4 ms·

Fun fact: whatever you can do with this data, Google can do as well!

WilTimSon 4y ago
Hey wait a second, that's not fun at all, that's incredibly depressing! On a serious note, it does remind me of that time police arrested a man on suspicion of a break-in, because he was riding his bike in the neighborhood at the time and Google recorded it.
test6554 4y ago
While she likely got permission, having your girlfriend request all your location data is a bit like Zuckerberg requeating all your location data. On some level alarm bells are going off.
- seba_dos1 4y ago
  Is it? My girlfriend is probably the only person I'd be comfortable with sharing my location data with, given a reasonable purpose (the one in this post would be good).
- danuker 4y ago
  Your girlfriend won't resell it or share it with insurance or government agencies as easily.
- Tozen 4y ago
  A girlfriend may not be as trustworthy, as some people seem to think or at least no more than what is selfishly beneficial and to her advantage. Lots of guys find this out, way too late.
- archi42 4y ago
  This depends a lot on your SO and your relationship to her/him/them. Given exactly the pretext from the blog post: I can easily think of a past relationship where I'd totally agree with you (very distrustful person who could not have resisted the urge to maliciously interpreted the data), and another relationship where I'd be totally cool with it (except I wouldn't want the heat map to be public). For most of my past relationships (and my current, final relationship) however such a request is unrealistic anyway; they simply don't have the technical ability to do such an analysis.
zaik 4y ago
In fact, they can do a lot more since they have data on more than two people.
- lettergram 4y ago
  They know when your sleeping, they know when your awake. They know when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Seriously, they know every time you pick up your phone. Where you shop, how much you spend, if you miss a stop in the highway, if you text your parents happy birthday, if your heart rate increases when you’re around a particular phone. They quite literally may know your gay before you do.
  - bitL 4y ago
    What is their current definition of "be good" so that I can comply? Is there any changelog? Perhaps some future plan introducing new parts of "good" and deprecating some as well?
    - rattray 4y ago
      I'm sure they most cherish people who criticize Google.
    - archi42 4y ago
      If Google built such a product, you'd probably find it on their graveyard. So it's best to be careful and not antagonize them; because always remember: You only have one digital life, so keep your head down and don't blow it. I wish that was pure /s, but the amount of "Ask HN: Google banned me or my business for no obvious reason" is really staggering. (n.b.: Of course I'm talking about the old Google of 2022, not about the glorious overlords that Google since has become; all praises the holy trinity of Android, Google Search and Google Glurp for Glorps! Please don't ban me.)
      - bitL 4y ago
        Funny nobody can even tell why they ban somebody because ML just won't tell them why. "Hey, our ML_ANOMALY_20220430_6C2DBE3AFC model ensemble has told us to ban you, so we are banning you! There is no recourse (unless you have friends at Google). Please don't contact us ever again. We will ban all the people from the whole block around you as well."
lettergram 4y ago
Google literally did this during the pandemic https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/ https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/ So did apple: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-makes-mobility-data-available-to-aid-covid-19-efforts/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-makes-mobility-... Only… they gave that information to government (supposedly post-analysis and anonymized). Regardless the data was quite literally used to “track and trace” then as a mechanism / justification to place you under house arrest.
- texasbigdata 4y ago
  Ehh, there was some really sketch things there. I think at least for apple they might have potentially already built it and this just moved their announcement date up. There’s a very weird simultaneously timed NSA bill in congress at the same time. /tinfoilhat
risyachka 4y ago
And you telecom provider had been able to do that for decades.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  Nowhere near this level of detail. Telecoms providers (until "hyperlocal" 5G base stations become commonplace) have very coarse location info compared to GPS (as well as other sources a typical smartphone uses such as Wi-Fi triangulation). Even with 5G, smartphone-determined location data is likely to still be much more accurate.
andyp-kw 4y ago
We get it, Google has access to the data you share with them, shocking.
- Tozen 4y ago
  The interesting aspect of that, is what Google and other authorities do with such data. They can be unlocking all sorts of private trivia, unbeknown to any of the users involved, to an extent far beyond any are suspecting. That could include such authorities, manipulating or interfering with events and lives, more than anybody would think possible or should be legally allowed.
  - andsoitis 4y ago
    > manipulating or interfering with events What might be a good example?
    - Tozen 4y ago
      Just for clarity, there was a "could" in there, in the context of what I stated. Google and other authorities having such access to so much data about individuals, means they can know of relationships, that the interacting individual parties involved don't know about each other. So, if a wife were cheating on her husband, that can be known. A line can be crossed, where information is leaked to the husband, in various ways. This of course is just a "theoretical" example, of many other kinds of possibilities. Access to private and personal information is its own kind of power, that can be easily abused under many gray areas, and under all kinds of pretexts and weak justifications.
- LtWorf 4y ago
  Also to the data you opt out of sharing but they ignore it and share it anyways.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Cthulhu_ 4y ago
They have the data, but they make sure to not show that they have the data, because they are very aware of how creepy it would be. They spent a lot of time on optics. Do people who see ads get ads based on where they've been by the way?

