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Police Are Filing Warrants For Android's Vast Store Of Location Data (theverge.com)
The Verge is reporting about a man who robbed a Bank of America office in Romana, California. A person, named Timothy Graham, matching his profile robbed another bank in November. The investigators, however, didn't have enough evidence to prove that Graham was indeed the same person who robbed the other bank as well. The cops contacted Google and utilised a feature of Maps that builds a comprehensive history of where a user has been -- information that is proved valuable to police and advertisers alike. The publication claims that in the past few months, police have used this Maps' feature in several other instances as well. From the report: Investigators had already gone to Graham's wireless carrier, AT&T, but Google's data was more precise, potentially placing Graham inside the bank at the time the robbery was taking place. "Based on my training and experience and in consultation with other agents," an investigator wrote, "I believe it is likely that Google can provide me with GPS data, cell site information and Wi-fi access points for Graham's phone." [...] It's not clear whether either of the public warrants were filled. No Google-based evidence was presented in Graham's trial, and the other suspect plead guilty before a full case could be presented. Still, there's no evidence of a legal challenge to either warrant. There's also reason to think the investigators' legal tactic would have been successful, since Google's policy is to comply with lawful warrants for location data. While the warrants are still rare, police appear to be catching on to the powerful new tactic, which allows them to collect a wealth of information on the movements and activities of Android users, available as soon as there's probable cause to search.
Now they'll know that I don't get out much.
Clear your existing history, then disable Location History for your Google account to prevent future tracking. I also disable High-Accuracy Location on my phone itself, although that's just because I don't want to send Google near-by wifi networks and cell towers, just use classic GPS.
Richard Stallman has always maintained that our mobile phones are tracking devices. He famously refuses to carry one.
So in a way, this is old news. However, the police and government tracking has gotten a lot better over the years.
...because nobody ever heard of burn phones.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Leave your own cell phone at home, and use a disposable cell phone while you are out engaging in wrong-doing. Then even if you are correctly accused of a crime, you have an alibi...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I do wonder how long until the belief in the unquestionable veracity of third-party data will be utilized to get rid of some political undesirables.
Wasn't all this data supposed to be anonymised by Google's clever algorithms to the point where it could not be connected to any one person?
You don't have to be using maps. Location data is used for all sorts of behind the scenes functionality (updating Google Now, Showing Android Pay cards for store locations you're in, etc.).
Everywhere you've been if you have Location History turned on:
https://www.google.com/maps/ti...
Why is this a surprise to anyone? Why would a company that is at its heart a targeted advertising company that collects vast amounts of information on you, records web searches, records web sites visited, scans your emails, collects location data, photographs your home and business front and back that faces a road, etc ... not be expected to be an incredible resource to law enforcement just as they are an incredible resource to advertisers. Sure the advertisers don't get your name or IP but advertisers don't have judges available to tell the company to provide such personally identifiable info.
Google practices a two sided market strategy. On one side they offer free services (search, email, maps, etc) to users in return for collecting info. On the other side they monetize that info through targeted advertising, delivering ads. They do not provide personally identifiable information to advertisers because that would destroy their business model, they need to be the gatekeeper between advertisers and users so they can collect their fee.
If ever the phrase "users are the product not the customer" ever applied it applies to Google. But hey, they have a friendly motto "do no evil", and they are not a three letter government agency so its all OK right?
To paraphrase seven-of-nine: they will fail.
Don't mistake a lack of comprehensive user data (in an easy to interpret format) as an intentional protection by Apple. Google has intentionally provided this information in an easy to analyze format for everyday users, and it's because of this that the police are able to use this information. I'd always prefer knowing what is being recorded than not knowing. Additionally, location history provides alibis for those being unfairly accused of a crime.
RIP TRICERATOPS, YOU NEVER EXISTED
If I ever get a life of crime leave phone at alibi locations
Have gnu, will travel.
They had probable cause prior to you stepping out as well. You exist, therefor they have probable cause anymore it seems.
LOL at outside your house.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
It's way better than "phone drove to the scene of the crime" alibi.
