Google Location Note

[dewline]

I tracked down the instructions on how to properly disable it, and I think I got the job done re: my cleverphone. Seemed a good idea at the time. Now to be ready to re-enable it in case search-and-rescue people need me to have it on in order to find me...that should be easy enough if the time ever comes, right?

Comments

[agoodwinsmith]

Maybe? I confess my cynical suspicion is that the tracking goes on. Generally tower pinging is likely to be sufficient, since this "personalization" of content is a phony carrot on a stick. If your phone is pinging in the downtown core, then they can sell access to your eyeballs to any of their customers with businesses in the downtown core. If your phone is pinging along a transit corridor, then access to your eyeballs for any of the businesses near the stops. Or better yet to businesses near your usual last stop if the time of day correlates with coming home.

As I say: cynic. If there is money to be made, then there will be language weaselly enough to permit the activity.

[thewayne]

The only Google apps on my phone are Earth and Maps. I almost never use Earth, can't remember when last I opened it so I should just delete it. I use Maps frequently, but only when I have connectivity. I should just delete it and replace it with a shortcut to the URL.

Years ago when Google announced their corporate motto as Don't Be Evil I nearly had a stroke from ROFLMAOing too hard. Facebook is Google-level evil done stoopid. Google is just a lot smarter about how they go about it.

I have many Gmail accounts, but none of them are used for personal correspondence, so that level of information that they're tracking on me is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately no other search engine comes to close as good. I occasionally think about setting up a polluter box that will run semi-randomized search queries all night to muck up their data for our IP address, but haven't gotten around to it. If I ever get our guest room cleared up to the point that I can set up a small computer lab, that's the point that something like that is likely to happen. It'll also be an opportunity to stretch my brain in Python.