5 ms·

UPDATE #2: after clicking here and there, I was able to find this https://pay.google.com/gp/w/u/1/home/settings https://pay.google.com/gp/w/u/1/home/settings it

UPDATE #2: after clicking here and there, I was able to find this https://pay.google.com/gp/w/u/1/home/settings https://pay.google.com/gp/w/u/1/home/settings it looks like I had set a UK address once and completely forgot about it (I don't have any Android devices since 2014, that's why I forgot). Let's see if this will change anything.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
How misinformation spreads on the internet 101. In future, it might be best to word this as a question. "Why does Google think I live in the UK?" Less click-baity and more faithful to the level of investigation you had conducted. Phrasing it as a question rather than an accusation might have even led you to the answer, something along the lines of, "well, have I explicitly told them I live in the UK? Let me check."
- andreagrandi 7y ago
  I wouldn't classify this as misinformation. Facts: 1) I don't live in UK 2) They threated me at UK resident 3) It's not possible to change the country directly from Google account, you have to go to Play Store (which I don't use it anymore) 4) It was impossible to contact them
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
    You accused them of illegal behavior when they acted correctly on information you explicitly gave them. You seem to expect them to divine your implicit intent from non-payments related product usage data. But for all we know you have search history turned off, and anyway most privacy advocates would consider a join like that suspect at best. Then you publicized this false information about illegal behavior as broadly as you could. If that's not misinformation I don't know what is. To be clear, I'm not saying you did so maliciously. Seems like an honest mistake on your part. Well, it did until you started digging in.
    - Aeolun 7y ago
      Using the fact that someone once entered a UK address as a proxy for living in the UK is inviting legal disaster in my opinion.
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
        Are you a lawyer? I mean I have all kinds of legal opinions but it's not really my expertise so I don't know how grounded they are in reality. I'm not even sure whether the gdpr specifies penalties for using the wrong data processor for an account provided the same controls are obeyed. I.e. if Google uses the same protections for UK residents as they had under GDPR, I'm not certain that there would be any penalties for accidentally misclassifying some users. Actually it would surprise me if there were. What does the GDPR say google should use in preference to the last known mailing address?
    - andreagrandi 7y ago
      What do you mean "search history turned off"? I'm not sure I understand. Also, I'm not a UI/UX expert, but Google suite has "Account Settings" where I would have expected to be able to see/change my address, but the option is not there. I use a limited subset of Google products (GMail, Calendar, Youtube, Google Docs, Maps etc...) but the possibility of changing the address was in the only product I haven't used since 2014 (I checked it because someone else, on a forum, pointed me to it). Now the address is updated, but I have no idea to check if my Data Controller will remain the same or it will be Google LLC. They should give us an explicit option to check/set what Data Controller we have, not infer it from a single product (which in my case wasn't used anymore).
      - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
        There is a toggle to control whether Google keeps track of your search history. I suppose there's a separate toggle for location history. If you have those turned off, Google does not record that data, and there would be no way for them to derive your location even in theory.
Pada 7y ago
This happened to me as well. EU citizen that lived for a while in the UK. What is different is that in Google Play I still have my home address not one in the UK. So even more strange.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago

How misinformation spreads on the internet 101. In future, it might be best to word this as a question. "Why does Google think I live in the UK?" Less click-baity and more faithful to the level of investigation you had conducted. Phrasing it as a question rather than an accusation might have even led you to the answer, something along the lines of, "well, have I explicitly told them I live in the UK? Let me check."

andreagrandi 7y ago
I wouldn't classify this as misinformation. Facts: 1) I don't live in UK 2) They threated me at UK resident 3) It's not possible to change the country directly from Google account, you have to go to Play Store (which I don't use it anymore) 4) It was impossible to contact them
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  You accused them of illegal behavior when they acted correctly on information you explicitly gave them. You seem to expect them to divine your implicit intent from non-payments related product usage data. But for all we know you have search history turned off, and anyway most privacy advocates would consider a join like that suspect at best. Then you publicized this false information about illegal behavior as broadly as you could. If that's not misinformation I don't know what is. To be clear, I'm not saying you did so maliciously. Seems like an honest mistake on your part. Well, it did until you started digging in.
  - Aeolun 7y ago
    Using the fact that someone once entered a UK address as a proxy for living in the UK is inviting legal disaster in my opinion.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
      Are you a lawyer? I mean I have all kinds of legal opinions but it's not really my expertise so I don't know how grounded they are in reality. I'm not even sure whether the gdpr specifies penalties for using the wrong data processor for an account provided the same controls are obeyed. I.e. if Google uses the same protections for UK residents as they had under GDPR, I'm not certain that there would be any penalties for accidentally misclassifying some users. Actually it would surprise me if there were. What does the GDPR say google should use in preference to the last known mailing address?
  - andreagrandi 7y ago
    What do you mean "search history turned off"? I'm not sure I understand. Also, I'm not a UI/UX expert, but Google suite has "Account Settings" where I would have expected to be able to see/change my address, but the option is not there. I use a limited subset of Google products (GMail, Calendar, Youtube, Google Docs, Maps etc...) but the possibility of changing the address was in the only product I haven't used since 2014 (I checked it because someone else, on a forum, pointed me to it). Now the address is updated, but I have no idea to check if my Data Controller will remain the same or it will be Google LLC. They should give us an explicit option to check/set what Data Controller we have, not infer it from a single product (which in my case wasn't used anymore).
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
      There is a toggle to control whether Google keeps track of your search history. I suppose there's a separate toggle for location history. If you have those turned off, Google does not record that data, and there would be no way for them to derive your location even in theory.

Pada 7y ago

This happened to me as well. EU citizen that lived for a while in the UK. What is different is that in Google Play I still have my home address not one in the UK. So even more strange.