Thu, March 28, 2024

Google makes it impossible to keep your location private

google, A man hand holding screen shot of google maps app showing on LG G4.

In May 2020, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit had suggested the Internet giant’s dark strategy to collect the location of Android phones, even when users had disabled it. Furthermore, it revealed that the company deliberately hid some privacy settings to make it harder to find and even pressured manufacturers like LG to do the same in their operating system layers.

The documents indicate that Google uses various sources to detect the user’s location, such as Wi-Fi and GPS. In addition, it ensures that there is no way to share the location with a third-party application without first doing it with Google. As if this weren’t enough, the company continued to collect location data even when users disabled an app’s location.

According to Insider, Google tried to facilitate access to privacy settings on Android. However, when they detected that users were taking advantage of it not to be tracked, they decided to hide them. After the modification, you had to navigate through various submenus to make some adjustments that were previously within reach. The company even pressured LG and other mobile phone manufacturers to hide the settings mentioned above.

Don’t let Google know much about you

Google’s privacy movements were also viewed negatively by some employees, comparing iOS and criticizing that users cannot get their location without providing this information to Google. The employee said this could be how Apple overtakes Android and any iPhone offers many more possibilities to users on how apps and services access their location. Employees admitted that iOS devices are much more likely to use third-party location-dependent apps without sharing data with Apple. On Android, any third-party app that needs location ends up being shared with Google.

Even after deactivating the history, Google continues to find out the location of the home and workplace of Android users.

Former Google Maps executive Jack Menzel advises all users to prevent the firm from knowing too much about you: Set our home and work address as other random locations than the actual ones.

As stated in the documentation, even Google executives like Senior Product Manager Jen Chai expressed confusion about the various possible location data collection configurations.

Android offers five privacy settings for user location data. Chai himself has acknowledged that they can be too complicated for users to understand, partly because a user cannot disable location services from Google Play.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Ford

Quick Look: CVA Family Office LLC snaps up 4,559 shares of Ford

The government aspires to make Portugal Europe's top producer of prime lithium for electric car batteries.

Quick Look: Atlas Lithium signs investment and offtake agreements with Mitsui. Mitsui

Stocks and various factors, Baltimore

Quick Look: The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after a

COMMENTS

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

User Review
  • Support
    Sending
  • Platform
    Sending
  • Spreads
    Sending
  • Trading Instument
    Sending

BROKER NEWS

Plus500 Expands Office Space in Haifa and Boosts Hiring

Plus500 has significantly expanded its Haifa office space and increased recruitment efforts across various departments. Local news source Walla reports the brokerage has leased an additional 5,800 square meters in the Gev-Yam complex

BROKER NEWS

Stock Report – stock exchange background – WibestBroker

Plus500 Expands Office Space in Haifa and Boosts Hiring

Plus500 has significantly expanded its Haifa office space and increased recruitment efforts across various departments. Local news source Walla reports the brokerage has leased an additional 5,800 square meters in the Gev-Yam complex in