While Google’s privacy support page states turning “Location History” off will prevent the storing of location data, the Associated Press’s investigation confirms this to be untrue.
Opening the Google Maps app takes a snapshot of users’ locations and daily weather updates, like those used by Android phones, approximate the devices current location. Even random Google searches pinpoint a user’s specific location down to the square foot, according to the AP investigation.
Worldwide, this privacy breach affects over 2 billion Android and iPhone devices that run Google services such as the Google search-engine, Google Maps or Android’s Google operating system. To show how in-depth Google’s tracking is, even with “Location History” turned off, the AP created a visual map of Princeton researcher Gunes Acar’s movement with an Android device.
The findings suggest that some Google apps, namely Google Maps, automatically store time-stamped location data from users. Law enforcement officers have even used this information by serving warrants to Google to collect data from devices near a crime scene.
Other Princeton researchers, who confirmed AP’s findings, suggest Google’s policies may be improper and breaching expectations of privacy. However, Google does offer an accurate description of how “Location History” works – when users turn it off. A popup appears that reads “some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other Google services, like Search and Maps.”
Google’s reasoning for these ever-present tracking services are clear: profit margins. During a Google Marketing Live even, executives for the tech giant bragged about using ads to boost in-person store visit through data drawn from users’ location histories. Advertisers who work with Google can even track the effectiveness of online ads regarding foot traffic.
While turning “Location History” off may not work, users can outright delete Google’s location data that it has collected. After the investigation, AP published a guide to show users how to delete their location data. Users can go to their Google account on their web browser and click on “Activity Controls.” Click to turn off “Location History” and “Web & App Activity,” which will prevent Google from storing location data.
Another option is disabling “Web and App Activity” on devices; however, it also prevents other information from being stored like saving searches done through Google. These things can limit the effectiveness of Google services, but they are the only known solutions for users who want to protect their location data.
