Every time I do a google search it asks for my location and it's getting irritating. Why is it happening and how can I stop it?

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Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Inexplicably, Apple only offers you the option of declining location-tracking for a short period at the prompt instead of allowing you to disable it entirely.

You have to know (or find somehow) that you can disable it in Safari's "Website" preferences.

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...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

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_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

[www.cnet.com]

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btfc
[www.cnet.com]

Unfortunately, while their results were nearly on-par with Google for awhile, in recent years their reliance on Bing for results has made them far less useful.

Typically, I start a search in DuckDuckGo, but for all but the most glaringly obvious results I end up returning to Google to find what I'm looking for.

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NewtonMP2100
...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

When you look at the maps and click on traffic, That's how it knows what the situation is. It extrapolates everybody's data for road conditions. It's easier to let them track you. Who have they messed up? Nobody.

Could it be some regulatory disclosure thing imposed by the powers that be? Sometimes the nagging solution is more annoying than the non-existent problem.

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vision63

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NewtonMP2100
...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

When you look at the maps and click on traffic, That's how it knows what the situation is. It extrapolates everybody's data for road conditions. It's easier to let them track you. Who have they messed up? Nobody.

Huh?

They track EVERYWHERE you go with Android OS, and with various apps on the iPhone and trackers on websites and correlating data between apps and browser-activities on your phone/tablet/computer(s). This is not to benefit commuters.

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davemchine
Every time I do a google search it asks for my location and it's getting irritating. Why is it happening

It's happening because google wants to know everything about you and that particular information helps google provide advertising targeted to you.

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…and how can I stop it?

By not using google anything.

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Tiangou

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vision63

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NewtonMP2100
...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

When you look at the maps and click on traffic, That's how it knows what the situation is. It extrapolates everybody's data for road conditions. It's easier to let them track you. Who have they messed up? Nobody.

Huh?

They track EVERYWHERE you go with Android OS, and with various apps on the iPhone and trackers on websites and correlating data between apps and browser-activities on your phone/tablet/computer(s). This is not to benefit commuters.

So???? Where is the harm? Cite me some specific examples. Let me save you some time. There are no examples. They're not going to destroy their business by mishandling your data.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2023 02:42PM by vision63.

This never goes away. It's been over 20 years now of being tracked by various online entities. I still haven't heard of any story that shows someone being harmed by it.

The worst idea I've seen was in Minority Report where Tom Cruise walks into a dept store and it knows who he is and starts suggesting purchases he might be interested in. Minority Report was 21 years ago.

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vision63

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Tiangou

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vision63

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NewtonMP2100
...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

When you look at the maps and click on traffic, That's how it knows what the situation is. It extrapolates everybody's data for road conditions. It's easier to let them track you. Who have they messed up? Nobody.

Huh?

They track EVERYWHERE you go with Android OS, and with various apps on the iPhone and trackers on websites and correlating data between apps and browser-activities on your phone/tablet/computer(s). This is not to benefit commuters.

So???? Where is the harm? Cite me some specific examples. Let me save you some time. There are no examples. They're not going to destroy their business by mishandling your data.

I'M GETTING TIRED OF DOING EVERYONE ELSE'S GOOGLING FOR THEM.

There are literally 400,000 hits on my first query on the subject.

Top hit:

[www.securitymagazine.com]

With location data alone, it’s not difficult to spot an individual’s home or workplace and then find identifying details using an inferred address and publicly available information. But data brokers typically draw on other sources of information, like mobile advertising identifiers, phone numbers and email addresses, that enable them to tie the data to a real identity.

The repackaged data is then sold to any number of third parties, be they a hedge fund searching for an information edge, a real estate investor looking to identify attractive properties or a retailer seeking to analyze shoppers’ in-store behavior. However, because location data is easy to purchase from data brokers, just about any interested party can do so.

We’ve seen law enforcement organizations go this route, most notably with the Department of Homeland Security buying access to smartphone location data to investigate illegal border crossings and track migrant groups. There’s very little stopping foreign intelligence services from using a front company to purchase such data. Nor is there much to stop clients from freely sharing the data they access. And then there’s the issue of data breaches, providing yet another opening as hackers look to use the data for their own economic ends.

When smartphone location data is in the wrong hands or just freely available for scrutiny, the results can be devastating.

