New study puts more light on what Google collects and knows about its users

Having written many articles about privacy issues with Facebook, Google, phone apps, etc., nothing should surprise me anymore. However, when you notice that almost all the movements you have done for more than five years have been archived, it is likely that some hair will stand on your neck.

Let me explain.

On Monday morning, an e-mail was placed in my inbox with the subject "Your August month in review". It came from Google, saying, "Your calendar in Google Maps helps you manage where you are. Review last month and discuss travel and past places. "

In general, Google emails do not get much of my time, but this has sparked a wave of curiosity and concern.

When I clicked on the link, I was taken to the Google Map timeline, where I was told that I had visited 397 sites since 2013. By diving deeper I was able to find the routes that I had taken – to go to all these places, not to mention the time it took to get there, the time I spent at each stop, and all the photos I had taken with the camera of my phone during my stay.

He did not stop there either.

Google has also recorded and archived my voice queries "Ok, Google" ("Ok, Google, where is the nearest Walgreen?"), And he did not hesitate to follow me out of the country. In all my glory of travel, the chronology listed all the places I visited from Budapest to Britain when I visited Europe a few years ago.

No matter where I went or what I was doing, Google Maps seemed to have almost every W – who, what, when, where – covered. A new study by Douglas C. Schmidt, professor of computer science at Vanderbilt University, confirms my instinct.

"Google is learning a lot about the personal interests of users, even a single day of typical internet use," wrote Schmidt, who discovered that a stationary Android phone – an active Google Chrome browser in background – communicated location information to Google. 340 times over a period of 24 hours.

"In a" day in the life "scenario example, when a real user with a new Google account and an Android phone (with new SIM card) performs his daily routine, Google has collected data on many points of activity, such as user location, routes borrowed, purchased items and music listened to. Surprisingly, Google has collected or deducted more than two-thirds of the information by passive means. In the end, Google has identified the interests of users with remarkable accuracy. "

An example of how Schmidt defines "passive ways" could be someone who bought Starbucks coffee using his Starbucks app; There would be two "passive" collection points: walk to a Starbucks and open the Starbucks app.

Like pulling fish in a barrel

With about 2 billion monthly active users of its Android operating system, there is a lot of data that Google can access. Schmidt goes on to show Google Play's place in Google's ecosystem, which allows the company to get even more information, from names and birthdays, to credit card numbers.

In spite of any potential "big brother", Google supports its data collection. The company wants the world to know that the user always controls and can disable these data collection switches at any time.

"Location history helps you get better results and recommendations on Google products. For example, you might see recommendations based on the places you visited with connected devices or traffic forecasts for your daily commute. But, in the end, the company gives all the power to the user: control what is saved in your location history and you can delete your history at any time, "says the company.

There is, however, a debate on this point. A new investigation from the Associated Press (AP) revealed that many Google services on iPhone and Android store user location data even if privacy settings are set to prevent it. Just to be sure his facts were clear, the AP asked for confirmation of these findings from computer scientists at Princeton, who found them accurate.