Photo by on Paweł Czerwiński Unsplash So last week I was concerned about creating a censorship-friendly version of its search engine for the Chinese market. Google Read Part 1 ⤵️ _So Google has a version of its search engine in the works for China. However, this version is/will be openly censored…_hackernoon.com What The Heck, Google? This week, I have issue with Google. Google hasn’t been open about its collection of user-location data. that Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.” another released Associated Press The issue involves Google apps for devices and iPhones. Even when users tell Google not to track their location with privacy settings, Google collects data about user locations. Android Google Tracks Locations Without User Consent I’ve had concerns about Google constantly collecting people’s locations for some time. However, that was with the understanding that I (and others) had given Google permission to do so. Even if I think people should keep their settings locked down to prevent unnecessary tracking, getting tracked was a choice. If people aren’t given the choice to opt-out…that’s an even bigger issue. Transparency (with Data Use) is Essential Google’s response to the latest issue was that users need to turn off an additional setting called “ ”. While you may have location tracking turned off, Google still collects location data that falls under this “Web and App Activity”. Web and App Activity If you have disabled “Location History”, I think it’s fair to assume that Google then would not collect your location data. Unfortunately that just isn’t the case. If people go to the trouble of disabling location tracking, they have an expectation of privacy. Google failing to deliver on this perceived privacy is a major issue. “Critics say Google’s insistence on tracking its users’ locations stems from its drive to boost advertising revenue.” Source: AP News Google can collect as much information about me as it wants…as long as I have opted in and given consent. How can I trust a company that collects my information even though I have opted out? Read More ⤵️ _Google Automatically Logs Users Into Chrome 😕_hackernoon.com What The Heck, Google (Part 4) _Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has a market cap of $712 billion. Within Google’s range of products, there are seven…_hackernoon.com Data Privacy Concerns with Google Thanks for reading!

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