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Facebook Location History View

78 points by jsonne 8y ago

tantalor 8y ago
This is pretty surprising seeing as how I have disallowed Facebook apps' permission to access my location.
tremendo 8y ago
For this only the notice that it's turned off comes up for me. Great. Alas it's Google that knows everywhere I've been https://google.com/maps/timeline?pb https://google.com/maps/timeline?pb
- danso 8y ago
  To add on to this, if people are interested in their location data, they can download it as JSON via the Google Takeout function: https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout?pli=1 https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout?pli=1
- rococode 8y ago
  Wow, they (Google) really keep everything.. They've still got my trip to Europe from 5 years ago on there, not sure how that's useful to them at this point haha.
  - nunya213 8y ago
    They know you've traveled to Europe, they know all the places you went and how long you were in each one. How is that not useful?
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      They probably even know what carrier you used for your flight based on transit time between airports.
      - ReverseCold 8y ago
        Or just pull that information from the flight confirmation email that was sent to Gmail.
        amatecha 8y ago
        Correct - they'll know your entire itinerary (and whoever else you traveled with) because of your hotel booking confirmations, too. Same with whatever events you bought tickets to. :)
        joering2 8y ago
        From gmail they also have keys to yor website SSL, as majority of SSL cert providers will send those to admin email (form of verification that someone access admin/webmaster account) on file as form of validation (altho there are other options like CNAME in some providers)
        jlgaddis 8y ago
        They might have a copy of the signed certificate that the CA sent you via e-mail, but they certainly should not have a copy of the private key that goes along with it (unless you did something stupid like let someone else generate the private key for you).
    - kinsomo 8y ago
      >> Wow, they (Google) really keep everything.. They've still got my trip to Europe from 5 years ago on there, not sure how that's useful to them at this point haha. > They know you've traveled to Europe, they know all the places you went and how long you were in each one. How is that not useful? But how is deriving those facts from 5 year old location data actually useful to them? AFAIK, they don't try to drive "engagement" by inducing nostalgia with push notifications [1]. I don't really see the use of old data like that for ad-targeting beyond a coarse "travels internationally"-type categories that don't really require keeping the data around. [1] Remember when you were in Europe? Wasn't it fun? We were there too, following you. Please, please log on now to see what we tracked!
      - majormajor 8y ago
        > AFAIK, they don't try to drive "engagement" by inducing nostalgia with push notifications [1]. They definitely do this with Google Photos "revisit this day" stuff, but it seems just an engagement play than a direct monetization one.
      - jankassens 8y ago
        Did they go on a long distance vacation every year? They're probably a good target for travel ads. They're probably also in a higher income bracket then someone who's only going on local trips.
      - ForHackernews 8y ago
        They know you're wealthy enough to travel to Europe. They know you might buy airplane tickets. They can show you ads for other international destinations. If nothing else, they can sell ads against you for "Category: Travelled to X place within the last Y years".
        netsharc 8y ago
        Thought experiment: your phone could know you liked a particular tourist spot because you spent a lot of time there, and later on when you upload pictures from your DSLR to Google Photos, the system will notice that there are a lot of photos that are timestamped within the time range when you were at that tourist spot. And data mining can tell that people who like that tourist spot A in country X also liked tourist spot B in city G in country Y a lot, so, tourism board of city G/country Y, here's a good target for your ad. And not just tourist stuff. Data mining might even tell they like a particular brand of, I don't know, yoghurt, so let's sell some of that yoghurt!
  - ebikelaw 8y ago
    They keep it because it's useful to you, not because it's useful to them. You're just looking at it too cynically.
    - choward 8y ago
      It could be useful to them in the future. You're just not looking at it cynically enough.
    - amatecha 8y ago
      How do you know it's not useful to them? How can we have any way to know definitively how our data is used?
