Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled

pandlouk · Sep 11, 2018

I'm the last one to defend Google (or Microsoft or Apple).... but this is a complete BS. I have more than a dozen android devices associated with my account (half of them owned by family members) and google has stored zero information about their activity.
People enabling assisting cloud technologies and then lamenting about google keeping records about their activities is... insane. They link their google searches, their youtube searches, their map searches with their account and then realise that those searches are stored in their account...
If they did not want to be monitored they should not have their phones 24/7 connected in the net...

guest · Aug 25, 2020

Unredacted suit shows Google’s own engineers confused by privacy settings
Users could make change, but it was "difficult enough that people won’t," one employee wrote
August 25, 2020
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...s-own-engineers-confused-by-privacy-settings/

Newly unsealed and partially unredacted documents from a consumer fraud suit the state of Arizona filed against Google show that company employees knew and discussed among themselves that the company's location privacy settings were confusing and potentially misleading.

In 2018, the Associated Press reported that Maps and some other Google services (on both iPhone and Android) were storing users' location data even when users had explicitly turned Location History off.

"There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services," a Google spokesperson told the AP at the time.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office launched its own investigation following the AP report, and in May 2020 the state sued Google, alleging that the company violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
Click to expand...

The new version of the suit (PDF) includes a number of employee emails and chat logs where Google employees agreed with the AP story, and these employees highlighted their own frustrations with the settings. [...]
"Speaking as a user, WTF?" another employee said, in additional documentation obtained by the Arizona Mirror. "More specifically I **thought** I had location tracking turned off on my phone. So our messaging around this is enough to confuse a privacy focused (Google software engineer). That’s not good."

The suit also provides a fascinating insight into how Google reacts when a negative news item about the company goes big. "The day the AP story was published," the suit says, "Google turned into crisis mode and held a self-styled 'Oh S[***]' meeting in reaction to the story."

The company's communications team published daily reports (PDF) after the AP's story went live [...]
"We're seeing a growing narrative driven by third party commentary (policy influencers) that alludes to FTC / congressional action," the report said, citing stories by CNET, Vanity Fair, and Wired. "This will likely become a bigger focus as the week goes on."
Click to expand...

jaypeecee · Aug 26, 2020

ronjor said: ↑

Written by Keith Collins
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that Google also mapped out WiFi networks and can use these to get approximate location. I'll never forget a few years ago when leaving my house and a taxi-like vehicle passed me. It had an array of antennae on top. I asked the driver what he was doing and, if my memory serves me well, it was related to Google Street View.

JPC

reasonablePrivacy · Aug 26, 2020

jaypeecee said: ↑

I was under the impression that Google also mapped out WiFi networks and can use these to get approximate location. I'll never forget a few years ago when leaving my house and a taxi-like vehicle passed me. It had an array of antennae on top. I asked the driver what he was doing and, if my memory serves me well, it was related to Google Street View.

JPC
Click to expand...

If Google does this from its car then Google knows location of its own car. If Google does this from yours smartphone then Google knows yours smartphone's location.

BTW TomTom's car passed me yesterday mapping newly rebuild part of street/road.

reasonablePrivacy · Aug 14, 2022

Arizona Judge Denies Summary Judgment in Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Google For Privacy Violations
https://arizonastatelawjournal.org/...awsuit-against-google-for-privacy-violations/

A motion for summary judgment is a request by the moving party—in this case, Google—that the judge throw out the lawsuit on the grounds that there is no genuine issue of material fact. This means that the outcome of the case is so clear that the judge does not believe a reasonable jury could find against the moving party.

In the current case, Google moved for summary judgment. A ruling in favor of Google would have meant that Google did not violate Arizona privacy laws in failing to disclose its location tracking methods. However, because the judge denied the motion, a jury will decide whether Google should be held liable. The lawsuit is currently ongoing.
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