difficult https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40959052

Why does Google suddenly care? Location Services has never been privacy minded. Does this have to do with that 2000 mules thing?

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#127

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Mordisquitos wrote: post #110
epigramx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a welcome change Can someone explain why it's good that your official law infrastructure has no access to Google when in need? Is this some kind of bizzaro-extermist-libertarianism "government is evil" from America again?

There was a time, not that long ago, when there was no such thing as Google Location History storing the geographical movements of all Android users by default. Now, in your mind, go back to that time period, and lets say there are elections coming up in your country. Are you there yet? OK. Now, the manifesto of the candidacies in the upcoming elections is proposing that the location history data of every citizen in…

I still don't understand this perspective, other than slippery slope povs ('what if the Nazis take over?').

My bank knows everywhere I go (if I spend money). The main mobile phone companies know everywhere I go (in real time, and who with [if they have a phone]). Shops and supermarkets track you around the building by Bluetooth, et cetera.

So, what's the problem if the police get access to this data to solve heinous crimes. I'm not talking the RIP Act (UK, regulatory investigation powers) - which lets a ridiculously broad swathe of people see, eg your internet history - but major crimes ... why not?

To answer your question, as long as the parties had a sound moral basis, supported individual rights, then it wouldn't alter my voting intention. I guess I'm happy to limit the liberty to commit serious crimes.

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#128

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ajb wrote: post #88
epigramx wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a welcome change Can someone explain why it's good that your official law infrastructure has no access to Google when in need? Is this some kind of bizzaro-extermist-libertarianism "government is evil" from America again?

Statistically, you can't rely on having a non-repressive government for your entire lifetime. The US has been fortunate in missing out on it for quite a while, but even then there has been HUAC and J Edgar Hoover, even if they didn't take over the whole government.

This is 'drunk-driving kills so we should ban vehicles' level thinking.

If you don't want fascists then vote/act against that. You can't avoid fascists by making it harder to catch criminals for non-fascists. Then you get "well at least the fascists keep crime rates down".

Re: No reasonable expectation of privacy in one's Google location data

#129

Post by [deleted] »

jmward01 wrote: post #9

Missing from this is the reality that the modern world increasingly requires using these applications. It is meaningless to present an option you are forced to agree to. Additionally there is, to me, a big difference between me enabling an app to use my data for the service I believe it provides and them using it for everything else.

[deleted]
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