Android tracked location even with location services disabled and no SIM installed.
Evidence
In November 2017 Quartz investigative reporters discovered that since early 2017, Android phones had been collecting location information by triangulating the nearest cell towers, even when location services were disabled, no apps were running, and no carrier SIM card was installed in the phone. The information was used to manage Google’s “push” notifications and messages sent to users on their Android phones, enabling the company to track “whether an individual with an Android phone or running Google apps has set foot in a specific store, and use that to target the advertising a user subsequently sees.” — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 763
Categorization
- SEED: This is the canonical example for an essay on how corporate ‘service’ justifications mask surveillance that operates outside user consent entirely.
- QUESTION: What legal findings, if any, resulted from the Quartz investigation? Did Google ever face consequences or change this practice?
- XREF: connects to: Android location data exceeds phone carriers’ detail, pinpointing users to a single building. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 763
Broader Connections
- Android location data exceeds phone carriers’ detail, pinpointing users to a single building.
#expands(0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 763