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

[Korskarn]

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.

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...

(a) This magical crowbar doesn't give him access to my google data.
(b) If he magically DOES have access to google data, why is he wasting his time looking at mine and not an actual rich person?
(c) If my phone/computer/tablet gets stolen or lost, it only tells someone who can (magically) unlock it where I was, not where I am.
(d) Some people like this "flaw" so much they install an app like Foursquare to publish their movements to the world.

Relevant: http://xkcd.com/538/

 

[J Tyran]

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.

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...

(a) This magical crowbar doesn't give him access to my google data.
(b) If he magically DOES have access to google data, why is he wasting his time looking at mine and not an actual rich person?
(c) If my phone/computer/tablet gets stolen or lost, it only tells someone who can (magically) unlock it where I was, not where I am.
(d) Some people like this "flaw" so much they install an app like Foursquare to publish their movements to the world.

Relevant: http://xkcd.com/538/

Your silly comic isn't relevant, the reality I mentioned is as I am not talking about fictional "hacking" but real shit people fall victim to. Criminals are becoming more and more technically adept and even the dumbest local crackhead can check social media to get details on potential targets (ever get home, sit and your computer and set Facebook or something similar to "online" regulary?) or look on the lists of peoples stolen account details that get posted online [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/stolen-passwords_n_4383950.html], oh and sure you might be a bit more security aware than most I wont disagree and even if your phone is always locked (in the house at all times? In the car? In your pocket? If not how long until you notice its gone and remotely erase any data?) most people are not.

To anyone that is security conscious the risk is lower but it exists, for most people though? People still download fucking toolbars for crying out loud.

 

[Saulkar]

Things like this make me glad I do not own a smart phone, let alone carry my cellphone around with me.

 

[Strazdas]

Why would you keep your GPS on to begin with at any other time than you are using navigation? No way for google to track me if it does not know where it is.

Just out of interest i went to check the settings and.... the settings were not even available because they are done online and the phone isnt connected to internet. wonderful idea google! make local settings online.

I disabled mine by not owning a smart phone. As an added bonus, my phone bill is ¥2000($20 USD) a month.

so you have poor functionality AND a large bill?

 

[michael87cn]

I don't have a cell phone at all. If I did, it would be a very boring route. I mean, I walk to the same exact place every day and no where else. I shop where I work, and I work where I shop, and I live 20 minute walk away from where I work. So it would be like a little L shape on a map... I would be ridiculously easy to find!

 

[maidenm]

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.

Honestly? I'm still not really bothered by it. As for the people willing to take advatage of it? I'd say the problem is them, and regardless of methods they will find some way to get what they want. If I wanted to limit their options in hurting me I'd have to, as you say, go live in the woods. But personally I feel that tracking devices bring more good to the table than they do bad. Bad people will always exist, and they haven't needed GPS tracking to be bad before.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

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.

Well fine then.

Then post your data here. Full name. Home address. Cell number. E-mail address. Where you work or study. The name of your closest relatives and people you care about. The names of the last 3 people you "fucked around" with, and their home addresses. And three or four places that you usually go in your spare time. And how much money you make? If you don't want to say the specific number, then share your shopping habits. The last 10 things you bought might give us a good idea.

I don't give a shit about your life, nor absolutely anyone from this forums I presume... So, yeah. Prove your point.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Why would you keep your GPS on to begin with at any other time than you are using navigation? No way for google to track me if it does not know where it is.

Just out of interest i went to check the settings and.... the settings were not even available because they are done online and the phone isnt connected to internet. wonderful idea google! make local settings online.

I disabled mine by not owning a smart phone. As an added bonus, my phone bill is ¥2000($20 USD) a month.

so you have poor functionality AND a large bill?

I'm curious as to what you would consider a small bill if twenty bucks is high rolling for you.

 

[GamerKT]

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.

Well fine then.

Then post your data here. Full name. Home address. Cell number. E-mail address. Where you work or study. The name of your closest relatives and people you care about. The names of the last 3 people you "fucked around" with, and their home addresses. And three or four places that you usually go in your spare time. And how much money you make? If you don't want to say the specific number, then share your shopping habits. The last 10 things you bought might give us a good idea.

I don't give a shit about your life, nor absolutely anyone from this forums I presume... So, yeah. Prove your point.

I'd rather not. People like you would annoy me, and people who really wanted to know could find out. Google ain't gonna do shit, though, which is my point.

 

[LobsterFeng]

Well then I guess Google gets to know that I never leave my house. The sad part is they probably know exactly what advertisements to send to people like me.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Snipped, just for pratical reasons.

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.

Well fine then.