But if you really think it's so weak, tape your phone to the underside of your neighbors car before he or she leaves for the day.
The main problem you'd have there is that the traffic camera data would not show your car, but you could claim you were in the trunk...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Don't rob a bank or do anything illegal. What a crazy idea right?
If you have (had) an Android phone, you can see where you've been on Google Timeline: https://www.google.com/maps/ti...
These things work both ways. For instance, if you are planning to commit a crime, then leave your phone somewhere else, or with a friend. Voila! Now you have an alibi. "I was at such-and-such. I was with so-and-so. The location history on my phone proves it."
Proverbs 21:19
Open source (well, sort of) means that we know our Android devices are tracking our every move. Apple isn't defending your privacy. They're defending your false beliefs that they don't track you.
That said, so long as I can use the fact that my phone wasn't at the scene of the crime as an alibi, I'm all for the government having such data (after getting a warranty, of course). That way we only have to worry about the criminals with IQ scores of 10 or better.
google is, first and foremost, and advertising company. EVERY PROJECT UNDER GOOGLE IS TO FURTHER THAT END. never forget it.
So let's follow the rabbit a little bit further down this hole: If the police manage to set a precedent that cell phone location data can be used to establish the location of a given suspect to a particular crime, then what happens when the criminals start leaving their cell phones at home? Does that now qualify as an alibi?
Is our legal system really ready to go that far down the hole?
Go into Google Maps, click the menu bar, and then open up "Your timeline". It has a calendar display, and you can click on any date in the past year and a half (on mine, at least), and it pretty much tells you where you went, and how long you were there. It's spooky. I mean, we all knew the technology was here, but it's another thing to realize that they've actually done it. Even when you aren't navigating, even if you've disabled hi-res location services. Plus, they have a nice UI for telling you they did all this, implying that nothing's wrong with this picture.
Thing is, if Google's Location History is off... that page shows nothing on the map and reports "your location history is off - only you can see it".
But doesn't say "there is no location history". And, based on other Google experiences, I suspect the information is still there on Google's servers since they don't seem to actually delete anything - they just have a "deleted" flag which makes the information unavailable to you... except when they screw up (which I've seen).
So it's quite possible law enforcement can still get that data from Google, even if you have location history turned off.
#DeleteChrome
The lesson here to budding robbers is to not bring your phone with you when you go to work. Seriously, I'm sure that there are enough video cameras around to capture a robber's movements. Video is one way that it was proven that Timothy McVeigh was the Oklahoma City bomber. I think there's more to this story then we're being told.
I would think anyone that was even half intelligent to leave their damned phone AT HOME if they were going to do something venturing into the unlawful world.....why would anyone carry an always on GPS location beacon with them when doing something like this???
Are people so hooked to their cell phones that they can't leave them aside even for just long enough to rob a bank or something you might not want to be tracked at???
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Carrying tracking device that records and uploads your position in time to internet servers can result in convictions for bank robbery. News at 11.
Christ people, you shouldn't carry a fucking cell phone (even dumb ones get tracked by the towers) if you are robbing banks or committing major crimes where your presence can be verified with this data.
If you are committing major felonies leave the phone at home. You don't really need it enough to take that risk.
that makes me glad I use a dumb phone.
I'll keep my iPhone any day. At least they try to protect my privacy.
Against a court order? LOL!
Clue: Apple has to comply - or be in contempt of court.
No sig today...
Don't mistake a lack of comprehensive user data (in an easy to interpret format) as an intentional protection by Apple.
Protection? LOL!
iPads and MacBooks both nag you to enable location tracking and to use the "Find my Mac" feature.
(You'll get a much richer user experience if all the apps can provide location-specific information...honest!)
No sig today...
Thing is, if Google's Location History is off...
If he was smart enough to turn off location history, then he would be able to get a better job than "bank robber". In the movies there are a lot of criminal masterminds, but IRL, most crooks are pretty stupid.
Anyway, as long as the cops go to a judge and get a warrant, I don't see the problem here.
