We are all aware of the fact that smartphones use location tracking to expand the capabilities of some apps. But, you would assume that the location will stop being transmitted once you have turned it off in the settings but that is not the case as Google admits to tracking location even when it has been turned off in the settings.
This has been going on since the start of 2017 as the location is being tracked and transmitted to Google from all Android devices. The company stated that it never stored or used the data and it will stop at the end of November 2017.
“In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery,” said a Google spokesperson in email correspondence with Quartz. “However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.”
If you own an Android device and inserted a sim card or connected to any WiFi network, your location was tracked and sent to Google. People have reasons for turning off their location services and ignoring their preference and recording the data regardless is a breach of privacy.
Google’s privacy policy clearly states that anybody who uses the company’s services is subject to having their location tracked. It doesn’t mention that you would still be tracked if you had the location service turned off. Maybe we will see a change in the privacy policy now the matter has come to light.
Will this huge revelation force people to switch their handsets or will they continue to support Google? We will find out in the coming months.
The video shows how location is tracked by cellphones:
