XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, alt.politics.democrats.d, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: invalid@dont-email.me   
      
   Google made it nearly impossible for users to keep their   
   location private, according to newly unredacted court documents.   
      
   Even Google execs and employees in charge of location data were   
   confused about how privacy settings worked.   
      
   Google was sued by Arizona's attorney general over its data   
   collection practices last year.   
      
   See more stories on Insider's business page.   
      
   Newly unredacted documents in a lawsuit against Google reveal   
   that the company's own executives and engineers knew just how   
   difficult the company had made it for smartphone users to keep   
   their location data private.   
      
   Google continued collecting location data even when users turned   
   off various location-sharing settings, made popular privacy   
   settings harder to find, and even pressured LG and other phone   
   makers into hiding settings precisely because users liked them,   
   according to the documents.   
      
   Jack Menzel, a former vice president overseeing Google Maps,   
   admitted during a deposition that the only way Google wouldn't   
   be able to figure out a user's home and work locations is if   
   that person intentionally threw Google off the trail by setting   
   their home and work addresses as some other random locations.   
      
   Jen Chai, a Google senior product manager in charge of location   
   services, didn't know how the company's complex web of privacy   
   settings interacted with each other, according to the documents.   
      
   Google and LG did not respond to requests for comment on this   
   story.   
      
   The documents are part of a lawsuit brought against Google by   
   the Arizona attorney general's office last year, which accused   
   the company of illegally collecting location data from   
   smartphone users even after they opted out.   
      
   A judge ordered new sections of the documents to be unredacted   
   last week in response to a request by trade groups Digital   
   Content Next and News Media Alliance, which argued that it was   
   in the public's interest to know and that Google was using its   
   legal resources to suppress scrutiny of its data collection   
   practices.   
      
   The unsealed versions of the documents paint an even more   
   detailed picture of how Google obscured its data collection   
   techniques, confusing not just its users but also its own   
   employees.   
      
   Google uses a variety of avenues to collect user location data,   
   according to the documents, including WiFi and even third-party   
   apps not affiliated with Google, forcing users to share their   
   data in order to use those apps or, in some cases, even connect   
   their phones to WiFi.   
      
   "So there is no way to give a third party app your location and   
   not Google?" one employee said, according to the documents,   
   adding: "This doesn't sound like something we would want on the   
   front page of the [New York Times]."   
      
   When Google tested versions of its Android operating system that   
   made privacy settings easier to find, users took advantage of   
   them, which Google viewed as a "problem," according to the   
   documents. To solve that problem, Google then sought to bury   
   those settings deeper within the settings menu.   
      
   Google also tried to convince smartphone makers to hide location   
   settings "through active misrepresentations and/or concealment,   
   suppression, or omission of facts" - that is, data Google had   
   showing that users were using those settings - "in order to   
   assuage [manufacturers'] privacy concerns."   
      
   Google employees appeared to recognize that users were   
   frustrated by the company's aggressive data collection   
   practices, potentially hurting its business.   
      
   "Fail #2: *I* should be able to get *my* location on *my* phone   
   without sharing that information with Google," one employee said.   
      
   "This may be how Apple is eating our lunch," they added, saying   
   Apple was "much more likely" to let users take advantage of   
   location-based apps and services on their phones without sharing   
   the data with Apple.   
      
   Read the original article on Business Insider   
      
   https://www.yahoo.com/news/apple-eating-lunch-google-employees-   
   021605239.html   
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)