[Jerry2]

>Though Google’s data cache is enormous, it doesn’t sweep up every phone, said Mr. Edens, the California intelligence analyst. And even if a location is recorded every few minutes, that may not coincide with a shooting or an assault.

>But despite the drawbacks, detectives noted how precise the data was and how it was collected even when people weren’t making calls or using apps — both improvements over tracking that relies on cell towers.

So if you use Android, there's absolutely no way to turn this type of tracking off? What exactly are they using? Anyone know? This doesn't seem like the IEMI cell tower tracking that carriers do.

And according to this sentence:

>Apple said it did not have the ability to perform those searches.

It appears that if you use iPhone and don't use Google's apps (Google Maps is the main culprit here?), Apple doesn't have a way of identifying your data and your data won't appear in Google's Sensorvault.. which appears to be massive:

>Sensorvault, according to Google employees, includes detailed location records involving at least hundreds of millions of devices worldwide and dating back nearly a decade.

[kevingrahl]

You can turn off the collection of location data for Google. [1] You can also delete old location data. Google is saying that they won’t collect location data unless you opt-in but I’d assume most people just click on “Okay” once when asked to. Of course nobody really knows if Google honors your settings.

[1] - https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?hl=en

[callmeal]

>You can turn off the collection of location data for Google.

If you have an android phone, please try turning off the location service and see what happens. The sheer number of dark patterns google uses to get you to turn it back on is illuminating.

I remember in the early versions of android, you could turn on/off the gps from the lock screen. Then one day it went away and was only available once the phone was unlocked. Now it's hidden inside the settings app. The cynic in me guesses that a future update will turn that option off as well.

[clragon]

I don't think that's really the case.

I can unlock my phone (probably already unlocked anyways), swipe down the status bar and tap an icon to disable location services.

The first time I get a pop up that apps won't be able to use my location and that's it. It won't ask again, and it's a matter of 2 seconds.

[callmeal]

That's the icon I was talking about. It was present on my Nexus 5 with Android 6 (marshmallow), but disappeared when I upgraded to android 7 (nougat) and there's no way I can see to bring it back. It's possible that other carriers have it enabled, but google's flagship phones have it disabled.

[kevingrahl]

Fortunately I do not use android. I’m using iOS with no iCloud and Location Services are turned off as well.

[tgsovlerkhgsel]

It sounds like all of this is basically "location history". Turn it off, and never accidentally click agree on one of the hundreds of "turn on location history for better XXX" prompts (usually assistant-related), and if understand the article right, you should be out of the dragnet.

[dontbenebby]

>This doesn't seem like the IEMI cell tower tracking that carriers do.

It would have much richer granularity than cell tower tracking. Cell towers can be miles apart. Google location services use GPS, cell towers, and the wireless access points around you to pinpoint.

(For example when I worked in an urban office it could tell which side of the building I was at when looking at directions)

[fatjokes]

That can't be right. Fork your own build and edit out the tracking code if you have to.

[snazz]

I’m pretty sure it would be somewhere within the Google Play Services blob. You should be good if you build your own AOSP, although binary hardware drivers might have the ability to do shady things.