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> It'd also be very hard to really eliminate _all_ use of location across all products. I'm sure Google has great programmers. > Even very basic queries like

> It'd also be very hard to really eliminate _all_ use of location across all products. I'm sure Google has great programmers. > Even very basic queries like [buy flowers] needs some rough idea of the user's location to give results that aren't nonsense. No, they don't. Back in the days when no tracking was done, I could buy flowers without any problems using [buy flowers location] query myself. Hell, I often use it today, because I'm not at the location anyway and am looking for such things in advance. Having location data is nice improvement, but it isn't a necessity. > Even just opening Google Maps has to request the tiles for your current location It doesn't. I can show me the world map initially until I type in what I want to see. I use it like this all the time and it works great. > How do you implement that without Google knowing your rough location? Let the user type in their address. It's inconvenient, but if people value their privacy more than convenience, let them.

repolfx 8y ago
You aren't disagreeing with me. Adding a location manually to a query makes it a different query, but I specifically stated one that doesn't have a location (and yes obviously users make such queries all the time!). But yes, to your wider point, you can progressively delete all location sensitivity from every product and make them annoying and hard to use in the process. And even that wouldn't work. It's a fair bet that if you search for something with a location in the query, whether it be on web search or maps, that this is where you actually are. The reality is nobody cares about this type of privacy feature, especially because Google can't avoid knowing at least your IP address. The AP only cares because it's gone digging for an attack story.
- babuskov 8y ago
  > Google can't avoid knowing at least your IP address. Knowing it isn't the problem. It's in storing it permanently. When I need location-enabled services I enable location tracking on my hardware (GPS+wifi) and everything just works. Google doesn't need to keep a history of all my locations ever for their services to work properly.
s73v3r_ 8y ago
"It doesn't. I can show me the world map initially until I type in what I want to see. I use it like this all the time and it works great." And that would kill much of the usefulness for me.

repolfx 8y ago

You aren't disagreeing with me. Adding a location manually to a query makes it a different query, but I specifically stated one that doesn't have a location (and yes obviously users make such queries all the time!). But yes, to your wider point, you can progressively delete all location sensitivity from every product and make them annoying and hard to use in the process. And even that wouldn't work. It's a fair bet that if you search for something with a location in the query, whether it be on web search or maps, that this is where you actually are. The reality is nobody cares about this type of privacy feature, especially because Google can't avoid knowing at least your IP address. The AP only cares because it's gone digging for an attack story.

babuskov 8y ago
> Google can't avoid knowing at least your IP address. Knowing it isn't the problem. It's in storing it permanently. When I need location-enabled services I enable location tracking on my hardware (GPS+wifi) and everything just works. Google doesn't need to keep a history of all my locations ever for their services to work properly.

s73v3r_ 8y ago

"It doesn't. I can show me the world map initially until I type in what I want to see. I use it like this all the time and it works great." And that would kill much of the usefulness for me.