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Most users are stupid though. Reminder that a US congressman once grilled Google's CEO about whether Google was tracking his iPhone's precise location. And this

by pb7 3y ago

Most users are stupid though. Reminder that a US congressman once grilled Google's CEO about whether Google was tracking his iPhone's precise location. And this one was smart enough to con his way into Congress. "I have an iPhone, and if I move from here and go over there and sit with my Democrat friends, which would make them real nervous, does Google track my movement?" -- Ted Poe https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-ceo-pichai-grilled-over-companys-location-tracking-capabilities/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-ceo-pichai-grilled-o...

jeroenhd 3y ago
> "I have an iPhone, and if I move from here and go over there and sit with my Democrat friends, which would make them real nervous, does Google track my movement?" -- Ted Poe The thing is, if this was a real life situation, and he would seek out and politically collaborate with/stalk and listen in on his Democrat friends, there's a good chance Google would know. Not because of a digital AirTag Google installed on his phone, but because of the tracking and data analysis Google has access to. The indirection and hidden mechanisms Google (and other data trading companies) use are impossible to comprehend for normal people, and they're banking on that to continue being allowed to do that.
- pb7 3y ago
  The point was that he has no idea where the boundaries around between Apple and Google and what is within the realm of possibility of abuse and what is strictly impossible without him tapping "accept" via a system prompt. It is not possible for Google to track his location without him granting permission to do so on his iPhone. It is not possible to get precise location data without a prompt and a blue system indicator. It is not possible to get repeated location data without iOS eventually notifying you of the background activity (even the stock Weather app is not immune to this). All of this is because Apple has fine control over the system.
deminature 3y ago
Google does track your movement with alarming levels of detail, just not to that level of granularity. https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?hl=en&co=GENI...

by pb7 3y ago

jeroenhd 3y ago

> "I have an iPhone, and if I move from here and go over there and sit with my Democrat friends, which would make them real nervous, does Google track my movement?" -- Ted Poe The thing is, if this was a real life situation, and he would seek out and politically collaborate with/stalk and listen in on his Democrat friends, there's a good chance Google would know. Not because of a digital AirTag Google installed on his phone, but because of the tracking and data analysis Google has access to. The indirection and hidden mechanisms Google (and other data trading companies) use are impossible to comprehend for normal people, and they're banking on that to continue being allowed to do that.

pb7 3y ago
The point was that he has no idea where the boundaries around between Apple and Google and what is within the realm of possibility of abuse and what is strictly impossible without him tapping "accept" via a system prompt. It is not possible for Google to track his location without him granting permission to do so on his iPhone. It is not possible to get precise location data without a prompt and a blue system indicator. It is not possible to get repeated location data without iOS eventually notifying you of the background activity (even the stock Weather app is not immune to this). All of this is because Apple has fine control over the system.

deminature 3y ago

Google does track your movement with alarming levels of detail, just not to that level of granularity. https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?hl=en&co=GENI...