One risk is getting singled out for monitoring. It’s not uncommon for police departments to use bulk data collection to track protesters, as they did in places like Ferguson and Baltimore. Police departments have also taken to using reverse search warrants, typically directed at Google, to try to locate individuals who happened to be near the scene of a crime. One such case in Arizona resulted in a man being wrongly arrested based largely on location data supplied by the tech giant. Location data can also illuminate individuals working in a secretive capacity for a company or agency of interest to a foreign intelligence service, opening the door to targeted surveillance.

For those deemed a target, location data can also help outsiders identify those in the individual’s circle of trust, with frequent physical contact highlighting close family members, friends, colleagues and associates. Because the target is most likely to share any valuable nuggets of information with these close contacts, surveilling them can yield direct conversations with the target as well as any information that’s reshared after the fact.

For situations in which location secrecy is of paramount importance, such as a known M&A executive scouting an acquisition target, smartphone location data can reveal protected locations to the world. A famous example involved the popular fitness tracking app Strava, which published a heat map that unwittingly revealed the locations of American military bases and patrol routes.

Another danger is that location data can be used to physically track an individual, as it reveals the person’s pattern of life — their home, their workplace and any other locations they may happen to frequent in any given week, along with the timing of such visits. For a kidnapper seeking to abduct a high-net-worth individual or a stalker looking to chase down their victim, it may be less risky to make contact at the target’s favorite lunch spot or preferred grocery store than at their home or place of business.

Beyond the locations themselves, inferences based on an individual’s one-time or regular visits can yield insights into their more embarrassing habits, preferences and struggles, and these can be weaponized for blackmail or public attacks. Consider the potential damage of broadcasting a politician’s recurring trysts with an assumed prostitute or a famous actor’s visits to a drug rehab center. But the victim need not be a public figure. Recently, a Catholic priest was publicly outed by a newsletter that used location data ultimately tied to Grindr. The publication was able to pinpoint which device belonged to the priest based on pings at his residence and other known locations, and then tracked that device to various gay bars.

And then there are future use cases for location data, some of which we can’t currently imagine given existing technology or norms. One possibility is that individualized underwriting for health or life insurance can tap location data for insights into risky behaviors, perhaps revealing a penchant for fast driving, sky diving or eating at fast food restaurants, ultimately translating to higher premiums...

---

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Tiangou

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vision63

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Tiangou

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vision63

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NewtonMP2100
...that's how google tracks you......and your searches.....

When you look at the maps and click on traffic, That's how it knows what the situation is. It extrapolates everybody's data for road conditions. It's easier to let them track you. Who have they messed up? Nobody.

Huh?

They track EVERYWHERE you go with Android OS, and with various apps on the iPhone and trackers on websites and correlating data between apps and browser-activities on your phone/tablet/computer(s). This is not to benefit commuters.

So???? Where is the harm? Cite me some specific examples. Let me save you some time. There are no examples. They're not going to destroy their business by mishandling your data.

I'M GETTING TIRED OF DOING EVERYONE ELSE'S GOOGLING FOR THEM.

There are literally 400,000 hits on my first query on the subject.

Top hit:

[www.securitymagazine.com]

With location data alone, it’s not difficult to spot an individual’s home or workplace and then find identifying details using an inferred address and publicly available information. But data brokers typically draw on other sources of information, like mobile advertising identifiers, phone numbers and email addresses, that enable them to tie the data to a real identity.

The repackaged data is then sold to any number of third parties, be they a hedge fund searching for an information edge, a real estate investor looking to identify attractive properties or a retailer seeking to analyze shoppers’ in-store behavior. However, because location data is easy to purchase from data brokers, just about any interested party can do so.

We’ve seen law enforcement organizations go this route, most notably with the Department of Homeland Security buying access to smartphone location data to investigate illegal border crossings and track migrant groups. There’s very little stopping foreign intelligence services from using a front company to purchase such data. Nor is there much to stop clients from freely sharing the data they access. And then there’s the issue of data breaches, providing yet another opening as hackers look to use the data for their own economic ends.

When smartphone location data is in the wrong hands or just freely available for scrutiny, the results can be devastating.