It's a funny old world isn't it?
It turns out that if I want privacy and a company that will actually fight law enforcement to defend it's device's privacy features, I should get an iPhone
You really think Apple is allowed to disobey court orders?
If this data gets results for Police then you can expect the first legal test of your theory Real Soon Now.
The subpoenas and search warrants will start arriving at Apple thick and fast. They'll complain and make a few noises, sure, but will they go to prison for contempt of court rather than hand over your data? I wouldn't bet any money on it.
No sig today...
"If you are committing major felonies leave the phone at home."
There is the concept of the calculating, premeditated criminal with a master plan. I guess this type of crime is out there, and this type of criminal has that option. But so many crimes are stupid and thoughtless. Crimes of passion where reason isn't involved, or a situation where crime is a response to accidental or random circumstances. Then there are crazy people. Lots of crime isn't part of an organized plan. IJS.
-- "Oh. This guy again."
Who said anything about disobeying court orders? If you're referring to the Apple/FBI flap, they were appealing the ruling, which could hardly reasonably be considered disobedience, since it is something they had a right to do.
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
That doesn't make sense. I buy books for reading, but don't burn them when I'm done. If I collect data on you to use in advertising, it's quite likely that I'll want to use that same data again later, or in aggregate.
It doesn't require some nefarious purpose to see why advertisers (which Google certainly is) keep data around. Storing data is also cheap, so there's not a lot of incentive to figure out which parts aren't worth keeping anymore.
The article is talking about a feature in Google Maps, that seems to be enabled by default on some Android phones. It stores your location data. You can turn it off. You can also delete stored location data in your Google account settings.
A much more interesting way to track people would be the Android location service itself. In order to get precise location data, all phones (including Apple, Microsoft, ...) will scan nearby wifi access points and cell towers and upload this information to the designated location service, which has a database of all these stored. It works both ways, btw. Once you have a gps location by satellite, the phone will upload the same data, including gps location to keep the database updated.
So every time any service on your phone wants to know your location without waiting for the satellite (which won't work indoors at all, btw.), your location will be known to the location service. This can be turned off as well, btw. Though few people would do this, since this is very useful.
If police, or three letter agencies can access this data, they will know who is where at all times. Perfect location tracking for almost everyone.
That's not fair... you shouldn't laugh at him for saying " step out of the house." at least he didn't say "step outside of my house" which would of course be technically inaccurate. The technically accurate one would be "step outside of my parents basement".
I think there's a point around age 21 that it's no longer "my house" as opposed to "my parent's house" or possibly "my childhood home". If you're still living in your parents house after 21, you should be paying rent and utilities and pay to have your own door installed so that it's theoretically an apartment.
Google is first and foremost a data warehouse who sells data directly or indirectly of every type to anyone willing to pay or it.
Every single project from Google exists for gathering data. This means that things like self-driving car data, traffic information gathering, etc... they are all gathered by Google at all times. You are willing to buy Android and use Google maps because it makes your life better... you're willing to pay for the features supplied by collecting location data from other peoples phones and soon cars. In exchange you give all your data to Google.
To be more accurate... Google is first and foremost a corporation responsible to the needs and desires of their shareholders and are responsible above all else (including any form of ethic related bonds) to produce a return on investment to all shareholders. As long as no written law is being broken or if the law is being broken, Google can beat it in court, or so long as any possible fines related to losing in court will be less than the profit gained by breaking the law, Google has a responsibility to its shareholders to rape, pillage and plunder every possible customer to make that return on investment.
This is free market capitalism. It's the core responsibility of free market capitalism. Return on investment is more important than anything else. There are gamblers managing your retirement fund somewhere who dump their money into your company and whether you're ethical or not, whether you have to have people murdered in back alleys or not... that's irrelevant... free market capitalism says "You must show a profit or we'll find someone to replace you who is willing to do what it takes"
1. Leave cell phone at home during crime.
2. Profit.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
But doesn't say "there is no location history". And, based on other Google experiences, I suspect the information is still there on Google's servers since they don't seem to actually delete anything - they just have a "deleted" flag which makes the information unavailable to you... except when they screw up (which I've seen).
