A recent study by Quartz has found that the Android phones used by consumers are covertly sending location details to Google without their knowledge which is unethical as well as criminal. The investigation revealed that the Android devices were sending concealed data to cell towers which transmitted the location details to the Google networks.
It was also found that even after resetting the phone, the smartphone did not stop transmitting the location details to the portals of Google which is surprising as well as concerning. Smartphones with either wifi connection or cellular capabilities were able to transmit the information without users’ knowledge. Each time, these connected nodes (smartphones) came within the parameters range, the smartphones automatically started to send information to the towers of Google.
After a further probe, it was found that it is impossible to hamper this process where the location details are accessed by Android platform and sent to the tech-giant Google. Google has been using this information without the knowledge of smartphone users for its ad targeting purposes. The local information is inculcated into the algorithm and then nearby users are shown advertisements that adhere to the local taste or the preferences of nearby surroundings. The only ways to prevent this transfer of information is through the removal of sim or the turning off of wifi.
When the representative of Quartz contacted Google for further details, it was found that these systems have been extracting the information about consumers’ locations for the last 11 months. These systems were designed in such a way that cell tower protocols were including information into the database by Google, which aids in sending push notifications and pop-ups to the smartphone. The representative further clarified that no location details were never accessed or stored in any of the database owned by the company.
Google stated,
In January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery. However, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.
Whatever, the reasons might be, but the harvesting of such sensitive information is a threat to the basic right of living freely. These experiments of surveillance have not been anything novel for the people living as the American government is accused of carrying out such a program where every little detail of users is also observed for security purposes but this is definitely deteriorating the freedom of speech and an explicit infringement to the private domains of people.
Secrecy over the internet is a myth. There are people observing every text that we send, and recording every call that we make. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden have confessed that a mass surveillance program by the American government has led to the erosion of privacy and any ideas of a personal life.
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