One risk is getting singled out for monitoring. It’s not uncommon for police departments to use bulk data collection to track protesters, as they did in places like Ferguson and Baltimore. Police departments have also taken to using reverse search warrants, typically directed at Google, to try to locate individuals who happened to be near the scene of a crime. One such case in Arizona resulted in a man being wrongly arrested based largely on location data supplied by the tech giant. Location data can also illuminate individuals working in a secretive capacity for a company or agency of interest to a foreign intelligence service, opening the door to targeted surveillance.

For those deemed a target, location data can also help outsiders identify those in the individual’s circle of trust, with frequent physical contact highlighting close family members, friends, colleagues and associates. Because the target is most likely to share any valuable nuggets of information with these close contacts, surveilling them can yield direct conversations with the target as well as any information that’s reshared after the fact.

For situations in which location secrecy is of paramount importance, such as a known M&A executive scouting an acquisition target, smartphone location data can reveal protected locations to the world. A famous example involved the popular fitness tracking app Strava, which published a heat map that unwittingly revealed the locations of American military bases and patrol routes.

Another danger is that location data can be used to physically track an individual, as it reveals the person’s pattern of life — their home, their workplace and any other locations they may happen to frequent in any given week, along with the timing of such visits. For a kidnapper seeking to abduct a high-net-worth individual or a stalker looking to chase down their victim, it may be less risky to make contact at the target’s favorite lunch spot or preferred grocery store than at their home or place of business.

Beyond the locations themselves, inferences based on an individual’s one-time or regular visits can yield insights into their more embarrassing habits, preferences and struggles, and these can be weaponized for blackmail or public attacks. Consider the potential damage of broadcasting a politician’s recurring trysts with an assumed prostitute or a famous actor’s visits to a drug rehab center. But the victim need not be a public figure. Recently, a Catholic priest was publicly outed by a newsletter that used location data ultimately tied to Grindr. The publication was able to pinpoint which device belonged to the priest based on pings at his residence and other known locations, and then tracked that device to various gay bars.

And then there are future use cases for location data, some of which we can’t currently imagine given existing technology or norms. One possibility is that individualized underwriting for health or life insurance can tap location data for insights into risky behaviors, perhaps revealing a penchant for fast driving, sky diving or eating at fast food restaurants, ultimately translating to higher premiums...

You googled, and I'm assuming this is the most damning of the results. Google isn't breaching your data at all. They don't even have a business if users don't trust them. So Strava is evil because it generates heat maps?

This is just fear mongering. I can draw up a list of potentialities regarding anything. If your information is subpoenaed, then it is what it is. That's Google, Apple or any other company.

Perhaps it is simple fearmongering, and perhaps not. I have a small property that I get a lot of interest from people wanting to buy it and they tend to target my mom a lot (she lived there for several years). It’s annoying at the least, and presently concerning, especially if you combine this with the present political climate. Do you, or your sister, or daughter for that matter, live in Texas, for instance?

Tiangou, what search terms did you use? I’m sure it included “Google” and “tracking”. I would like to read more on this subject. Thanks in advance. I ask because the results may be influenced by previous searches (more Google tracking, people).

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vision63
Google isn't breaching your data at all. They don't even have a business if users don't trust them...

What ever gave you that idea?

...

Google reaches record $392M privacy settlement over location data

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to 40 states to settle an investigation into its location tracking practices, a coalition of state attorneys general announced Monday.

The investigation had centered on what Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D), one of the state law enforcement officers who led the probe, called misleading and deceptive tactics regarding users’ location data. “Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers,” she said in a statement.

The accord was the largest such privacy settlement by state attorneys general in U.S. history, according to the coalition. It also requires Google to “be more transparent about its practices,” the group said. Measures include forbidding Google from hiding “key information about location tracking” and requiring the search giant to “give users detailed information about the types of location data” it collects and how it is used.

Google has faced legal scrutiny over alleged violations of users’ privacy regarding location data. Last month, the company reached an $85 million settlement with Arizona, whose attorney general, Mark Brnovich (R), had alleged in a 2020 lawsuit that the tech company “engaged in deceptive and unfair practices toward users by tracking their location data even when the company was told to stop.”

In January, Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia built off Brnovich’s allegations and filed individual lawsuits against Google for the alleged privacy violations. (The four states and D.C. were not part of the group whose settlement was announced Monday.)...

In January, France fined Google more than $150 million for allegedly making it difficult to refuse cookies, which track users’ web browsing.