Then post your data here. Full name. Home address. Cell number. E-mail address. Where you work or study. The name of your closest relatives and people you care about. The names of the last 3 people you "fucked around" with, and their home addresses. And three or four places that you usually go in your spare time. And how much money you make? If you don't want to say the specific number, then share your shopping habits. The last 10 things you bought might give us a good idea.

I don't give a shit about your life, nor absolutely anyone from this forums I presume... So, yeah. Prove your point.[/quote]
Okay, let me break down the fallacy of your post:

Likelihood of people at Google to fuck around with Gamer KT: Unlikely. They may be a megaconglomerate but they like wasting money on not releasing Google Glass instead of doing anything legitimately antagonistic with the personal data of one of literally BILLIONS of users.

Likelihood of US Security Agencies to fuck around with Gamer KT: Unlikely, given that US security agencies are more preoccupied with ISIL cutting someone's head off, posting the video of it on the internet and threatening to cut another innocent man's head off than people who want to talk on geek forums about fuck all that relates to dismantling international and external threats.

Likelihood of anyone with an internet connection to fuck around with Gamer KT, especially after he would post his IRL info to prove a point: Unknown.

http://im.ezgif.com/tmp/gif_write_b42fca.gif

See, the slippry slope fallacy is "well, if one person will/does/did, then EVERYONE WILL!", applied by you in that "well, if you don't give a shit about Google/US Security agencies having access to your personal info, then you don't give a shit about ANYONE having access to your personal info!" See? Slippery slope.[/quote]

It was not a fallacy. It was an exaggeration to disprove a point which I think is the real fallacy.

People love that argument of "hey, nobody cares about me. I have nothing to hide". See, THAT?S a fallacy.

See, protecting personal information is something that seems irrelevant. Until it is not. Only when you see the pratical effect of the information that has been gathered about you is the moment that it gets scary.
Only when it gets uncomfortable is that you think "hmmm, maybe I should have worried about it".
To give a quick example off the top of my head, there are stories about people that got rejected on job interviews because of their activities in social networks.
People nowadays are getting more and more worried about their digital footprint, and that IS something to be worried about. It will only get worse, as information becomes more intricate in our lives.

And lastly. So, Google and/or the government are less likely to abuse your gathered information than "random people from the web". Well, I guess you trust them a lot with that information.
I bet every piece data I mentioned in my "fallacy" can be easily obtained by someone with TOTAL access of your smartphone. But hey, it?s safe with Google.
Except Google could be hacked. Could go bankrupt. Could be bought by other company. Could be subject to changes in its directorial board, and the new board think that they should sell this valuable personal information to the highest bidder. Could be obliged, by law, to give access to that information to governmental agencies.

You don?t HAVE to be paranoid. You don?t need to always think about the worst case scenario. I, personally, don?t think it will ever come to that. But it is best to acknowledge that it is indeed possible. And be just a little cautious.
So, to me "I am no one, screw my personal data" is an stupid argument and the real fallacy.

 

[rob_simple]

I disabled location settings for most things on my phone ages ago, less out of privacy concerns and more because if I didn't I'd burn through the iPhone's shitty battery in about five minutes.

Don't apps have to ask for access to your location, anyway? I always say no, unless it's vital for functionality. No one on Facebook cares more or less about your over-priced Nando's sandwich once they know you're having it in Glasgow.

 

[Strazdas]

I disabled mine by not owning a smart phone. As an added bonus, my phone bill is ¥2000($20 USD) a month.

so you have poor functionality AND a large bill?

I'm curious as to what you would consider a small bill if twenty bucks is high rolling for you.

I pay 5 LTL per month for my phone. Even accounting for living costs difference in countries, this would not exceed 5 dollars a month. See, we got 3 mobile providers that agressively compete with eachother. For 20 dollars you could get pretty much unlimited everything but internet here. For some reason mobile internet is still 7 LTL per GB.

For reference: 1 dollar = ~2.4 LTL

I never paid nor ever will pay as much as 20 dollars for my phone barring terrible inflation.

Capcha: She's a witch
No im not.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I see. You can't use one country's standards as a reference point for determining whether someone from another country's bills are high or not relative to their other options(barring suggesting that I move to your country). There are multiple competing phone companies here in Japan as well, and ¥2000 is pretty much the absolute floor for phone costs aside from only owning a prepaid. Getting a smartphone with a data plan(and you can't have a smart phone without a data plan) would be closer to ¥10000(or $100 USD). Since I also use them for my internet, I'd get a discount, but not enough to warrant making a place for it in my current budget.

 

[Talvrae]

Good luck with me google, i don't even have a cellphone