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Man Sues Over Google's 'Location History' Fiasco, Case Could Affect Millions (arstechnica.com)

Last week, The Associated Press found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you've explicitly disabled the location sharing feature. As a result, Google has now been sued by a man in San Diego, who argues that Google is violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the state's constitutional right to privacy. Ars Technica reports: The lawsuit seeks class-action status, and it would include both an "Android Class" and "iPhone Class" for the potential millions of people in the United States with such phones who turned off their Location History and nonetheless had it recorded by Google. It will likely take months or longer for the judge to determine whether there is a sufficient class.

Also on August 17, attorneys from the Electronic Privacy Information Center wrote in a sternly worded three-page letter to the FTC that Google's practices are in clear violation of the 2011 settlement with the agency. In that settlement, Google agreed that it would not misrepresent anything related to "(1) the purposes for which it collects and uses covered information, and (2) the extent to which consumers may exercise control over the collection, use, or disclosure of covered information." Until the Associated Press story on August 13, Google's policy simply stated: "You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored."

7 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Can't you just... by mikael · · Score: 5, Informative

    The M8 and M9 motion processing chips operate even if the phone is switched off.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    "The Apple M7, M8, M9, M10, and M11 coprocessors collect, process, and store sensor data even if the device is asleep, and applications can retrieve data when the device is powered up again. This reduces power draw of the device and saves battery life.[14] In addition to servicing the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and in M8 and later coprocessors, barometer, the M9 coprocessor can recognize Siri voice commands from the built in microphones of the device.[15]

    The M-series motion coprocessors are accessible to applications through the Core Motion API introduced in iOS 7, so they do, for example, allow fitness apps that track physical activity and access data from the M processors without constantly engaging the main application processor. They enable applications to be aware of what type of movement the user is experiencing, such as driving, walking, running, or sleeping.[16][17][18] Another application could be the ability to do indoor tracking and mapping.[19] In iOS 10, the motion coprocessor is used to implement raise to wake functionality reducing idle power usage."

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    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  2. Re: Can't you just... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Asleep =/= turned off you dolt.

  3. Re:Dismiss as Frivolous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...Google is only complying with the Law ...

    .

    The above doesn't apply to e911.

      e911 does not work via Google.

    The rest of your "argument" is bullshit.

    Don't quit your day job and quit pretending to be an attorney.

  4. Root, Custom Roms, and Unified Nlp by Zombie+Ryushu · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is one of the serious reasons we need to be able to root/custom Rom our Devices. Apple Users are defenseless on this front.

    Google Location Services is built into pretty much every Stock Rom Android Smart Phone, no matter how "Vanilla" you get it with the sole exception of LineageOS Based Custom Roms. There is no switching it off, unless you intend to not use data or Wifi completely.

    With LineageOS, you have UnifiledNlp which lets you choose your location provider, that can be Google, or it can be Mozilla, or it can be LocalGSM Backend or Local Wifi, which eliminates to some extent the tracking device and Privacy invasion aspects of Android Devices.

    You can partially mitigate some of it by using OsmAnd~ for Android, but that only keeps your intended destinations safe, and not your actual history.

    If your Stuck with a Stock Rom, because no LineageOS Rom exists for your device, there is Root+XPrivacy. If you can get Root. That might let you switch off Google Location services, but without a custom Recovery and a way to unroot, your device will soft brick on the next update. This is also an issue for LineageOS Users who get one unofficial LineageOS

    Apple users are in even worse shape. The minute that Apple's leadership changes, to be more compliant with government's wishes, then Apple devices are suddenly hte biggest possible liability in terms of security.

    1. Re:Root, Custom Roms, and Unified Nlp by bickerdyke · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can switch off access to location data in the phone settings. That switches off already the gathering of location data. But that is a setting different from your location timeline.

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      bickerdyke
  5. Re:Dismiss as Frivolous by mentil · · Score: 3, Informative

    That might be reasonable if the contested behavior were 'forwarding Nexus phone GPS location to e911', however that's not the issue. The issue is that running various Google apps on your phone causes your location to be stored on Google servers, even when Google explicitly claims they would not store your location on Google servers. Even if you're on an iPhone, in which case Google is in no way responsible for e911 location forwarding.

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    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  6. Re:Dismiss as Frivolous by someoneOtherThanMe · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, Google Maps only says it needs to know your location. I never allow it, and it still works as a map, i.e. to let you explore places.