Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime(finance.yahoo.com)
finance.yahoo.com
Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-stop-telling-law-enforcement-001953651.html
5 comments
The actual blog post that this article rehashes: https://blog.google/products/maps/updates-to-location-histor...
Google itself today tries to get you to back up everything online to be used across its ecosystem. If I choose to pause my "Web and app activity" - https://myactivity.google.com/activitycontrols?pli=1 after which my activity stops getting backed up online, Google also stops storing any sort of history on local device - across all google apps - either allow everything or zero history. No local caching, not even my last search shows up in maps.
Will be interested to see if this behavior changes.
Will be interested to see if this behavior changes.
Unfortunately, I'm fairly sure this wouldn't really help given that service providers still maintain records of which phones connected to which towers.
It's still a nice change though, and I like that they allow users to still send encrypted backups of their location history to the cloud.
It's still a nice change though, and I like that they allow users to still send encrypted backups of their location history to the cloud.
Service providers don't just maintain history, they package up real time location info for sale through third parties.
The tin foil hats among us will be quick to say that this move is to drive sales of real time data.
If they remove history but sell real time data, customers that require location history will be forced to be buy real-time data at scale in perpetuity.
If they remove history but sell real time data, customers that require location history will be forced to be buy real-time data at scale in perpetuity.
Yup. Leave your phone at home if you're gonna commit a crime.
I’m worried about others in my vicinity committing crimes.
Should I leave my phone at home whenever I get a spidy sense that a criminal will be crime-ing within a 100 yards of me?
Should I leave my phone at home whenever I get a spidy sense that a criminal will be crime-ing within a 100 yards of me?
Unless you have a stronger sense that a criminal will be crime-ing within a 100 yards of your home where you left your phone
Tbh with 5G around, there is no need for Google's data. Carriers can localize phones well enough already now.
I honestly want my old landline phone back.
Can’t localize that!
if you believe 90s movies you should be able to speak for less than 60 seconds before it's detected
This was true before digital switches were ubiquitous. To trace a call that was routed through mechanical switches, actual people would have to spring into action and actually trace the circuit through the selectors and trunks and whatnot.
A surprising number of places were still served by these ancient switches into the late 80s. Maybe even early 90s?
A surprising number of places were still served by these ancient switches into the late 80s. Maybe even early 90s?
"...actual people would have to spring into action and actually trace the circuit through the selectors"
Yeah, reminiscent of scenes from old movies, you'd have to keep crooks talking long enough to manually trace engaged selectors through the exchange. If a crook hung up before a trace was completed one mightn't have the full number but only half of it, this at least could place cops in the right ballpark/area.
If you're a crook another great advantage of step-by-step Strowger exchanges is that the only indication that a call has been made from one's telephone is a single incremental relay-type counter on one's telephone line for the purpose of charging the customer—one click on the counter one call. Unless someone is standing by the counter in the exchange when a call is made then the time of the call and the number phoned would never be recorded.
Given privacy violations and such shenanigans these days it seems to me one doesn't have to be a crook to benefit from ancient Stronger switch exchanges.
Shame they've all now bitten the dust just when we need them.
Yeah, reminiscent of scenes from old movies, you'd have to keep crooks talking long enough to manually trace engaged selectors through the exchange. If a crook hung up before a trace was completed one mightn't have the full number but only half of it, this at least could place cops in the right ballpark/area.
If you're a crook another great advantage of step-by-step Strowger exchanges is that the only indication that a call has been made from one's telephone is a single incremental relay-type counter on one's telephone line for the purpose of charging the customer—one click on the counter one call. Unless someone is standing by the counter in the exchange when a call is made then the time of the call and the number phoned would never be recorded.
Given privacy violations and such shenanigans these days it seems to me one doesn't have to be a crook to benefit from ancient Stronger switch exchanges.
Shame they've all now bitten the dust just when we need them.
Bring back blue boxing and CCITT #5 lines \o/
Sure you can, but it wont be moving.
Order it soon or you might not be able to. Be prepared for sticker shock too.
Gen-z/alpha will lament at millenials screwing them over with crap like this. Same as how millenials lament about boomers and the state of the economy.
The solution is legal not tech. 5G and wifi6 may allow the government to listen in and watch everything we do but it is the law that can prevent them from doing that. Even in public, there is an expectation of privacy. If you look up a woman's skirt, you can't use "she was in public" as an excuse, it's still a crime because there was an expectation of privacy.
Anyone should be allowed to view and record public activities but not in a way that unveils information explicitly hidden from the public. If you have x-ray vision like superman for example, it would be illegal to see under people's cloths or to read information in the journal in their pocket. Now replace x-ray vision with 5G/wifi6 radio.
