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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."

2 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. breaking news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In a bizarre update to this story, this man was beaten to death in an alley. A single observer said only that the perpetrators almost seemed to know that he was headed toward them.

  2. 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