    - Fnoord 8y ago
      You forgot /s
    - stevenicr 8y ago
      I must disagree. Spending some time thinking how this info is useful to the end user as opposed to the data watcher / holder. I believe that this data is exponentially less useful for the end user as it is for the persons adversaries. Cell phone companies for example may have legitimate reasons to keep location data for billing disputes for 60 days or so, but holding that data longer makes it available to all kinds of agencies, law enforcers and those with that kind of access who would abuse that access, marketing groups, divorce lawyers, accident attorneys, all kinds of possible things that are detrimental to the end user. The data companies profit from sharing this data, and it costs the end user. Whatever benefits one can come up with, I think the scale is obviously tipped in the "more useful against you" than "for you" direction when it comes to long term location storage.
      - ebikelaw 8y ago
        The phone company doesn't hold it for you on your behalf; they don't have some frontend where you can query and see it. Google does hold it on your behalf. It's used for you in Google Maps to surface places you regularly go over places you've never been. This is why "directions to the pizza place" works. Location history is also used to automatically deduce your home, work, or school location, so you can use a command like "navigate to school" with Android Auto, or get traffic alerts along your normal routes, just as examples.
  - mtgx 8y ago
    You can delete and stop further (official) data gathering here: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
    - throwahey 8y ago
      The deceptive word here being, "delete".
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - hateful 8y ago
    I used this feature to figure out that my wife was cheating on me! So it was useful!
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  I'm surprised just how empty that is for me. While I don't have an Android phone, I do use Google Maps on my computer and iPhone quite a lot. It's got nothing for me. Maybe I turned something off ages ago and forgot?
  - plttn 8y ago
    IIRC timeline/location history only generates from an Android device.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - ebikelaw 8y ago
      That's not correct. Google location history also works with Google Maps and "the Google app" on iOS.
      - plttn 8y ago
        https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/4388034 https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/4388034 >As of Google Maps version 3.2.1, you cannot turn on Location Reporting and History from the Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad. If you have Location History turned on from another Google app, like the Google app, the Google Maps app may still use Location History data stored in your Google account to give you better search results.
        opless 8y ago
        The location data was initially part of Latitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Latitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Latitude, it went away for a while, appeared in the iOS Google Maps app, and then moved again to the google app. I use it for time tracking, time spent at clients sites, etc. It's not perfect, but perfectly good 95% of the time!
  - leoalves 8y ago
- driverdan 8y ago
  You can turn off location history for Google too. I did it years ago. The maps timeline link shows nothing for me.
  - bewl 8y ago
    A question still remains for me: Are you just flipping a bit by turning it off, or are you not actually reporting data?
    - ForHackernews 8y ago
      I'd be really interested in hearing an answer on this from Googlers. Does switching all these settings off actually affect what data Google collects and stores about you, or does it just mean they hide it from you on the activity page?
    - denzil_correa 8y ago
      Considering that they look at IP addresses, it is a switch off for "GPS data"; not "location data".
  - gerdesj 8y ago
    You can flip a widget that claims to do something. How do you know it actually does what you think it does? For example, it might simply mean that you no longer have access to your location history - which your experience documented here implies. That does not mean that the data is no longer there or being added to. Have you read the small print? Nearly appropriate anecdote: For a customer, the SNMP "public" community has been deemed a security issue. The GUI for three of their systems showed that the SNMP agent was not configured, let alone running. $snmpwalk -v2c -c public w.x.y.z enterprises from my PC says otherwise. Here we have a saying: "it does what it says on the tin" to imply a form of integrity (a quote from an advert, funnily enough.) Not all tins tell the complete truth.
