Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google tracks users who turn off location history

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 108 posts

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#91

Post by jonknee »

pacala wrote: post #86
jonknee wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can manually set cities, but the article cites automatic weather updates. That's the part that requires your location. Knowing where you are is the only way this feature can work. You don't need to use it and if you're happy with "browser autocomplete" vs a widget that shows the current weather then by all means use the browser.

> Knowing where you are is the only way this feature can work. I'm 100% confident that IPhone weather app updates automatically the weather for my home town. It doesn't need my personalized location, just the location for my home town.

Yes, but that's not what this is. This shows you the weather where you are, regardless of your hometown or if you're there. You can also do this in Apple's weather app, here is what it looks like when you open it for the first time:

https://imgur.com/a/zodvD9g

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#93

Post by chimeracoder »

distortedsignal wrote: post #53
hashr8064 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Suggestions are welcome for good alternatives, I'm in the move away myself. Here's some services I've started using, in many areas I'm still looking for other replacements. Hopefully others can help. 1. E-Mail : protonmail.com, I really like this one, great service. 2. Video Calls : I'm currently using signal to some extent, not very happy though, would really like something like Hangouts. 3. Browser : Firefox 4. P…

For video calls, you should try zoom.us. From what I've seen, they have the best streaming infrastructure of any of the major players (FaceTime, Hangouts, Webex, GoToMeeting). Apps for all the major platforms, too. The only bad thing is that if you're on a multi-way call, they limit you to 40 minutes.

> The only bad thing is that if you're on a multi-way call, they limit you to 40 minutes.

To be clear, that's for the free version. You can pay to remove this limit (along with getting some other features).

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#94

Post by Bartweiss »

l9k wrote: post #48
Bartweiss wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The second feature you have to disable to limit this tracking is Web And App Activity. This is a bundled feature which means you can't choose the utterly reasonable status "improve my search suggestions but don't use my location". More importantly, the Google Privacy Checkup where you find this setting offers no hint that it involves location monitoring. Here's the text: "Google is saving your searches and other Goog…

I just checked. First hint is the "GPS icon" on every Search entry and the location is displayed when you click on "Details". Second, on the Activity Commands, you just have to click on the link to See More and it's explicitly stated that the location is stored.

Where are you looking? I don't see any of the terms or icons you're describing. (I don't doubt you, but Google tends to have multiple ways to access every feature.)

I'm going, on browser, to Privacy -> Your Privacy Controls -> Go To Privacy Checkup -> Start Now. On that screen, Web & App Activity has an overall toggle, a checkbox for including Chrome history and data from sites and apps that use Google services, and a Manage Activity link. There's no GPS icon shown, I genuinely have no idea what the checkbox does (that description covers everything I expect from 'Web & App Activity', so what's left if the toggle is on and the box is off?), and the whole thing is sitting right next to the Location History control in a way that strongly implies location data is in the second area.

The Manage Activity link brings me to a further page with searches and app activations listed, but the description still says nothing about location and I still don't see a GPS icon. I can't check specific searches, because I have this feature turned off. (I turned it on to test, but it doesn't update live.) I don't see Activity Commands or See More anywhere at all.

I also found a second, distinct page called Activity Controls from the privacy menus, with the same toggle/checkbox/manage options but a different description of what the feature does! (The text next to the checkbox is the same, and still completely unclear to me.) No GPS icons or use of the word 'location' here either.

I admit that each of those descriptions mentions Google Maps, but they do so in the context of autocomplete and faster/smarter searches. It looks for all the world like this page is about populating my Maps history by my past searches (which I do want) and not populating it by my location (which I don't want).

So, yes, this feature can be turned off. And I believe you that the specific searches have GPS data if you've got it turned on. But I just spent 20 minutes trying to find any sign that location data is stored here other than opening the details on specific links, using Google's recommended privacy-preservation feature, with instructions from other people, and still failed. This seems like a pretty exotic version of 'transparency'.

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#95

Post by pnutjam »

herodotus wrote: post #84

It is becoming too easy to pick on Google. There are many Web apps that use location. BestBuy, just to pick one arbitrary example, will ask permission to discover my location in order to show me my nearest stores. This is, of course, very useful, and I am happy this service exists. What I do not know is whether or not BestBuy or many other companies are sharing this information with other companies. My assumption is…

I think we have a different definition of "very useful". I find it intrusive and routinely deny those requests. It's simple to pop my zip in a form to find the nearest store.

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#96

Post by Max_Mustermann »

ddtaylor wrote: post #23
abababba wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/front?day=2018-08-13&p=2 55th position

Wow! I didn't know you could look at the homepage based on day. That's awesome, thanks!!

You can also check them by order of votes with waybackhn: http://www.waybackhn.com/?date=2018-08-13

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#98

Post by goshx »

adtac wrote: post #64
goshx wrote: post #44

From time to time I visit https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity and every time I need to turn something off again.

Here's a subset of what Google knows about you to tailor ads for you: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated

I've had that off for a while. Now my ads on Gmail only offer me to date women and men 60+.

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#99

Post by zepto »

ferongr wrote: post #76
zepto wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone location history is on your iPhone not at Apple. And Apple doesn’t track you. They cycle identifiers regularly for exactly this reason. Spreading falsehoods about this being something everyone does is harmful because it normalizes the abusive behavior from those that actually do.

How do you know? Have you audited the source of iOS?

No but I believe the technical whitepapers and public statements Apple has made.

If you are going to just claim they are lying, you are the one who needs evidence.

Re: Google tracks users who turn off location history

#100

Post by zepto »

Lendal wrote: post #81
zepto wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPhone location history is on your iPhone not at Apple. And Apple doesn’t track you. They cycle identifiers regularly for exactly this reason. Spreading falsehoods about this being something everyone does is harmful because it normalizes the abusive behavior from those that actually do.

The reason the location history is not local is because the data is for Timeline, a feature of Google Maps which has its own web site. If the data were only local, I wouldn't be able to use a web browser on my computer to peruse my Timeline and photos from my phone. It would be broken.

What are you talking about? We know google is keeping tracking data despite users turning it off.

But Apple is not.

Post reply on HN