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Android Users Need To Delete Google Maps and Google Play If They Don't Want Their Locations Tracked (theregister.co.uk)
Kieren McCarthy, reporting for The Register: Google, it seems, is very, very interested in knowing where you are at all times. Users have reported battery life issues with the latest Android build, with many pointing the finger at Google Play -- Google's app store -- and its persistent, almost obsessive need to check where you are. Amid complaints that Google Play is always switching on GPS, it appears Google has made it impossible to prevent the app store from tracking your whereabouts unless you completely kill off location tracking for all applications. You can try to deny Google Play access to your handheld's location by opening the Settings app and digging through Apps -> Google Play Store -> Permissions, and flipping the switch for "location." But you'll be told you can't just shut out Google Play services: you have to switch off location services for all apps if you want to block the store from knowing your whereabouts. It's all or nothing, which isn't particularly nice. This is because Google Play services pass on your location to installed apps via an API. The store also sends your whereabouts to Google to process. Google doesn't want you to turn this off.
After one of the more recent OS updates I noticed that my android phone would now tell me every morning just before I left for work how long my commute would be. Even though I've never identified my work address as "work", it has (probably easily) figured out where I work and tries to be helpful by doing a quick route lookup just before the usual time it detects that I leave the house. Honestly when I first noticed it I was a bit put off that they would go so far as to do that without any opt-in, but then I realized that it's kind of handy and frankly isn't really that concerning overall. If I actually had a need to suppress my whereabouts, just having a cell phone that is paid with a credit card pretty much defeats that.
Have you ever wondered how Google Maps has near-real-time display of traffic maps on surface streets that don't have monitoring equipment set up by the DOT? *THIS* is exactly how they do it. They track the relative speed and location of smart phones traveling down various streets to figure out current traffic patterns. This is simply another case of giving up a piece of privacy for a free service in return. Love it or hate it, that's how this shit works.
It's got nothing to do with Russia, the bogeyman of the American nation.
Both Sergey and Larry Page are Jews.
Go figure.
By the way, you should really watch RT News to crawl out of your bubble.