    - Liquid_Fire 8y ago
      While it's possible that Google may be keeping the data after you ask them to delete it, that would be a violation of the GDPR.
- aldoushuxley001 8y ago
  Surprisingly the default setting for both Google and Facebook's location history is off for me, so I guess they haven't been collecting my location data after all?
  - fireattack 8y ago
    I can't even figure how to turn it on in FB. Maybe you can only do so on mobile/App?
- colemickens 8y ago
  Facebook's actually says it's disabled? Mine was virtually empty (I refuse to install mobile apps beyond Maps/SMS/etc), but it doesn't indicate that it's disabled. I'd love to disable it fully... As far as I can tell, there's no "disable" control on that page (only "Delete All Location Data") and there's no global toggle on my Account -> Privacy page. Wow. I never cease to be amazed at how many hoops they make you jump through. NO, Facebook, I will not install your awful app just to disable Location tracking. https://i.imgur.com/sUR3FU5.png https://i.imgur.com/sUR3FU5.png. Can't wait until they silently start scraping my browser's location and I have to know to login and delete that data regularly.
- Keloo 8y ago
  The google maps data showing makes sense (you're using maps, so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps). But the FB location history to me is just out of the blue. FB was meant to be just a social network, why the heck do they need that information, I thought FB just connect me with my friends (and do things related to that). It's a bit abusive imho. P.S. I'm aware of all the scandals, regulations, profile shadowing etc.
  - reubenmorais 8y ago
    > you're using maps, so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps That functionality is tied in with Google Assistant as well, so if you have it enabled it tracks your Android phone all the time, not just when you're using Google Maps.
  - em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
    > "why the heck do they need that information" So that they can make money so that they can provide the social network services for free to everyone, so that they can actually have a large social network.
    - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
      They make money by selling ads. I'm not sure why storing users' entire location history helps with this.
      - em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
        so they can make more effective ads.
  - StavrosK 8y ago
    > so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps Because I don't want them to store it. It's ridiculously user-hostile and privacy-intrusive that Google maps won't even save your searches if you have location history turned off. If only my phone had some sort of area where you could store data locally, then maybe I wouldn't have to keep typing the same thing over and over again in Maps. One can only dream.
- AHTERIX5000 8y ago
  I've already disabled location history yet Google Maps continuosly keeps asking to review nearby places and take photos even when I haven't used the app in a long time. So it clearly polls location once in a while just to ask those questions (and log everything of course), very irritating. I know I can disable notifications but I'm not sure if it would disable polling in the background. I guess the only way is to keep location toggled off completely.
  - yurishimo 8y ago
    It might be using WiFi to determine your location. Logging each SSID and comparing them to a known database of businesses in the area where you live.
- ForFreedom 8y ago
  Location history is OFF for both Google and Facebook for me
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
spondyl 8y ago
I know from my past data exports on Android (pre-Cambridge Analytica) that my location history was pretty precise at all times. Same deal with Google Maps but I was aware of it so that's not really a complaint. I tried looking for the location history feature on my iPhone and I honestly can't find it. Visiting the location history view just says my history is disabled and the web client doesn't seem to have that setting anywhere either apparently? I don't even know why I have the thing installed in the first place. My timeline is complete garbage (people resharing bad memes) and I only use Messenger.
- d4l3k 8y ago
  The timeline thing is pretty easy to fix. You just have to tell Facebook you don't want to see posts like that (three dot menu). I did that a while back and don't get any memes or shared links on my feed anymore.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  >I tried looking for the location history feature on my iPhone and I honestly can't find it. It's always fun to look at the places your iPhone thinks you frequent: >Settings >Privacy >Location Services >System Services > Significant Locations I stop at a particular traffic light on the way to work most days, and the phone thinks I like to hang out at the pawn shop on the corner. As far as anyone knows, all of this information is only known to the phone, and not to Apple. But it's still creepy to see how a little box in your pocket watches you day and night.
