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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

#331

Post by parthdesai »

eridius wrote: post #145
lemagedurage wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ca…

> Maybe the next iOS update comes with privacy intrusion because it's more lucrative. Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data. Apple does not see user data as something to be hoarded. They see user data as a liability and work very hard to collect as little as possible in order to provide the services they do. The idea that Apple is going to discard all of th…

>Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data.

Remind me again, which company pulled out of China, Apple or Google?

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

#332

Post by kerberos84 »

cptskippy wrote: post #315
kerberos84 wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, of course we should believe the google spokesperson.

I don't think we should trust any of the big tech companies with our data. We should instead accept that anything we share with them is not necessarily private. Despite Apple positioning itself as the privacy minded company righteously protecting your personal information, they still share it with 3rd parties to implement products like Siri. They're very secretive and don't talk about that fact and they only begrudgi…

Totally agree. I don't believe Apple either. But google is getting too aggressive and annoying. Google's 90% of revenue comes from advertising. That means the better they track you the more they will earn with targeted ads. On the other side Apple's revenue relies on mostly iPhone sales. Moreover, Apple started a war against tracking with 3rd party cookies. Which is a very smart move, gaining customer trust and hit the Google on it's self playground.

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

#333

Post by m3kw9 »

lemagedurage wrote: post #120
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 ca…

Maybe is different then what Android is already doing to you. There will always be maybe to anything

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

#334

Post by endorphone »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #330
endorphone wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data. Google's entire business is carefully balanced on user trust. Anyone who posits some naive "they're an ad company" nonsense is just muddying the waters. Google is a user-trust company in a variety of spheres, and without that trust they would be annihilated. Apple does not see user data as something to be hoarded I've…

Siri is so far behind Amazon and Google's voice assistants that if they're Hoovering up the datas, they're doing it wrong. I'm a (mostly) happy [0] Apple customer. The lack of evidence that they are gathering all my bits makes me comfortable to use their products. I strongly feel we'd hear leaks about how they are saying one thing and doing another if they were. Employees of Apple aren't that loyal. Yet here we are w…

You realize that Apple admitted to collecting cell tower and wifi data years ago, wholly separate from any location data, right? That they still do to this day.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2011/04/27Apple-Q-A-on-Locati...

It is impossible that a unique device submits data about cell and wifi locations in an "anonymous" way aside from putting another party in between (a party that you'd have to trust), and that caveat is outrageously nonsensical to anyone with a hint of technical capability. But we trust that Apple is then mangling it up. Or do they?

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

#335

Post by akerro »

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…

> If you're concerned about this level of location tracking, don't carry a cell phone at all.

What do you think a cell phone is? It's literally a portable phone. It's purpose it literally to be carried with you. You completely missed the point and you gave up all your rights as a person and as a customer to a foreign corporation. Millions years of evolution and we ended up with someone like you.

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

#336

Post by madeofpalk »

lemagedurage wrote: post #120
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 ca…

Alternatively, _this_ version of Android is 'open'* which you still don't have control over and has these privacy issues.

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

#337

Post by madeofpalk »

parthdesai wrote: post #331
eridius wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe the next iOS update comes with privacy intrusion because it's more lucrative. Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data. Apple does not see user data as something to be hoarded. They see user data as a liability and work very hard to collect as little as possible in order to provide the services they do. The idea that Apple is going to discard all of th…

>Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data. Remind me again, which company pulled out of China, Apple or Google?

...neither?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China#Controversies

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

#338

Post by akoncius »

akoncius wrote: post #105
tryingagainbro wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only governments can tame this beast now, way too big and too rich for any startup. I noticed several chrome instances running on "Task manager" almost all the time. Used Chrome maybe months ago. So I uninstalled. Who knows what they were doing, collecting. I trust them as much as I (would) trust a hustler on the old 42nd street

yeah. I decided to avoid chrome at all costs when noticed that when you install chrome and have firefox already installed , chrome automatically without user’s acknowledgement installs some mysterious google plugin which does not sure what. To verify it , I reproduced same scenario again and plugin was installed again. After that I uninstalled chrome and avoid google products as much as possible.

to reply to subcomments: I will try to reproduce it soon, meanwhile read this thread [1]. I don't remember exact plugin name, so cannot say this is identical to my situation but still it proves that Google installs Firefox plugins without user's acknowledgement and should not be related with Firefox in any way.

[1]: https://superuser.com/questions/156913/what-is-the-google-up...

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

#339

Post by zingmars »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #328
growse wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is true, but it's also potentially worthwhile to consider that Apple has positioned themselves as a hardware company (i.e. the majority of their money is based on selling units of hardware), whereas their main competitor here (Google) is an ad company (i.e. the majority of their money comes from selling their users' data). Apple has chosen to highlight their commitment to privacy partially because they feel it…

If Apple really is Hoovering up all our data, we'd hear about it. A disgruntled employee would tell all after they got fired or left.

That's assuming if there is an disgruntled employee with knowledge of this happening and if there is, that there isn't an NDA good enough to make him or her to think twice about leaking anything should they leave on bad terms. That's a large if to place your hopes on.

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

#340

Post by parthdesai »

madeofpalk wrote: post #337
parthdesai wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apple has demonstrated time and time again their commitment to privacy and to protecting user data. Remind me again, which company pulled out of China, Apple or Google?

...neither? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_China#Controversies

There is this line in the link you shared.

"In 2014, in response to a series of terrorist attacks, China made all Google services almost unusable by tightening its Internet censorship, often called the "Great Firewall of China"

That would only happen if Google didn't comply with Chinese govt. unlike the other company we are talking about.

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