New Google Trusted Contacts Service Shares User Location In Real Time (onthewire.io)

Reader Trailrunner7 writes: Google has spent a lot of time and money on security over the last few years, developing new technologies and systems to protect users' devices. One of the newer technologies the company has come up with is designed to provide security for users themselves rather than their laptops or phones.

On Monday Google launched a new app for Android called Trusted Contacts that allows users to share their locations and some limited other information with a set of close friends and family members. The system is a two-way road, so a user can actively share her location with her Trusted Contacts, and stop sharing it at her discretion. But, when a problem or potential emergency comes up, one of those contacts can request to get that user's location to see where she is at any moment. The app is designed to give users a way to reassure contacts that they're safe, or request help if there's something wrong.

Comments

More advertising data

[grub]

The real take-away is that Google will also know your location. Wrapping it up in a sheep's skin of user-convenience is their Modus Operandi.

Re:More advertising data

[Gription]

And they don't now? How do you think they come up with all that traffic information in Google Maps?

Re:More advertising data

[geekmux]

I don't see how this gives them any more information about you than they don't already have. This just allows you to share the data they're already collecting with friends/family.

You can't see how associating telemetry data with individual's friends and family lists provides Google with an additional source of revenue when they go to sell this new-and-improved database to 3rd parties?

Fucking floors me every time just how blind end users are to the justifications behind a business collecting data or enabling "features".

Re:More advertising data

[Anonymous Coward]

But they always had this capability. That's the whole point of the Google location services, and why you can't easily swap them out for another implementation.

You perhaps thought that Google was doing you a favour? Even their public name servers and time servers are just ways to siphon more data from you (name server tells them what sites you visited, while the time server roughly tells them where you live, just in case you thought you were smart for registering your account under the name "Sheik Al Ali Kebab Shop" from Saudi Arabia).

And they know all about your goat fetish. Trust me, they didn't WANT to know that. But they do.

(kidding side, Google is evil. Everything they do is geared at collecting data on their users, and selling it to the highest bidder. The do not care.)

Re:More advertising data

[GNious]

That seems very secondary to simply know that both are at MacD, at the same time, and they are friends - and likely could be derived from chats/google hangouts trivially.

Hey Google!

[jenningsthecat]

Can I share trusted info with "close friends and family members" without sharing it with YOU? No? That's what I thought.

No thanks. I'm not interested in volunteering still more data about myself to add to the already humongous pile you already possess.

This creates the expectation of sharing location

[Anonymous Coward]

"Why aren't you allowing me to see where you are? Don't you trust me? I thought we were good friends?/We are your parents!" Teaching people that it is socially unacceptable to be untrackable in real life is crossing the line to the dark side, Google.

Find My Google

[mccalli]

That's a lot of words to say Google cloned Find My Friends...

Re: Find My Google

[Anonymous Coward]

Google released this exact product as "Latitude" two years before Find My Friends came into existence.

So more accurately, it's a lot of words to say Google is rebranding their retired Latitude project.

Re: Find My Google

[hawky]

Latitude is sort of built into G+ after they retired latitude. It is pretty much the only reason I use G+
It looks like they are finally putting some effort into making it more usable.

Incomplete list of "potential emergencies"

[sinij]

Incomplete list of potential emergencies:

1.Your boss wants to know where you are on your sick day
2. Your jealous spouse wants to know if you are in the office working late
3. Your parents want to know why you are late for your daily check-in call
4. Your congregation wants to know if you are checking other parishes
5. A technology-aware burglar wants to know how long they have to finish loading your stuff into the van

Domestic Violence

[davidshewitt]

The more immediate threat (at least until 01/20/2017) is to domestic violence victims. Abusers won't need to install special tracking apps on their victim's device. They just need to enable this feature. And before someone comments on the attacker needing physical access to the device, they oftentimes have it in these situations.

Just another reason. . .

[smooth wombat]

not to have a "smart" phone.

When I'm on vacation I don't want people to know where I'm at because the point of vacation is to get away from them. I'll call you when I'm at my next destination and only then will you know where I'm at.

A dumb flip phone. One of the greatest technological gifts of our times.