kraig 8y ago
For someone who has deleted their FB account, what is this?
- jlmorton 8y ago
  Android user here. I won't make any claims about any permissions I've granted Facebook, but this link leads to a location view that shows my history with frequent updates each and every day from 2015 until this year, apparently every time I moved somewhere.
deft 8y ago
When is facebook going to release a "shadow profile view". I can't delete the data they have on me because they don't even let me access it, despite publicly admitting to having it.
- Keloo 8y ago
  No company in the world can handle such bandwidth :D
nataz 8y ago
One of the many reasons I didn't like the mandatory FB app install on some Verizon android phones. You couldn't even delete it if you wanted to. Best case scenario was to never log in. Ironically, I currently own a Pixel 2XL, have multiple google homes and chromecasts, use gmail, photos, etc., and let them run wild with my permissions. I think for me Google has created an ecosystem that I get a lot of value out of. I can't tell you how many times my phone has automatically given me pertinent information about a trip, or when to leave for work, or how to route around an accident. There is so much value for me, that I'm willing to trade my personal info. FB on the other hand just seems like a vampire most of the time. All I want to do is keep in touch with a few friends. It's even more egregious since I'm old enough to be in the first year cohort of FB rolling out, and have had to live with the ever increasing privacy intrusions.
marzell 8y ago
I am appalled at the apparent ignorance/disbelief in so many comments from people who don't find it obvious that location history data from Google/FB is useful and profitable for them to have.
- cjhopman 8y ago
  I am appalled at the apparent ignorance/disbelief in so many comments from people who don't find it obvious that location history data from Google/FB can be used to improve the user experience.
  - marzell 8y ago
    I agree and hope you didn't think I was disagreeing with this angle on things. It really is a double-edged sword in that respect.
  - peterbraden 8y ago
    Can you give some examples? Normally I find that location data makes my user experience worse, for example assuming the language I speak based on the country, or redirecting me away from the url I was trying to go to.
    - foobaw 8y ago
      It's not always individualistic. Facebook can determine where users travel to and when. There are more complex cohort analysis and segmentation that's being done but a lot of the data can help drive business strategy.
    - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
      Here's one: If there is a delay on my commute, Google Maps alerts me about it well before I would usually leave so I can leave earlier to account for it (or decide to work from home).
hharnisch 8y ago
I switched from the native Facebook app to the web app in 2014 -- which is the last location Facebook has on me. I guess this explains why deleting the app gave me double the battery life.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  My experience too. If you absolutely must use Facebook, at least use the mobile site instead of the app.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
cgb223 8y ago
Its frozen for me. Just keeps spinning the first 8th of the spin animation and glitching back to the start
peterbraden 8y ago
I asked for a full facebook data export, and this data wasn't in the bundle they gave me.
- alexh1 8y ago
  Just checked my facebook data export and the location_history folder just contains the file no-data.txt My location history is also turned off on facebook. Just another data point
rdl 8y ago
Deleting the FB mobile app, replacing it with Friendly+ (which scrapes the web app to provide a fairly equivalent experience, plus blocks ads and other stuff) was a great choice.
dawnerd 8y ago
"Location History is off. Turning on Location History lets you explore what's around you, get more relevant ads, and help improve Facebook. It allows Facebook to build a history of precise locations received through your device. Your Location History is private and secure. You can manage it in your location settings at any time. " Yeah I don't think I'll be enabling it.
a_rahmanshah 8y ago
How does it have my location history? I don't have their app on my phone. Maybe through FB Messenger?