Location information is often highly sensitive and “in some circumstances, the availability of location information can put an individual’s personal safety in peril,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University whose research focuses on the internet and privacy.

...

Google Says It Doesn’t 'Sell' Your Data. Here’s How the Company Shares, Monetizes, and Exploits It.

Google controls about 62% of mobile browsers, 69% of desktop browsers, and the operating systems on 71% of mobile devices in the world. 92% of internet searches go through Google and 73% of American adults use YouTube. Google runs code on approximately 85% of sites on the Web and inside as many as 94% of apps in the Play store. It collects data about users’ every click, tap, query, and movement from all of those sources and more.

So what is happening with all of that data, which Google says it’s not selling, but from which it makes tens of billions of dollars a year?

Let’s find out.

Google monetizes what it observes about people in two major ways:

It uses data to build individual profiles with demographics and interests, then lets advertisers target groups of people based on those traits.
It shares data with advertisers directly and asks them to bid on individual ads.
The second method of monetization involves most of the behaviors that regular people might think of as “selling data.” Google is involved at nearly every level of the complex, automated process of third-party ad placement known as “real-time bidding,” or RTB.

Real-time bidding is the process by which publishers auction off ad space in their apps or on their websites. In doing so, they share sensitive user data—including geolocation, device IDs, identifying cookies, and browsing history—with dozens or hundreds of different adtech companies...

AGAIN: GETTING TIRED OF GOOGLING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO LAZY TO DO IT FOR THEMSELVES.

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Tiangou

Quote
vision63
Google isn't breaching your data at all. They don't even have a business if users don't trust them...

What ever gave you that idea?

...

Google reaches record $392M privacy settlement over location data

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to 40 states to settle an investigation into its location tracking practices, a coalition of state attorneys general announced Monday.

The investigation had centered on what Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D), one of the state law enforcement officers who led the probe, called misleading and deceptive tactics regarding users’ location data. “Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers,” she said in a statement.

The accord was the largest such privacy settlement by state attorneys general in U.S. history, according to the coalition. It also requires Google to “be more transparent about its practices,” the group said. Measures include forbidding Google from hiding “key information about location tracking” and requiring the search giant to “give users detailed information about the types of location data” it collects and how it is used.

Google has faced legal scrutiny over alleged violations of users’ privacy regarding location data. Last month, the company reached an $85 million settlement with Arizona, whose attorney general, Mark Brnovich (R), had alleged in a 2020 lawsuit that the tech company “engaged in deceptive and unfair practices toward users by tracking their location data even when the company was told to stop.”

In January, Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia built off Brnovich’s allegations and filed individual lawsuits against Google for the alleged privacy violations. (The four states and D.C. were not part of the group whose settlement was announced Monday.)...

In January, France fined Google more than $150 million for allegedly making it difficult to refuse cookies, which track users’ web browsing.

Location information is often highly sensitive and “in some circumstances, the availability of location information can put an individual’s personal safety in peril,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University whose research focuses on the internet and privacy.

...

Google Says It Doesn’t 'Sell' Your Data. Here’s How the Company Shares, Monetizes, and Exploits It.

Google controls about 62% of mobile browsers, 69% of desktop browsers, and the operating systems on 71% of mobile devices in the world. 92% of internet searches go through Google and 73% of American adults use YouTube. Google runs code on approximately 85% of sites on the Web and inside as many as 94% of apps in the Play store. It collects data about users’ every click, tap, query, and movement from all of those sources and more.

So what is happening with all of that data, which Google says it’s not selling, but from which it makes tens of billions of dollars a year?

Let’s find out.

Google monetizes what it observes about people in two major ways:

It uses data to build individual profiles with demographics and interests, then lets advertisers target groups of people based on those traits.
It shares data with advertisers directly and asks them to bid on individual ads.
The second method of monetization involves most of the behaviors that regular people might think of as “selling data.” Google is involved at nearly every level of the complex, automated process of third-party ad placement known as “real-time bidding,” or RTB.

Real-time bidding is the process by which publishers auction off ad space in their apps or on their websites. In doing so, they share sensitive user data—including geolocation, device IDs, identifying cookies, and browsing history—with dozens or hundreds of different adtech companies...

AGAIN: GETTING TIRED OF GOOGLING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO LAZY TO DO IT FOR THEMSELVES.

