Google clarifies location-tracking policy - Track even if Location History is turned off
APNewsBreak: Google clarifies location-tracking policy
By RYAN NAKASHIMA August 16, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has revised an erroneous
description on its website of how its “Location History” setting works,
clarifying that it continues to track users even if they’ve disabled the
setting.
The change came three days after an Associated Press
investigation revealed that several Google apps and websites store user
location even if users have turned off Location History. Google has not changed
its location-tracking practice in that regard.
But its help page for the Location History setting now
states: “This setting does not affect other location services on your device.”
It also acknowledges that “some location data may be saved as part of your
activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”
Previously, the page stated: “With Location History off,
the places you go are no longer stored.”
The AP observed that the change occurred midday Thursday,
a finding confirmed by Internet Archive snapshots taken earlier in the day.
The AP investigation found that even with Location
History turned off, Google stores user location when, for instance, the Google
Maps app is opened, or when users conduct Google searches that aren’t related
to location. Automated searches of the local weather on some Android phones
also store the phone’s whereabouts.
In a Thursday statement to the AP, Google said: “We have
been updating the explanatory language about Location History to make it more
consistent and clear across our platforms and help centers.”
The statement contrasted with a statement Google sent to
the AP several days ago that said in part, “We provide clear descriptions of
these tools.”
Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton computer scientist and former
chief technologist for the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement
bureau, said the wording change was a step in the right direction. But it
doesn’t fix the underlying confusion Google created by storing location
information in multiple ways, he said.
“The notion of having two distinct ways in which you
control how your location data is stored is inherently confusing,” he said
Thursday. “I can’t think off the top of my head of any major online service
that architected their location privacy settings in a similar way.”
K. Shankari, a UC Berkeley graduate researcher whose
findings initially alerted the AP to the issue, said Thursday the change was a
“good step forward,” but added “they can make it better.” For one thing, she
said, the page still makes no mention of another setting called “Web & App
Activity.” Turning that setting off that would in fact stop recording location
data.
Huge tech companies are under increasing scrutiny over
their data practices, following a series of privacy scandals at Facebook and
new data-privacy rules recently adopted by the European Union. Last year, the
business news site Quartz found that Google was tracking Android users by
collecting the addresses of nearby cellphone towers even if all location
services were off. Google changed the practice and insisted it never recorded
the data anyway.
Critics say Google’s insistence on tracking its users’
locations stems from its drive to boost advertising revenue. It can charge
advertisers more if they want to narrow ad delivery to people who’ve visited
certain locations.
Several observers also noted that Google is still bound
by a 20-year agreement it struck with the Federal Trade Commission in 2011.
That consent decree requires Google to not misrepresent to consumers how they
can protect their privacy.
Google agreed to that order in response to an FTC
investigation of its now-defunct social networking service Google Buzz, which
the agency accused of publicly revealing users’ most frequent Gmail contacts.
A year later, Google was fined $22.5 million for breaking
the agreement after it served some users of Apple’s Safari browser so-called
tracking cookies in violation of settings that were meant to prevent that.
The FTC has declined to say whether it had begun
investigating Google for how it has described Location History.
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