78 points by jsonne 8y ago

This is pretty surprising seeing as how I have disallowed Facebook apps' permission to access my location.

For this only the notice that it's turned off comes up for me. Great. Alas it's Google that knows everywhere I've been https://google.com/maps/timeline?pb https://google.com/maps/timeline?pb

danso 8y ago
To add on to this, if people are interested in their location data, they can download it as JSON via the Google Takeout function: https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout?pli=1 https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout?pli=1
rococode 8y ago
Wow, they (Google) really keep everything.. They've still got my trip to Europe from 5 years ago on there, not sure how that's useful to them at this point haha.
- nunya213 8y ago
  They know you've traveled to Europe, they know all the places you went and how long you were in each one. How is that not useful?
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    They probably even know what carrier you used for your flight based on transit time between airports.
    - ReverseCold 8y ago
      Or just pull that information from the flight confirmation email that was sent to Gmail.
      - amatecha 8y ago
        Correct - they'll know your entire itinerary (and whoever else you traveled with) because of your hotel booking confirmations, too. Same with whatever events you bought tickets to. :)
      - joering2 8y ago
        From gmail they also have keys to yor website SSL, as majority of SSL cert providers will send those to admin email (form of verification that someone access admin/webmaster account) on file as form of validation (altho there are other options like CNAME in some providers)
        jlgaddis 8y ago
        They might have a copy of the signed certificate that the CA sent you via e-mail, but they certainly should not have a copy of the private key that goes along with it (unless you did something stupid like let someone else generate the private key for you).
  - kinsomo 8y ago
    >> Wow, they (Google) really keep everything.. They've still got my trip to Europe from 5 years ago on there, not sure how that's useful to them at this point haha. > They know you've traveled to Europe, they know all the places you went and how long you were in each one. How is that not useful? But how is deriving those facts from 5 year old location data actually useful to them? AFAIK, they don't try to drive "engagement" by inducing nostalgia with push notifications [1]. I don't really see the use of old data like that for ad-targeting beyond a coarse "travels internationally"-type categories that don't really require keeping the data around. [1] Remember when you were in Europe? Wasn't it fun? We were there too, following you. Please, please log on now to see what we tracked!
    - majormajor 8y ago
      > AFAIK, they don't try to drive "engagement" by inducing nostalgia with push notifications [1]. They definitely do this with Google Photos "revisit this day" stuff, but it seems just an engagement play than a direct monetization one.
    - jankassens 8y ago
      Did they go on a long distance vacation every year? They're probably a good target for travel ads. They're probably also in a higher income bracket then someone who's only going on local trips.
    - ForHackernews 8y ago
      They know you're wealthy enough to travel to Europe. They know you might buy airplane tickets. They can show you ads for other international destinations. If nothing else, they can sell ads against you for "Category: Travelled to X place within the last Y years".
      - netsharc 8y ago
        Thought experiment: your phone could know you liked a particular tourist spot because you spent a lot of time there, and later on when you upload pictures from your DSLR to Google Photos, the system will notice that there are a lot of photos that are timestamped within the time range when you were at that tourist spot. And data mining can tell that people who like that tourist spot A in country X also liked tourist spot B in city G in country Y a lot, so, tourism board of city G/country Y, here's a good target for your ad. And not just tourist stuff. Data mining might even tell they like a particular brand of, I don't know, yoghurt, so let's sell some of that yoghurt!
- ebikelaw 8y ago
  They keep it because it's useful to you, not because it's useful to them. You're just looking at it too cynically.
  - choward 8y ago
    It could be useful to them in the future. You're just not looking at it cynically enough.
  - amatecha 8y ago
    How do you know it's not useful to them? How can we have any way to know definitively how our data is used?
  - Fnoord 8y ago
    You forgot /s
  - stevenicr 8y ago
    I must disagree. Spending some time thinking how this info is useful to the end user as opposed to the data watcher / holder. I believe that this data is exponentially less useful for the end user as it is for the persons adversaries. Cell phone companies for example may have legitimate reasons to keep location data for billing disputes for 60 days or so, but holding that data longer makes it available to all kinds of agencies, law enforcers and those with that kind of access who would abuse that access, marketing groups, divorce lawyers, accident attorneys, all kinds of possible things that are detrimental to the end user. The data companies profit from sharing this data, and it costs the end user. Whatever benefits one can come up with, I think the scale is obviously tipped in the "more useful against you" than "for you" direction when it comes to long term location storage.
    - ebikelaw 8y ago
      The phone company doesn't hold it for you on your behalf; they don't have some frontend where you can query and see it. Google does hold it on your behalf. It's used for you in Google Maps to surface places you regularly go over places you've never been. This is why "directions to the pizza place" works. Location history is also used to automatically deduce your home, work, or school location, so you can use a command like "navigate to school" with Android Auto, or get traffic alerts along your normal routes, just as examples.
- mtgx 8y ago
  You can delete and stop further (official) data gathering here: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
  - throwahey 8y ago
    The deceptive word here being, "delete".
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- hateful 8y ago
  I used this feature to figure out that my wife was cheating on me! So it was useful!
