This most likely also collects call (meta) data about any phone called from Android and anyone calling a number terminating on an Android phone.
Google collects metadata from Android phones
131–140 of 263 posts
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#132The article seems to imply that this is a recent addition to the privacy policy. Google keeps archived versions of their privacy policies ( https://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy/archive/ ), and you can easily see that the "telephony log information" was added in the March 1st 2012 revision of the Google privacy policy. You can see a summary on https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/what-actually-changed-... A…
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Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#133Are people really surprised about this anymore? I can't say that I am. Google is a company which makes a lot of money off of their platforms. I expect them to be collecting data wherever and whenever they can. I see stories like this every day but I've become accustomed to it because it's such a normal practice nowadays, especially from a company like google which provides so many advertising services. I'm not saying…
Sad state of affairs when an article about encroaching users privacy is met with such indifference.
Personally I'm not indifferent about any of this; it's very worrying, but I usually just have no idea what to say that contributes. So I, like most people I assume, prefer to lurk rather than to be vocal and emotional about what's going on.
Besides all of that, the older I get, the more I realise the following two things: #1 that we're entirely in the dark ages of technology (and science to a lesser extent), regardless of the technology we have acquired, because society, governance and the public discourses all seem so very crude - we don't know how to handle our newly found powers and dogmas are still very existent: they've just moved from religion to science and technology; and #2: that the entire ordeal we find ourselves in is wholly inevitable, and, for the most part, much less important than it appears to be, perhaps even insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I don't believe that there is going to be a global doom scenario, or at least, not more than medieval witch hunts and the rise (and 'fall' of sorts) of the Roman Catholic power and influence structure.
Historically speaking I'm inclined to think that the only element of humanity that survives everything that's happened, is human bonding and the forming of relationships and communities. In Roman Catholic wording, I'd say that everything else is a lot more temporal, and also very volatile and subject to change. If that comes across as indifference, so be it.
But that's just how I see things now, so feel free to poke holes in my theory.
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#134Companies should rather post diffs, not "we updated the policy".[1] I don't intend to spend my time to go through myself, it's hard enough for one company, not a myriad of services we use nowadays.
But I guess this is a nasty way to implement some unpopular policies, then point the finger at the user stating he complied to it.
[1] And by fixing this I mean make it a law.
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#135Says the guy using a free gmail.com email address.
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#136This clause was carried over from the Google Voice privacy policy when Google merged all of their policies into one in 2012.
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
According to that diff, Google moved from opt-in sharing of DoubleClick cookies, to...potentially default-in, with a possible opt-out option buried in some unidentified settings page?
gotta love the double standard. when verizon did their super cokie, everyone went crazy (as they should). now that its google (doing that since before verizon it seems) the top coment is a googler throwing the issue to the side in a hitchhikers-guide-to-galaxy way ("you should have checked the alpha centaury records in 2012")
I think the right reaction to this is moving to Android without the mothership. That is an Android stripped from any Google services.
I was quite sceptical about Android, partly because it has a foreign userspace and partly because there were no nice vanilla Android forks without Google code and with a focus on privacy.
I'm now tired of waiting for any Maemo successor to catch up and I reckon F-droid has become a pretty nice ecosystem. Also the announcement of CopperheadOS, Guardian Project and F-droid joining forces is exciting [1].
[1] https://guardianproject.info/2016/03/28/copperhead-guardian-...
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#138Just go on activity controls and disable "device information": https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols?hl=en&pli=1&ot...
I disabled every control on this page months ago. Unfortunately, the Google Maps app won't remember searches unless you're logged in and share your entire location history. There's just no way to keep a local history of places in Maps. I'll get rid of Google Maps as soon as Maps.me let me stream OSM maps instead of downloading packages one-by-one.
I voted with my wallet, bought an offline navigation app and disabled Maps.
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#139The article seems to imply that this is a recent addition to the privacy policy. Google keeps archived versions of their privacy policies ( https://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy/archive/ ), and you can easily see that the "telephony log information" was added in the March 1st 2012 revision of the Google privacy policy. You can see a summary on https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/what-actually-changed-... A…
According to that diff, Google moved from opt-in sharing of DoubleClick cookies, to...potentially default-in, with a possible opt-out option buried in some unidentified settings page?
To disable it on Android go to: Settings -> Google -> Ads -> Opt out of interest-based ads
But the surprise twist is that Apple does the same thing!
To disable it on iPhones go to: Settings -> Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit Ad
Re: Google collects metadata from Android phones
#140A Gooxit would be in order. From time to time I wonder why the EU accepts foreign companies stealing so much personal data. China did the right thing. We should learn from them. India, afaik, also has better protection.
This is a thing that I wish EU would "grow some" and step together instead of catering to (usually) US services/corporations.