Slashdot Mirror
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."
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."
So if i kill you, unless you manage to show actual damages, the case should be dismissed, right?
1) The OS itself, which doesn't let apps like Google have any location info if the user does not want them to.
Trivially bypassed. It's a cell phone. Google can just check what tower you're on.
2) Apple, which actually values user privacy because they sell devices, not data. Apple will be be collecting anything location related if you turn off location services.
You're right. Apple will be collecting things even if you turn off location services.
You do get that turning off "location services" doesn't turn off the GPS hardware, right? It just makes it inaccessible?
Apple was already caught keeping a log of every tower and every MAC address (both wifi and Bluetooth) an iPhone encountered, along with GPS coordinates. Supposedly this was to help them "improve location services." It's why it yells at you that location services are "degraded" if you turn off wifi. (Or used to, since iOS no longer allows you to turn off wifi at all.)