Google Tracks Where You've Been, Learn How to Disable It

roseofbattle

News Room Contributor
Apr 18, 2011
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Google Tracks Where You've Been, Learn How to Disable It

If you have location services enabled on your phone, Google maps where you go.

Google Maps stores location data on phones, effectively tracking where you've been while your smartphone is in your pocket. Luckily, smartphone owners can easily disable this feature if it's not turned off already.

Google places a red dot on a map and breaks down locations you've visited by day as well as how you were traveling (walking, driving, etc.) It stores this information for its own records, but you can also view your location history [https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0] online. Log in with the same Google account associated with your phone, and if you've had location services enabled, you'll see the red dots and lines tracking where you've traveled each day.

This happens when you have Google's location services enabled on your phone. Fortunately, Google makes this easy to disable [https://support.google.com/gmm/answer/3118687?hl=en]. In your settings under Google Location Reporting, you can disable both location reporting and location history. Location Reporting allows Google to store your location data for where you've been and whether you were walking, driving, or biking. Google noted that this feature can also use a lot of data, so if you have it turned on, that's another reason to be wary. Location History allows Google to store a history of your location data across your devices through your Google account. Turning these off will not erase your location history.

On the same page as your location history map, you can delete all history. While the data won't be completely gone, the average person won't be able to see it.

This is, of course, nothing new and comes as no surprise to people who have been paying attention. Companies have been tracking consumers for years, trying to tailor content to specific people. Ethan Zuckerman, the creator of the first pop-up advertisement, explained earlier this week that public and private surveillance often cooperate and work together [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136865-Pop-Up-Ad-Creator-Ethan-Zuckerman-Says-Sorry]. While people have been worried about government surveillance, private companies also access and store your personal information.

Source: Junkee [http://junkee.com/google-maps-has-been-tracking-your-every-move-and-theres-a-website-to-prove-it/39639]


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Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
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I disabled mine by not owning a smart phone. As an added bonus, my phone bill is ¥2000($20 USD) a month.
 

AdmiralCheez

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Nov 9, 2009
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I must have disabled it a long time ago, because when I checked, it said it had no location data. Hooray!
 

dumbseizure

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Mar 15, 2009
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Eh, I like to keep mine on, it automatically tracks where I park my car (somehow, dunno how) and I can just look at my tablet if I forget.

Also keeps track of how long it'd take me to get home so I know when to leave at the right time.
 

MisterColeman

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Mar 19, 2009
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Alternatively give the information needed to access this to trusted contacts and have an added level of protection in case something happens to you or someone steals your phone.

Not all tracking is the devil.
 

GamerKT

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Jul 27, 2009
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maidenm said:
Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only one who has no problem with this...
Same. So, Google knows that I take a train sometimes. Whoopdeedoo.
 

GamerKT

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Jul 27, 2009
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Bolo The Great said:
GamerKT said:
maidenm said:
Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only one who has no problem with this...
Same. So, Google knows that I take a train sometimes. Whoopdeedoo.
Google knows if you are having an affair and who with. Google knows if you are gay. Google knows what political ideology you subscribe to, if you frequent certain people's houses and where different people gather. It can read your associations and friends.

This might not seem scary in a vacuum but combined with the kind of meta-data we know governments gather and the back doors they require tech companies to build in we can't assume only google as access to your movements.

Once you government or even foreign governments know who your social circle is, what your system of beliefs is, where you blog, who you call and text, who you message on facebook and the content of those messages, where you go and where your friends meet it starts to become different. Couple that with large levels of CCTV (especially where i come from in the UK) and anti-terror surveillance orders being misused to track school applications. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7922427/Councils-warned-over-unlawful-spying-using-anti-terror-legislation.html]

What happens when become someone important or a dissenting voice? You need to THINK about the information accumulated about you and how it can be used against you. That level of information is powerful and can be obtained without a warrant (or a rubber-stamp secret warrant) of any kind in many places including the US and by extension of inelegance sharing the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia (the five eyes)
That would be something to consider if anyone cared about me. I'm just a young 20-something-year-old who just fucks around, literally and figuratively. I assure you that no one gives a shit about my life.
 

vxicepickxv

Slayer of Bothan Spies
Sep 28, 2008
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It turns out that not disabling it is going to play a very large factor into a police harassment case relatively soon.
 

kasperbbs

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Dec 27, 2009
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I assume that it doesn't work if there is no internet connection? Either that or i have never went further than 100 meters from home, either way i don't care.
 

Creator002

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Aug 30, 2010
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Doesn't seems to work very well on my device. I have it on and, despite going out for well over an hour yesterday, apparently I just stayed home. Also, it's only 7 am here now and I've apparently been to another suburb 30 minutes away while I was asleep.
Either someine else has my Google account logged into their device or mine's giving off false readings.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Sgt. Sykes said:
Anyway, lately I've been wondering why people don't care when a business company is tracking them ("oh it's just for targeting ads, let them") but lose all their shit when it turns out government is tracking them. What's the difference?
They're libertarians?

Bolo The Great said:
Google knows if you are having an affair and who with. Google knows if you are gay. Google knows what political ideology you subscribe to, if you frequent certain people's houses and where different people gather. It can read your associations and friends.
The thing is, it's unlikely that any amount of reasoning will change someone's mind. People tend to train themselves to not care until something goes wrong, and usually only personally. The only way the "I don't care" crowd is going to have a problem is if they see an invasion of privacy in action. By then, of course, it'll likely be too late to make any difference, but it is what it is.

I mean, people will ignore mountains of safety belt information because they've never been in a car accident and don't believe it can happen.
 

J Tyran

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Dec 15, 2011
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maidenm said:
Sometimes I feel as if I'm the only one who has no problem with this...
On some levels this wouldn't bother me (aside from the fact I turned long term Google history of anything off years ago) because I don't use cash and have all kinds of corporate intrusion and tracking on me because of my lifestyle and going to live in the woods is the only real way to avoid it now but how would you feel if someone you wouldn't want seeing that kind of stuff and they see everything you search for and everywhere you go? Google and big companies are not the problem here, it doesn't really hide anything from them or the government its other members of joe public.

Phones/Computers/Tablets get stolen and lost and can take time to disable without another device to hand, accounts can be hacked, vengeful partners during a bad breakup or an Ex might have access. All kinds of things can go wrong, seriously even the most ardent "I'm doing nothing wrong" crowd should seriously consider turning off any long term history storage and tracking features on anything for that reason alone.

GamerKT said:
That would be something to consider if anyone cared about me. I'm just a young 20-something-year-old who just fucks around, literally and figuratively. I assure you that no one gives a shit about my life.
That friendly guy with a crowbar three streets away gives a shit... he cares very deeply about where you are and when you are out...