madeofpalk 8y ago
I'm surprised just how empty that is for me. While I don't have an Android phone, I do use Google Maps on my computer and iPhone quite a lot. It's got nothing for me. Maybe I turned something off ages ago and forgot?
- plttn 8y ago
  IIRC timeline/location history only generates from an Android device.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - ebikelaw 8y ago
    That's not correct. Google location history also works with Google Maps and "the Google app" on iOS.
    - plttn 8y ago
      https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/4388034 https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/4388034 >As of Google Maps version 3.2.1, you cannot turn on Location Reporting and History from the Google Maps app for iPhone and iPad. If you have Location History turned on from another Google app, like the Google app, the Google Maps app may still use Location History data stored in your Google account to give you better search results.
      - opless 8y ago
        The location data was initially part of Latitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Latitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Latitude, it went away for a while, appeared in the iOS Google Maps app, and then moved again to the google app. I use it for time tracking, time spent at clients sites, etc. It's not perfect, but perfectly good 95% of the time!
- leoalves 8y ago
driverdan 8y ago
You can turn off location history for Google too. I did it years ago. The maps timeline link shows nothing for me.
- bewl 8y ago
  A question still remains for me: Are you just flipping a bit by turning it off, or are you not actually reporting data?
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    I'd be really interested in hearing an answer on this from Googlers. Does switching all these settings off actually affect what data Google collects and stores about you, or does it just mean they hide it from you on the activity page?
  - denzil_correa 8y ago
    Considering that they look at IP addresses, it is a switch off for "GPS data"; not "location data".
- gerdesj 8y ago
  You can flip a widget that claims to do something. How do you know it actually does what you think it does? For example, it might simply mean that you no longer have access to your location history - which your experience documented here implies. That does not mean that the data is no longer there or being added to. Have you read the small print? Nearly appropriate anecdote: For a customer, the SNMP "public" community has been deemed a security issue. The GUI for three of their systems showed that the SNMP agent was not configured, let alone running. $snmpwalk -v2c -c public w.x.y.z enterprises from my PC says otherwise. Here we have a saying: "it does what it says on the tin" to imply a form of integrity (a quote from an advert, funnily enough.) Not all tins tell the complete truth.
  - Liquid_Fire 8y ago
    While it's possible that Google may be keeping the data after you ask them to delete it, that would be a violation of the GDPR.
aldoushuxley001 8y ago
Surprisingly the default setting for both Google and Facebook's location history is off for me, so I guess they haven't been collecting my location data after all?
- fireattack 8y ago
  I can't even figure how to turn it on in FB. Maybe you can only do so on mobile/App?
colemickens 8y ago
Facebook's actually says it's disabled? Mine was virtually empty (I refuse to install mobile apps beyond Maps/SMS/etc), but it doesn't indicate that it's disabled. I'd love to disable it fully... As far as I can tell, there's no "disable" control on that page (only "Delete All Location Data") and there's no global toggle on my Account -> Privacy page. Wow. I never cease to be amazed at how many hoops they make you jump through. NO, Facebook, I will not install your awful app just to disable Location tracking. https://i.imgur.com/sUR3FU5.png https://i.imgur.com/sUR3FU5.png. Can't wait until they silently start scraping my browser's location and I have to know to login and delete that data regularly.
Keloo 8y ago
The google maps data showing makes sense (you're using maps, so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps). But the FB location history to me is just out of the blue. FB was meant to be just a social network, why the heck do they need that information, I thought FB just connect me with my friends (and do things related to that). It's a bit abusive imho. P.S. I'm aware of all the scandals, regulations, profile shadowing etc.
- reubenmorais 8y ago
  > you're using maps, so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps That functionality is tied in with Google Assistant as well, so if you have it enabled it tracks your Android phone all the time, not just when you're using Google Maps.
- em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
  > "why the heck do they need that information" So that they can make money so that they can provide the social network services for free to everyone, so that they can actually have a large social network.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    They make money by selling ads. I'm not sure why storing users' entire location history helps with this.
    - em3rgent0rdr 8y ago
      so they can make more effective ads.
- StavrosK 8y ago
  > so why not offering the timeline of places you visited on maps Because I don't want them to store it. It's ridiculously user-hostile and privacy-intrusive that Google maps won't even save your searches if you have location history turned off. If only my phone had some sort of area where you could store data locally, then maybe I wouldn't have to keep typing the same thing over and over again in Maps. One can only dream.
AHTERIX5000 8y ago
I've already disabled location history yet Google Maps continuosly keeps asking to review nearby places and take photos even when I haven't used the app in a long time. So it clearly polls location once in a while just to ask those questions (and log everything of course), very irritating. I know I can disable notifications but I'm not sure if it would disable polling in the background. I guess the only way is to keep location toggled off completely.
- yurishimo 8y ago
  It might be using WiFi to determine your location. Logging each SSID and comparing them to a known database of businesses in the area where you live.
ForFreedom 8y ago
Location history is OFF for both Google and Facebook for me

