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Which is only possible b/c through Google Play Services it tracks every move of every Android user. Unfortunately Google Play Services cannot be uninstalled/dis

Which is only possible b/c through Google Play Services it tracks every move of every Android user. Unfortunately Google Play Services cannot be uninstalled/disabled without affecting the correct operation of the phone. The European Commission is right about investigating how Google is doing business lately.

jgrahamc 10y ago
Is that true?
- hamax 10y ago
  No. You have to enable location reporting for Google to track your location.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - Pigo 10y ago
    Yeah, everything asks for permissions now. To me, it's worth it for location history and being able to see real time traffic and stuff like in the article. I'll just turn it off when I go to visit my secret family in Canada.
- che_shirecat 10y ago
  It's true that it is enabled by default but if you go into the Privacy Check page of your Google account you can completely disable location history, android or not.
  - itp 10y ago
    I'm not sure exactly how you mean enabled by default -- I think you are always prompted when setting up a new device, but the default position of the toggle is enabled.
laurent123456 10y ago
Isn't this feature disabled when you disable Google Location History?
- michael_h 10y ago
  I have location history disabled. Over the weekend I was prompted to give them more information about a restaurant I had visited. Right up to the creepy line, then a giant leap over it.
  - 2T1Qka0rEiPr 10y ago
    I also went into the supermarket on the weekend, and when I left I had a notification telling me that Android pay is supported there. I normally have location turned off, but it really hit home just how much data Google is collecting, and the ability that affords them to be able to do some pretty serious user profiling. We have to remember that with Google, we are the product. We might all hate it, but that's how it is!
elcct 10y ago
> The European Commission is right about investigating how Google is doing business lately. Why is it right? Nobody forces people to buy Android phones
- digi_owl 10y ago
  The basic problem is that all this leave AOSP as less than a full device OS, because Google has put so much of it into Play Services. Never mind that to be able to bundle Play OEMs need to adhere to the requirements Google put forth in the CDD. And part of that requirement is that Google services apps are front and center when a new user boot up "their" device.
- adtac 10y ago
  See, this is what I've never been able to understand. If you buy a camera and put it somewhere, would you complain that it's always recording you? Google's product is this - helping you as much as possible in your daily activities. This obviously wouldn't be possible without user tracking. So I never understand those who buy Google's phones and then complain about the tracking the same time.
  - tdkl 10y ago
    Google phones are Nexus and Pixel series and I'm willing to bet those aren't the majority sold. Data collection happens nevertheless the device.
  - sp332 10y ago
    If I buy a camera and it sends video of me to someone else all the time... yes.
  - tombrossman 10y ago
    I think Google's 'product' is their ability to demonstrate to advertisers Google's ability to manipulate users more effectively than their competitors can. To accomplish this, tracking is necessary. Any 'help' they provide you is purely incidental. If the data showed it was more effective to mislead users, they would be obliged to do that and ensure maximum value to shareholders. Look at the fake news controversy Facebook is dealing with. Fake news generated more page views and was more profitable, so that's what everyone pushed. What I'd love to see is a service doing some or all of the tracking and data storage on the end user's device, with relevant data being matched and pushed to anonymous users algorithmically. Easier said than done I concede, but that's what I want. I'm happy to pay for such a useful service and I strongly prefer this to trading personal info.
dingaling 10y ago
Google Play is so creepily omniscient that my wife now firewalls it on her phone and only lets it out once per month for an hour to perform app updates. But to do that she had to buy a phone that permitted rooting, which needed an delockable boot loader, which required me to sit for a few hours researching and a few more hours rooting. It is ridiculous and if it becomes any more difficult for the next upgrade then we'll just jump to another platform.
- snark42 10y ago
  > It is ridiculous and if it becomes any more difficult for the next upgrade then we'll just jump to another platform. I can't imagine IOS is any better. Is there another platform worth using?
arca_vorago 10y ago
I have my android completely de-googlefied via cyagenomod, but I will admit not being able to have apps like signal, etc, does somewhat limit phone operation. It's ok, as long as I have ssh/root, life is bearable.

jgrahamc 10y ago

Is that true?

hamax 10y ago
No. You have to enable location reporting for Google to track your location.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- Pigo 10y ago
  Yeah, everything asks for permissions now. To me, it's worth it for location history and being able to see real time traffic and stuff like in the article. I'll just turn it off when I go to visit my secret family in Canada.
che_shirecat 10y ago
It's true that it is enabled by default but if you go into the Privacy Check page of your Google account you can completely disable location history, android or not.
- itp 10y ago
  I'm not sure exactly how you mean enabled by default -- I think you are always prompted when setting up a new device, but the default position of the toggle is enabled.

laurent123456 10y ago

Isn't this feature disabled when you disable Google Location History?

michael_h 10y ago
I have location history disabled. Over the weekend I was prompted to give them more information about a restaurant I had visited. Right up to the creepy line, then a giant leap over it.
- 2T1Qka0rEiPr 10y ago
  I also went into the supermarket on the weekend, and when I left I had a notification telling me that Android pay is supported there. I normally have location turned off, but it really hit home just how much data Google is collecting, and the ability that affords them to be able to do some pretty serious user profiling. We have to remember that with Google, we are the product. We might all hate it, but that's how it is!

elcct 10y ago

> The European Commission is right about investigating how Google is doing business lately. Why is it right? Nobody forces people to buy Android phones

digi_owl 10y ago
The basic problem is that all this leave AOSP as less than a full device OS, because Google has put so much of it into Play Services. Never mind that to be able to bundle Play OEMs need to adhere to the requirements Google put forth in the CDD. And part of that requirement is that Google services apps are front and center when a new user boot up "their" device.
adtac 10y ago
See, this is what I've never been able to understand. If you buy a camera and put it somewhere, would you complain that it's always recording you? Google's product is this - helping you as much as possible in your daily activities. This obviously wouldn't be possible without user tracking. So I never understand those who buy Google's phones and then complain about the tracking the same time.
- tdkl 10y ago
  Google phones are Nexus and Pixel series and I'm willing to bet those aren't the majority sold. Data collection happens nevertheless the device.
- sp332 10y ago
  If I buy a camera and it sends video of me to someone else all the time... yes.
- tombrossman 10y ago
  I think Google's 'product' is their ability to demonstrate to advertisers Google's ability to manipulate users more effectively than their competitors can. To accomplish this, tracking is necessary. Any 'help' they provide you is purely incidental. If the data showed it was more effective to mislead users, they would be obliged to do that and ensure maximum value to shareholders. Look at the fake news controversy Facebook is dealing with. Fake news generated more page views and was more profitable, so that's what everyone pushed. What I'd love to see is a service doing some or all of the tracking and data storage on the end user's device, with relevant data being matched and pushed to anonymous users algorithmically. Easier said than done I concede, but that's what I want. I'm happy to pay for such a useful service and I strongly prefer this to trading personal info.

dingaling 10y ago

Google Play is so creepily omniscient that my wife now firewalls it on her phone and only lets it out once per month for an hour to perform app updates. But to do that she had to buy a phone that permitted rooting, which needed an delockable boot loader, which required me to sit for a few hours researching and a few more hours rooting. It is ridiculous and if it becomes any more difficult for the next upgrade then we'll just jump to another platform.

snark42 10y ago
> It is ridiculous and if it becomes any more difficult for the next upgrade then we'll just jump to another platform. I can't imagine IOS is any better. Is there another platform worth using?

arca_vorago 10y ago

I have my android completely de-googlefied via cyagenomod, but I will admit not being able to have apps like signal, etc, does somewhat limit phone operation. It's ok, as long as I have ssh/root, life is bearable.