Google Is Tracking User Location Without Consent
Google Maps is one of the most used services across all platforms. Even until Apple unveiled iOS 6 in 2012, the company relied on Google Maps. However, even to this date, many prefer Google over Apple maps for navigation. For a long time, Google has been optimizing its Maps services to provide better and more accurate results. However, there are times when the company goes above and beyond to ensure accuracy. According to reports, the company is secretly tracking its users’ location even after they turned their location history off. According to the company, if a user has turned his or her location history off then it will no longer be able to track their location. But, that does not seem to be the case.
As a new user, Google would ask the user to allow it to track his/her location for navigation. Once allowed, the entire location history of the user is recorded in a timeline fashion. This means that the company can keep a track of all the users who opted in for its map services, putting their privacy at risk. To deal with this, the company allows the user to turn off their location history. This, at least on paper, prevents the company from storing its users’ location. However, Google is still able to track its users with the help of some of the company’s apps. For instance, a simple Google search for a particular food item like a biscuit could help pinpoint your precise location. Moreover, the company even stores the instances of the times when you open its map service on a device. While mostly been open about tracking its users’ location, the company has never explicitly mentioned that it stores their location history even while turned off. It is with this privacy issue that more than two billion devices are at risk.
The issue of data privacy and the risks involved with it has always been a major concern. It does not help to know that big league companies like Google can misuse their users’ information. There is no word from the company on this issue but stay tuned as we will closely cover this news.