Cite? From what I've seen (from the inside), Google is pretty careful to actually delete data that's users don't want retained. This is actually a hard thing to do completely since there are backup tapes, etc., but it can be done by encrypting everything with user-specific keys and then deleting the keys for the data that isn't supposed to be kept.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
I was more laughing at the implication that he had privacy in his own home (whatever that may be).
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Cite?
Sure.
For several years before our university decided to go with Google Apps, our department had its own Google Apps domain. After the university finally deployed its own version, one of our (non-computing) staff decided she wanted her department calendar moved over to the university system - so we did the export-then-import thing, only using Google's own tools. Unfortunately, she worked closely with several other staff who did not want to move their calendars, and for whatever reason they had trouble with the concept that she was on a different domain... so after a month or so, she gave up and moved back to the department calendar. We went in and deleted all her calendar info on the university Google Apps system, following Google's instructions (it's been several years, but I think it even involved deleting the calendar) - afterwards I verified that her university calendar was empty of all entries (this was important because I wanted to be sure there was no confusion regarding which of her calendars was the correct one for everyone to use).
Fast forward several months. Our department decides to ditch our own Apps domain, and go with the University system. So for each staffer we go through the export-then-import dance... which worked perfectly fine, except for that single staffer who'd made the aborted move before. There was nothing showing on her university Google calendar, but none of the longer-standing repeating events would move over for her - Google would start to import then complain about "existing duplicates" (which were not visible on the target calendar!). Eventually I solved the problem by loading the iCal file and incrementing a particular counter value corresponding to each event, which made it look like we were importing a newer version of the events - then the import happily worked.
I am open to alternative explanations as to why the importer was finding duplicates where none should have existed - but it sure seems like they never actually deleted anything, but just hid it all from the user.
#DeleteChrome
The minimal requirement for this bug to occur would be that there was a separate table storing the metadata about the calendar entries. The data for each entry would have been unavailable, as it had been deleted, but there would still be a record of the entry having been there.
Suffice it to say, it can be really difficult to completely delete data from a complex computer system. Hopefully they've fixed the bug and the calendar entries are completely deleted these days.
It sounds like all of that pre-dated the effort to make sure that everything that's supposed to be deleted is really gone. My guess (and it's only a guess) is that your diagnosis is reasonably accurate, but things have changed since then.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
:-) You know I spent almost ten minutes deciding whether I would reply or not?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Given what you've said, at some point I should probably try it all again. It wouldn't be all that much work to do so... if they have fixed it, it would be good to know.
#DeleteChrome
They'd be better to leave it with a buddy. A non-moving phone at home is pretty obvious, but a phone that goes to a dimly lit bar with a criminal buddy who vouches that you were "having drinks together" would probably be more compelling, especially if the culprit in question does go to the bar for awhile so that at least he/she is recognized by a bouncer or bartender.
And, based on other Google experiences
Why base it on some crap like that instead of directly asking the guys at XDA who have monitored the phone and confirmed that location data not only isn't sent but GPS isn't on which means the location data that Google may have in your tin-foil-hat scenario is no better than the location data every phone company already has.
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Given what you've said, at some point I should probably try it all again. It wouldn't be all that much work to do so... if they have fixed it, it would be good to know.
If you do, I'd be interested to hear the result. And if it's still broken, I'll file a bug.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Google Calendar is supposed to sync to phones and other devices. For that to work, deletions have to be logged so that the synching tool knows if they need to delete the event on your phone, too, after you deleted the event on the web calendar or if it is a new event in your phone that needs to be created on the Google servers. That's why deleting events only marks them as deleted. Since a while, access to those "deleted" items is at least possible using the "trashcan" feature. Before that, they couls be accessed through the API and some tools like "Spanning Undelete" could be used to restore them.
Adding to that is another aspect on Google Apps: Auditing. Apps is for businesses that need to be able to exactly track who created (and even more important!) deleted data.
bickerdyke