Remember years ago when we used to say, \u201cGoogle is your friend?\u201d Younger readers may never have heard it or know what it means but in any event, those days are long gone\u2014gone to the same place that \u201cDon\u2019t be evil\u201d went apparently.<\/p>\n
You may recall that a year ago The Arizona AG sued Google for illegally tracking users\u2019 location<\/a>. As a result of discovery in that suit, court documents have come to light that make explicit the ends that Google was willing to go to prevent users from being able to disable that tracking in their Android operating system<\/a>.<\/p>\n That included hiding the settings deep within nested menu options and pressuring their manufacturing partners to do the same. One ex-employee said in a deposition that it was virtually impossible to prevent Google from learning your work and home locations. The settings controlling location tracking were so arcane that even Google management\u2014including the responsible project manager\u2014didn\u2019t know how they worked.<\/p>\n Some Google employees thought the situation was out of control and were pushing back and urging caution saying that the company risked a PR nightmare. They were, of course, ignored and now Google has its PR nightmare. They\u2019ve earned it.<\/p>\n The Android Police has an article with a bit more detail<\/a>. The takeaway from all this is the same as Irreal has been screeching at you for years: Don\u2019t trust Google and limit your interaction with them as much as you can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember years ago when we used to say, \u201cGoogle is your friend?\u201d Younger readers may never have heard it or know what it means but in any event, those days are long gone\u2014gone to the same place that \u201cDon\u2019t be … Continue reading