Google collected information about geolocation without asking permission from the user

Everyone knows that smart phones can track the geolocation . But what happens if you manually turn off this function, and even pull out the sim card? Quartz reports that even such a precaution will not change anything.

As it became known, devices on Android from the beginning of 2017, without the consent of their users, sent data about the current location of Google.

That is, when a person did not agree to include a function to collect data on geolocation, this was just a formality. Google did not take into account his desire.

Google confirmed the information that data about the geolocation of devices were collected, even in those cases when users took out a sim card

Devices on the basis of Android all the time transmit information about the location of neighboring cell towers. Information is not much needed, it is enough to find out the unique identifier (available on any mobile device) and the location of neighboring towers. Thus, the location of a person is easily determined.

“In January of this year, we began to collect identifier codes for mobile communications towers to improve the speed and performance of the message delivery system,” said a Google spokesman

But it’s a matter of principle – it’s about confidential information. Reputation of such companies as Facebook and Alphabet directly depends on the trust of consumers to them. Confidentiality of personalizations, purchase histories, political views of users should not be threatened.

The company insists that it did not use the data in any way, did not store it, and did not transmit it.

Although the data sent to Google is encrypted. But they could be sent to third parties, if the phone was hacked by spyware and others.

Obviously, this information is of high commercial value. For example, with the help of it, a company can determine that a person with an Android phone or Google application has visited a certain store. And use this to target the ads that the user will see as a result.

By the end of November, Google had promised to stop collecting geolocation data. Skeptics say that this is great news for those who have not been asked for permission for many months.

The question arises: what is still hidden by Google and why?