XPost: alt.privacy.anon-server, alt.privacy, comp.mobile.android
XPost: alt.crime
Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their
location private, according to newly unredacted court documents.
Even Google execs and employees in charge of location data were
confused about how privacy settings worked.
Google was sued by Arizona's attorney general over its data
collection practices last year.
See more stories on Insider's business page.
Newly unredacted documents in a lawsuit against Google reveal
that the company's own executives and engineers knew just how
difficult the company had made it for smartphone users to keep
their location data private.
Google continued collecting location data even when users turned
off various location-sharing settings, made popular privacy
settings harder to find, and even pressured LG and other phone
makers into hiding settings precisely because users liked them,
according to the documents.
Jack Menzel, a former vice president overseeing Google Maps,
admitted during a deposition that the only way Google wouldn't
be able to figure out a user's home and work locations is if
that person intentionally threw Google off the trail by setting
their home and work addresses as some other random locations.
Jen Chai, a Google senior product manager in charge of location
services, didn't know how the company's complex web of privacy
settings interacted with each other, according to the documents.
Google and LG did not respond to requests for comment on this
story.
The documents are part of a lawsuit brought against Google by
the Arizona attorney general's office last year, which accused
the company of illegally collecting location data from
smartphone users even after they opted out.
A judge ordered new sections of the documents to be unredacted
last week in response to a request by trade groups Digital
Content Next and News Media Alliance, which argued that it was
in the public's interest to know and that Google was using its
legal resources to suppress scrutiny of its data collection
practices.
The unsealed versions of the documents paint an even more
detailed picture of how Google obscured its data collection
techniques, confusing not just its users but also its own
employees.
Google uses a variety of avenues to collect user location data,
according to the documents, including WiFi and even third-party
apps not affiliated with Google, forcing users to share their
data in order to use those apps or, in some cases, even connect
their phones to WiFi.
"So there is no way to give a third party app your location and
not Google?" one employee said, according to the documents,
adding: "This doesn't sound like something we would want on the
front page of the [New York Times]."
When Google tested versions of its Android operating system that
made privacy settings easier to find, users took advantage of
them, which Google viewed as a "problem," according to the
documents. To solve that problem, Google then sought to bury
those settings deeper within the settings menu.
Google also tried to convince smartphone makers to hide location
settings "through active misrepresentations and/or concealment,
suppression, or omission of facts" - that is, data Google had
showing that users were using those settings - "in order to
assuage [manufacturers'] privacy concerns."
Google employees appeared to recognize that users were
frustrated by the company's aggressive data collection
practices, potentially hurting its business.
"Fail #2: *I* should be able to get *my* location on *my* phone
without sharing that information with Google," one employee said.
"This may be how Apple is eating our lunch," they added, saying
Apple was "much more likely" to let users take advantage of
location-based apps and services on their phones without sharing
the data with Apple.
Read the original article on Business Insider
https://www.yahoo.com/news/apple-eating-lunch-google-employees-
021605239.html
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