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Google Collects Android Users' Locations Even When Location Services Are Disabled (qz.com)
Google has been collecting Android phones' locations even when location services are turned off, and even when there is no carrier SIM card installed on the device, an investigation has found. Keith Collins, reporting for Quartz: Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers -- even when location services are disabled -- and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals' locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy. Quartz observed the data collection occur and contacted Google, which confirmed the practice. The cell tower addresses have been included in information sent to the system Google uses to manage push notifications and messages on Android phones for the past 11 months, according to a Google spokesperson. They were never used or stored, the spokesperson said, and the company is now taking steps to end the practice after being contacted by Quartz. By the end of November, the company said, Android phones will no longer send cell-tower location data to Google, at least as part of this particular service, which consumers cannot disable.
Not that it makes it OK (at all), but raise your hand if you're surprised. No one? Yup, pretty much. Do No Evil went out the window a long time ago. Google is creepy.
Sex. Drugs, and Unix.
so ditch google services and use microG. I also disable firebase services from any apps that try to use it. Firebase lets the developer set up phoning home from the app and other such nonsense.
https://microg.org/
You must have no friends or family who you want to reply to when they send you a message
So you have a phone where you can't receive calls for 90% of the day. Congratulations.
They already map IP addresses rather precisely so all they need is the IP address your phone uses (through WiFi) to figure out where you are so long as one device somehow provided them its location from that IP address. In effect, your 'location' is turned on the moment somebody else has or had 'location' turned on while connected to that wifi access point.
Mind the frickin' laser...
Google can't be trusted and will violate your privacy. They only stop doing it when they get caught, like in this instance.
Apple is releasing overpriced defective hardware because they can't be bothered to spend their pile of cash on QA and they are actively removing features we need and replacing them with new and unreliable ones that we never asked for in the first place.
As far as I know, Microsoft are out of the smartphone race. Not that I'd trust them any more than the other two, given their history.
So what? We all go back to dumb flip phones and pretend the whole thing never happened?
#DeleteFacebook
In that case, unless you are using your phone as an MP3 player, you may as well just turn it off. Then you'll get even better battery life.
This is why I'm looking hard at the "Librem 5" linux phone for my next handset.
It has hardware switches for camera / wifi & bluetooth / baseband radio. When it says those services are off, it means it!
https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
When I first started reading Slashdot about 20 years ago, I was impressed by the wonderfully liberal ideas that abound in the comments section of the site, for example,
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." (Benjamin Franklin)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." (Evelyn Beatrice Hall)
They gave me character, and shaped my world view.
Fast forward 20 years, and I find this generation to be more than willing to give up their freedom for a little convenience, or to be with the trendy in Silicon Valley, or simply because they can't stand a certain politician.
Question now is.. does it send the bundled data over during those 10% youâ(TM)re online?
So you have a phone where you can't receive calls for 90% of the day. Congratulations.
Actually, he has a PDA (that also plays music, takes pictures, lets you read books/magazines, etc.) that can receive calls 10% of the day. Think about how anybody who works in a white collar profession uses their phone. I bet 90% PDA (that also plays music, takes pictures, lets you read books/magazines, etc.) with 10% phone split pretty accurately describes how most of them use their devices. It is pretty close for me.
Of course some people are tethered to their phone for voice/text connectivity, but there are plenty of folks who view their device as a tool, not a slave master.
Anyone with an Android OS (and probably iOS for that matter). has limited if any true control on their phones. They are basically trojans to collect data from you. One can try to install Cyanogen or LineageOS
https://download.lineageos.org...
There is Also PureOS. Because it's not Google default you don't get the Google app #$%, but becuase they are derived from Android, it's not clear whether the tracking functionality is fully under your control or not. But at least the odds are better than pure Google Android, which, frankly, it's not surprise they have little "gems" in data collection they make it impossible for you to turn of..like Microsoft Updates in Windows 8/10. (Anyone using these OS's cannot turn off a lot of the data collection or updates there either)
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
If you change your main WIFI name at home, after a while your GPS mysteriously turns on to report where the new WIFI network is located geographically. Then after a while it stops.
My test is anecdotal due to a sample size of one
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I remember that. I remember Governor Schwarzenegger. I remember Occupy Wall Street. And I remember Joe the Plumber. I am a news junkie.
I just missed the point of time when silicon valley hipsters start to label undesirable speech as "haram".
Open source for me forever. I don't own a smart phone precisely because of this constant drip of outrages. I never will own one that cannot be easily rooted and flushed of android or iOS.
Same with computers. Linux only forever. It's a shame linux still can't get power management right after how many decades? I have a desktop and a laptop that won't hibernate/sleep under mint. When they can consistently fix this windows and mac have no reason for living.