[_underflow_]

Anyone looked into potential privacy implications? I understand my current carrier can potentially deduce things about my habits in the unlikely event that they were so inclined, but Alphabet et al seem to make a not insignificant portion of their profit from data gathering - that is, they don't need to be interesting in me particularly to sell data about me to those that are (whether for benign ad targeting or something more nefarious)

I don't mean to seem paranoid, but with the current hype around Google's tumultuous relationship with "Don't be evil", I'm not sure I want them having that data on me too.

[criddell]

What carrier can you trust? All of them are also in the ad business. IIRC, it's why Verizon bought Yahoo last year.

I think I trust Google more than any of traditional telecom carriers.

[jchw]

There is a support document with information about some of the privacy and data collection.

https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6181037

[heroprotagonist]

The thing about Google is that they gather data and then sell an interface to that data, instead of selling the data outright.

Pretty much every major carrier is already selling your location information outright to third party aggregators. They push the consent requirement to the third party aggregators under essentially what amounts to a pinky promise.

I use T-Mobile and their Privacy settings did not prevent my data being sold to these services, at least around the time that vulnerability in of one of the 3rd party aggregators was discovered. Even before the exploit, demo of that system demonstrated that location of my phone was available using just the phone number. It was accurate to within a few block radius for me, using tower data (unblockable) rather than some GPS app on a phone that could potentially be prevented. The exploit demonstrated that it was available with no consent, and that consent requirement was just a form-fill for anyone the third party aggregator in turn sold the access to (so essentially they also pass on the consent requirement.. nobody actually enforces it anywhere).

Google wasn't listed as one of the carriers selling location data at the time, but they do not really have their own network, it is essentially a piggyback on others, so I'm not sure how that would work. But I assume it would require their active support.

I think that given the scrutiny about data that Google is usually given, and the incentive that drives them to act as a gatekeeper to data instead of an outright seller, they would be more reluctant to share this than the mobile carriers who already do so. Carriers are under less scrutiny, and users have limited alternatives. And if you're already using Google Maps, Google likely has more accurate location data on you already (correlating GPS and wifi instead of triangulation of cellular towers).

Surprisingly, a Google Voice front to your cell phone offers more privacy than your cell phone alone, as it eliminates the need to share your mobile number directly and have it location tracked. It has made me think more about using Google Fi, to be honest.. Unfortunately I'd have to find some other public demo from one of these aggregators to see if they were sharing my location data like the other carriers. That last one from LocationSmart was removed from public view after the vulnerability was exposed, IIRC.

Other discussions earlier this year:

US cell carriers are selling access to real-time phone location data

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17081684

LocationSmart Leaked Location Data for All Major U.S. Carriers in Real Time

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17094213

Some data just can't be sold without it inevitably being abused.

[burkaman]

They just introduced an optional (for now) "Enhanced Network" feature that sends all your data through a Google VPN.

[glogla]

> I understand my current carrier can potentially deduce things about my habits in the unlikely event that they were so inclined

I worked for one carrier and part of our project was exporting (without names) location history to some external company which then provided segmentation into categories like "student", "stay at home", "working", "retired" based on how people move. The results were then reintegrated and used for marketing purposes.

So they absolutely can and they absolutely do that.