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Android money

Google has acknowledged that it still tracks users who disable Location Tracking, after an investigation from The Associated Press. It'southward not the first time the company has slammed into privacy problems related to its phones — in November 2022, the visitor acknowledged it tracked cell phones that didn't have a SIM card installed by checking the address of local jail cell tower masts. Turning phones off and enabling all of Android's privacy features did nothing to stop the problem, but Google promised to stop such behavior forthwith.

Nine months afterwards, hither we are. This verbal cause may exist different, but the issue is the same. Google rolls out features it claims will respect or enhance the end user's privacy. End users believe information technology. Then, at some afterward point, nosotros discover it's not true. And Google's response to the AP'due south investigation has been to simply reword the text. First, here's the original, courtesy of the Cyberspace Archive'southward Wayback Automobile.

WayBack-GoogleLocation

The new text at present reads: "You can turn off Location History at the business relationship level at whatever fourth dimension. This setting does non affect other location services on your device, like Google Location Services and Find My Device. Some location data may exist saved every bit function of your activity on other services, similar Search and Maps. When you lot plough off Location History for your Google Business relationship, it's off for all devices associated with that Google Account." (italics added).

Can this boosted information likewise be deleted? Yes — but not hands. The AP has written a guide on deleting the information Google collects on you. In that location'south no selection to tell Android to only let applications to access location data while you're using them, dissimilar iOS, which offers that alternative. You can command which applications have access to your data, just not when they admission it. If you want to delete past location tracking, the AP notes that "Some items will be grouped in unexpected places, such equally topic names, google.com, Search, or Maps. You accept to delete them particular by item. You can wholesale delete all items in engagement ranges or by service, simply will cease up taking out more than just location markers."

In other words: You can delete this data, technically, merely only if you're willing to bound through hoops to practice then. You can't choose to simply take it not collected. The reason you can't choose to practice this is that Google has a vested interest in making your life as difficult equally possible in this regard. Your privacy is contraindicated past Google's concern model. And and so long as that'south true, we tin can expect these situations to repeat once again and once again forever.

It's not unique to Google. It's a problem for all social media and it exists in no small office because we gave businesses free rein to sell personal information equally a means of generating revenue in the first identify. That's a problem that predates the net, simply like a lot of bug, the internet has found ways to brand it 1,000 times worse.

Cue the merry-get-round. Permit's all take another spin.

At present Read: Google Play Tracking is the Tip of a Very Big Iceberg, Google Can Now Rail Your Offline Purchases, and An Ex-Google Engineer Is Founding a Religion to Worship AI. He'southward Decades Besides Late