Skip to main content

Google has Been Tracking Android Device Location Even With Location Services Disabled

Android device 

You thought you were completely disconnected from any location tracking by Google and your phone when you went into your phone’s location services and toggled them off, right? You’d be wrong! Hah…ha…haaa…ugh.

According to a report from Quartz, Google has been doing a bit of location tracking on Android phones even if you told them not to by turning off your phone’s location services. And we’re talking about any of the modern Android phones you might own, so yes, you are included in this conversation.

Quartz found that Google has essentially been pinging nearby cellular towers and retrieving that info through the Firebase Cloud Messaging service that manages push notifications and messages. Again, this is all still happening even if you have turned off location services on your phone. This collection of location via cell tower can happen over both WiFi and cellular data connection too, by the way. The data collected is encrypted, but the information still likely contains a unique identifier that when paired with the location info collected, does pose some security risk. Not everyone is comfortable being tracked at all times for various reasons.

Google said that the location tracking was used to “further improve the speed and performance of message delivery.” That’s pretty vague, and the article mentions that Google probably also uses the info for advertisers to target you. Either way, this isn’t a good look, especially at a time where we are all a little on edge about privacy.

This started in early 2017 and is only now going to stop at the end of November, likely because they got caught. At least, that’s the only logical reason I can come up with. Why else would they do this for almost an entire year and then decide to stop after an article was written, outing the secret tracking that no one can opt-out of?

There is nothing you can do at this time to stop it other than wait for Google to stop doing it at the end of this month as they promised.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bitcoin Laundering” Study: Where Do Criminals Turn to Mask Illicit Cryptoassets?

A recent study ( PDF ) from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance and blockchain analytics company Elliptic explored the “bitcoin laundering” ecosystem. In the study, Elliptic’s forensic analysis of the Bitcoin blockchain and other publicly available data were used to track the flows of illicit funds from 2013 to 2016. “This study aimed to identify where individuals turn in order to cash out or transmit bitcoins (BTC) acquired from illicit entities and to discover typologies for criminals ‘laundering’ bitcoins,” the report says. The study describes bitcoin laundering as a special type of money laundering that exists within the Bitcoin network where a user moves some bitcoins to a new address in a manner that obscures the original source of funds. The conversion of bitcoins into fiat currency on exchanges that lack adequate anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) policies can also fall under the category ...
97 comments
Read more

Bitcoin Brokers Reviews for Learning Trustworthy Brokerage Firm

When you are trading the cryptocurrency it is necessary to have accessibility to a relied on brokerage company. Though there are lots of brokerage companies available that can be counted upon, figuring out the one that can additionally ensure you attractive returns are essential. Undeniably with Bitcoin brokers’ testimonials you could do it fairly precisely. Bitcoinbrokers are services provider that allow you to buy Bitcoin anonymously for buyers, and also market Bitcoin at a premium. For customers of Bitcoin you will be provided a financial institution account with name, account number and directing information. You transfer loan right into the account to obtain Bitcoin in return. This is lot even more easier now than a pair of years ago. It goes without saying delving into Bitcoin profession is not as very easy as it seems. You require to do research, have an enough understanding of how the profession goes. Additionally, you should understand the sort of people that you are g...
50 comments
Read more

How to cancel an unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction

Crypto Beginners Guide / Bitcoin Beginners Guide   When sending  Bitcoin , it can be easy to make a small mistake causing you to want to cancel your Bitcoin transaction. Oftentimes, funds can become stuck if the miner fee you enter isn’t high enough for any miner to confirm your transaction. Unfortunately, the steps to cancel a Bitcoin transaction are a little more complicated than just pressing an “Undo” button. In this brief guide, I’ll walk you through the process to cancel an unconfirmed  Bitcoin  transaction. Has your transaction been confirmed? The first step in canceling your Bitcoin transaction is to  check whether or not it has any confirmations . When you made your transaction, you should have gotten a  transaction ID  that looks something like this: 240615b6ab59a5adb19ba52cb969aeb16ff82d2082b7a72cb2912c5d38c297cf Take your transaction ID and enter it into a block explorer.  Blockchain.info  is a great option. On the ...
18 comments
Read more