Hey wait a second, that's not fun at all, that's incredibly depressing! On a serious note, it does remind me of that time police arrested a man on suspicion of a break-in, because he was riding his bike in the neighborhood at the time and Google recorded it.

test6554 4y ago

While she likely got permission, having your girlfriend request all your location data is a bit like Zuckerberg requeating all your location data. On some level alarm bells are going off.

seba_dos1 4y ago
Is it? My girlfriend is probably the only person I'd be comfortable with sharing my location data with, given a reasonable purpose (the one in this post would be good).
danuker 4y ago
Your girlfriend won't resell it or share it with insurance or government agencies as easily.
Tozen 4y ago
A girlfriend may not be as trustworthy, as some people seem to think or at least no more than what is selfishly beneficial and to her advantage. Lots of guys find this out, way too late.
archi42 4y ago
This depends a lot on your SO and your relationship to her/him/them. Given exactly the pretext from the blog post: I can easily think of a past relationship where I'd totally agree with you (very distrustful person who could not have resisted the urge to maliciously interpreted the data), and another relationship where I'd be totally cool with it (except I wouldn't want the heat map to be public). For most of my past relationships (and my current, final relationship) however such a request is unrealistic anyway; they simply don't have the technical ability to do such an analysis.

zaik 4y ago

In fact, they can do a lot more since they have data on more than two people.

lettergram 4y ago
They know when your sleeping, they know when your awake. They know when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Seriously, they know every time you pick up your phone. Where you shop, how much you spend, if you miss a stop in the highway, if you text your parents happy birthday, if your heart rate increases when you’re around a particular phone. They quite literally may know your gay before you do.
- bitL 4y ago
  What is their current definition of "be good" so that I can comply? Is there any changelog? Perhaps some future plan introducing new parts of "good" and deprecating some as well?
  - rattray 4y ago
    I'm sure they most cherish people who criticize Google.
  - archi42 4y ago
    If Google built such a product, you'd probably find it on their graveyard. So it's best to be careful and not antagonize them; because always remember: You only have one digital life, so keep your head down and don't blow it. I wish that was pure /s, but the amount of "Ask HN: Google banned me or my business for no obvious reason" is really staggering. (n.b.: Of course I'm talking about the old Google of 2022, not about the glorious overlords that Google since has become; all praises the holy trinity of Android, Google Search and Google Glurp for Glorps! Please don't ban me.)
    - bitL 4y ago
      Funny nobody can even tell why they ban somebody because ML just won't tell them why. "Hey, our ML_ANOMALY_20220430_6C2DBE3AFC model ensemble has told us to ban you, so we are banning you! There is no recourse (unless you have friends at Google). Please don't contact us ever again. We will ban all the people from the whole block around you as well."

lettergram 4y ago

Google literally did this during the pandemic https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/ https://www.google.com/covid19/mobility/ So did apple: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-makes-mobility-data-available-to-aid-covid-19-efforts/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/04/apple-makes-mobility-... Only… they gave that information to government (supposedly post-analysis and anonymized). Regardless the data was quite literally used to “track and trace” then as a mechanism / justification to place you under house arrest.

texasbigdata 4y ago
Ehh, there was some really sketch things there. I think at least for apple they might have potentially already built it and this just moved their announcement date up. There’s a very weird simultaneously timed NSA bill in congress at the same time. /tinfoilhat

risyachka 4y ago

And you telecom provider had been able to do that for decades.

Nextgrid 4y ago
Nowhere near this level of detail. Telecoms providers (until "hyperlocal" 5G base stations become commonplace) have very coarse location info compared to GPS (as well as other sources a typical smartphone uses such as Wi-Fi triangulation). Even with 5G, smartphone-determined location data is likely to still be much more accurate.

andyp-kw 4y ago

We get it, Google has access to the data you share with them, shocking.

Tozen 4y ago
The interesting aspect of that, is what Google and other authorities do with such data. They can be unlocking all sorts of private trivia, unbeknown to any of the users involved, to an extent far beyond any are suspecting. That could include such authorities, manipulating or interfering with events and lives, more than anybody would think possible or should be legally allowed.
- andsoitis 4y ago
  > manipulating or interfering with events What might be a good example?
  - Tozen 4y ago
    Just for clarity, there was a "could" in there, in the context of what I stated. Google and other authorities having such access to so much data about individuals, means they can know of relationships, that the interacting individual parties involved don't know about each other. So, if a wife were cheating on her husband, that can be known. A line can be crossed, where information is leaked to the husband, in various ways. This of course is just a "theoretical" example, of many other kinds of possibilities. Access to private and personal information is its own kind of power, that can be easily abused under many gray areas, and under all kinds of pretexts and weak justifications.
LtWorf 4y ago
Also to the data you opt out of sharing but they ignore it and share it anyways.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Cthulhu_ 4y ago

They have the data, but they make sure to not show that they have the data, because they are very aware of how creepy it would be. They spent a lot of time on optics. Do people who see ads get ads based on where they've been by the way?