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

spondyl 8y ago

I know from my past data exports on Android (pre-Cambridge Analytica) that my location history was pretty precise at all times. Same deal with Google Maps but I was aware of it so that's not really a complaint. I tried looking for the location history feature on my iPhone and I honestly can't find it. Visiting the location history view just says my history is disabled and the web client doesn't seem to have that setting anywhere either apparently? I don't even know why I have the thing installed in the first place. My timeline is complete garbage (people resharing bad memes) and I only use Messenger.

d4l3k 8y ago
The timeline thing is pretty easy to fix. You just have to tell Facebook you don't want to see posts like that (three dot menu). I did that a while back and don't get any memes or shared links on my feed anymore.
reaperducer 8y ago
>I tried looking for the location history feature on my iPhone and I honestly can't find it. It's always fun to look at the places your iPhone thinks you frequent: >Settings >Privacy >Location Services >System Services > Significant Locations I stop at a particular traffic light on the way to work most days, and the phone thinks I like to hang out at the pawn shop on the corner. As far as anyone knows, all of this information is only known to the phone, and not to Apple. But it's still creepy to see how a little box in your pocket watches you day and night.

kraig 8y ago

For someone who has deleted their FB account, what is this?

jlmorton 8y ago
Android user here. I won't make any claims about any permissions I've granted Facebook, but this link leads to a location view that shows my history with frequent updates each and every day from 2015 until this year, apparently every time I moved somewhere.

deft 8y ago

When is facebook going to release a "shadow profile view". I can't delete the data they have on me because they don't even let me access it, despite publicly admitting to having it.

Keloo 8y ago
No company in the world can handle such bandwidth :D

nataz 8y ago

One of the many reasons I didn't like the mandatory FB app install on some Verizon android phones. You couldn't even delete it if you wanted to. Best case scenario was to never log in. Ironically, I currently own a Pixel 2XL, have multiple google homes and chromecasts, use gmail, photos, etc., and let them run wild with my permissions. I think for me Google has created an ecosystem that I get a lot of value out of. I can't tell you how many times my phone has automatically given me pertinent information about a trip, or when to leave for work, or how to route around an accident. There is so much value for me, that I'm willing to trade my personal info. FB on the other hand just seems like a vampire most of the time. All I want to do is keep in touch with a few friends. It's even more egregious since I'm old enough to be in the first year cohort of FB rolling out, and have had to live with the ever increasing privacy intrusions.

marzell 8y ago

I am appalled at the apparent ignorance/disbelief in so many comments from people who don't find it obvious that location history data from Google/FB is useful and profitable for them to have.

cjhopman 8y ago
I am appalled at the apparent ignorance/disbelief in so many comments from people who don't find it obvious that location history data from Google/FB can be used to improve the user experience.
- marzell 8y ago
  I agree and hope you didn't think I was disagreeing with this angle on things. It really is a double-edged sword in that respect.
- peterbraden 8y ago
  Can you give some examples? Normally I find that location data makes my user experience worse, for example assuming the language I speak based on the country, or redirecting me away from the url I was trying to go to.
  - foobaw 8y ago
    It's not always individualistic. Facebook can determine where users travel to and when. There are more complex cohort analysis and segmentation that's being done but a lot of the data can help drive business strategy.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    Here's one: If there is a delay on my commute, Google Maps alerts me about it well before I would usually leave so I can leave earlier to account for it (or decide to work from home).

hharnisch 8y ago

I switched from the native Facebook app to the web app in 2014 -- which is the last location Facebook has on me. I guess this explains why deleting the app gave me double the battery life.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
My experience too. If you absolutely must use Facebook, at least use the mobile site instead of the app.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

cgb223 8y ago

Its frozen for me. Just keeps spinning the first 8th of the spin animation and glitching back to the start

peterbraden 8y ago

I asked for a full facebook data export, and this data wasn't in the bundle they gave me.

alexh1 8y ago
Just checked my facebook data export and the location_history folder just contains the file no-data.txt My location history is also turned off on facebook. Just another data point

rdl 8y ago

Deleting the FB mobile app, replacing it with Friendly+ (which scrapes the web app to provide a fairly equivalent experience, plus blocks ads and other stuff) was a great choice.

dawnerd 8y ago

"Location History is off. Turning on Location History lets you explore what's around you, get more relevant ads, and help improve Facebook. It allows Facebook to build a history of precise locations received through your device. Your Location History is private and secure. You can manage it in your location settings at any time. " Yeah I don't think I'll be enabling it.

a_rahmanshah 8y ago

How does it have my location history? I don't have their app on my phone. Maybe through FB Messenger?