You say you're tired of googling for people as if you're presenting blatant proof that Google has "harmed" a single human being.

Governments can create any kind of law they want. Fair or unfair. You're showing political violations. Mostly just because they don't like Google. Who has been harmed?

The question is "should you allow Google to track you?" Based on their "track" record, why not?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2023 06:15PM by vision63.

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vision63
You say you're tired of googling for people as if you're presenting blatant proof that Google has "harmed" a single human being.

Governments can create any kind of law they want. Fair or unfair. You're showing political violations. Mostly just because they don't like Google. Who has been harmed?

You didn't bother reading any of that, huh?

Consider the potential damage of broadcasting a politician’s recurring trysts with an assumed prostitute or a famous actor’s visits to a drug rehab center. But the victim need not be a public figure. Recently, a Catholic priest was publicly outed by a newsletter that used location data ultimately tied to Grindr. The publication was able to pinpoint which device belonged to the priest based on pings at his residence and other known locations, and then tracked that device to various gay bars...

There's more if you actually take the time to read any of it.

But screw it.

You go ahead and pretend their @#$%& is gold.

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Tiangou

Quote
vision63
You say you're tired of googling for people as if you're presenting blatant proof that Google has "harmed" a single human being.

Governments can create any kind of law they want. Fair or unfair. You're showing political violations. Mostly just because they don't like Google. Who has been harmed?

You didn't bother reading any of that, huh?

Consider the potential damage of broadcasting a politician’s recurring trysts with an assumed prostitute or a famous actor’s visits to a drug rehab center. But the victim need not be a public figure. Recently, a Catholic priest was publicly outed by a newsletter that used location data ultimately tied to Grindr. The publication was able to pinpoint which device belonged to the priest based on pings at his residence and other known locations, and then tracked that device to various gay bars...

There's more if you actually take the time to read any of it.

But screw it.

You go ahead and pretend their @#$%& is gold.

Never once did I say that. Never once did I praise Google. I did too read it. I just don't care about/buy all of those concerns. I'm just a consumer that want's tech to work for "me."

It doesn't make sense being afraid of Apple or Google. Especially when you consider the massive fraud swarming online. So what if they get tagged from time to time. Apple shouldn't be able to control their ecosystem? Their app store? Their standards? Google isn't trying to nick anyone. They just want you to give in. That's how they make a buck. If it didn't benefit anyone, we wouldn't know who they are.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2023 07:42PM by vision63.

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vision63
So???? Where is the harm? Cite me some specific examples. Let me save you some time. There are no examples.

Here you go, v63:

[www.nbcnews.com]

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vision63
The question is "should you allow Google to track you?" Based on their "track" record, why not?

Where to start…

Okay, these will get you started:

[www.wired.com]
[kevquirk.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]

…and if you're feeling really scholarly:

[deliverypdf.ssrn.com] (PDF)

Quote

It doesn't make sense being afraid of Apple or Google

One of those things is not like the other, v63. But I'm sure you won't understand that…



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2023 09:08PM by Article Accelerator.

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Tiangou
Inexplicably, Apple only offers you the option of declining location-tracking for a short period at the prompt instead of allowing you to disable it entirely.

You have to know (or find somehow) that you can disable it in Safari's "Website" preferences.

What’s inexplicable? Google pays Apple billions every year to be Safari’s default iOS search engine. Of course Apple will cause iOS to exhibit this behavior.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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Article Accelerator

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vision63
So???? Where is the harm? Cite me some specific examples. Let me save you some time. There are no examples.

Here you go, v63:

[www.nbcnews.com]

That was Jacksonville PD's fault. Google merely responded to a warrant that utilizes technology that Google itself opposes.

All companies comply with warrants. If you don't like the law, work to change it.

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Article Accelerator

Quote
vision63
The question is "should you allow Google to track you?" Based on their "track" record, why not?

Where to start…

Okay, these will get you started:

[www.wired.com]
[kevquirk.com]
[en.wikipedia.org]

…and if you're feeling really scholarly:

[deliverypdf.ssrn.com] (PDF)

Quote

It doesn't make sense being afraid of Apple or Google

One of those things is not like the other, v63. But I'm sure you won't understand that…

I just simply comprehend the uncolored truth. My feelings don't tell me what to like or dislike. Except for one raggedy politician. I hate him.