The solution is legal not tech. 5G and wifi6 may allow the government to listen in and watch everything we do but it is the law that can prevent them from doing that. Even in public, there is an expectation of privacy. If you look up a woman's skirt, you can't use "she was in public" as an excuse, it's still a crime because there was an expectation of privacy.
Anyone should be allowed to view and record public activities but not in a way that unveils information explicitly hidden from the public. If you have x-ray vision like superman for example, it would be illegal to see under people's cloths or to read information in the journal in their pocket. Now replace x-ray vision with 5G/wifi6 radio.
How can you blame an entire generation for the actions of individuals whose membership in a given generation are almost entirely incidental? This aspect of the generation wars is a comical misdirection of accountability IMO.
I don't recall my mom shipping jobs to China or debasing the currency...
I don't recall my mom shipping jobs to China or debasing the currency...
> whose membership in a given generation are almost entirely incidental?
I don't, I said they will. But they're not being entirely unreasonable. In a democracy, are the voters not ultimately accountable?
> I don't recall my mom shipping jobs to China or debasing the currency...
Sure, so long as she didn't vote for reagan. Shipping jobs to china was part of his trickle down economics. People like to claim how politicians are corrupt and liars but they/we should look at the mirror because that is what politicians are. I watched a video a few days ago where a guy explains boomer mindset at the time really well, how they conflated the mindset and trauma inherited from their parents in the great depression and world war 2 with their own prosperous era and expect their children to suffer because that was the norm they inherited. Obviously this only speaks to the majority who vote not everyone who merely existed. But all the protections and taxes that could have prevented the mess of today were removed by reagan and bush and they still today fight tooth and nail to make sure things remain screwed up. Look at how people are voting and why they are voting that way. Even trumpism can be boiled down to reverting changes so that the world that protected their interests is recreated.
I don't, I said they will. But they're not being entirely unreasonable. In a democracy, are the voters not ultimately accountable?
> I don't recall my mom shipping jobs to China or debasing the currency...
Sure, so long as she didn't vote for reagan. Shipping jobs to china was part of his trickle down economics. People like to claim how politicians are corrupt and liars but they/we should look at the mirror because that is what politicians are. I watched a video a few days ago where a guy explains boomer mindset at the time really well, how they conflated the mindset and trauma inherited from their parents in the great depression and world war 2 with their own prosperous era and expect their children to suffer because that was the norm they inherited. Obviously this only speaks to the majority who vote not everyone who merely existed. But all the protections and taxes that could have prevented the mess of today were removed by reagan and bush and they still today fight tooth and nail to make sure things remain screwed up. Look at how people are voting and why they are voting that way. Even trumpism can be boiled down to reverting changes so that the world that protected their interests is recreated.
Maybe a bit contrarian but unless law enforcement is abusing this I think it's good for Google to share this info. I want to live in a society where criminals are caught.
This is an extreme example, but:
Like the crime of wanting to save your own life? [1]
Edit: forgot to add how abortion is related to location data: after the "Christian" Talibans made abortion illegal, location data became subpeonable to see if someone visited an abortion clinic, if you tracked your periods on an app, this data too, because if you stopped having periods and a few months later it resumed, is that enough proof for a criminal conviction?
Funny to think how the tech companies are slowly realizing, maybe even their 50 domestic markets have regimes that are not liberal democracies, and can abuse laws...
For a more elaborate answer, watch this video: [2], TL;DW your democracy might not last and despots could take over and actually abuse the data they have on you. MAGA 2024, anyone? I mean the whole red states/Taliban-esque "we own women's body" laws is already plenty of steps in that direction...
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/texas-woman-sought-c...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9_PjdU3Mpo
Like the crime of wanting to save your own life? [1]
Edit: forgot to add how abortion is related to location data: after the "Christian" Talibans made abortion illegal, location data became subpeonable to see if someone visited an abortion clinic, if you tracked your periods on an app, this data too, because if you stopped having periods and a few months later it resumed, is that enough proof for a criminal conviction?
Funny to think how the tech companies are slowly realizing, maybe even their 50 domestic markets have regimes that are not liberal democracies, and can abuse laws...
For a more elaborate answer, watch this video: [2], TL;DW your democracy might not last and despots could take over and actually abuse the data they have on you. MAGA 2024, anyone? I mean the whole red states/Taliban-esque "we own women's body" laws is already plenty of steps in that direction...
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/texas-woman-sought-c...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9_PjdU3Mpo
> after the "Christian" Talibans made abortion illegal, location data became subpeonable to see if someone visited an abortion clinic
Above and beyond that, thinking ahead to people traveling for healthcare, Missouri and a few other states are or already have enacted a crime of "conspiracy to commit abortion", which means as little as booking flights or hotel.
Above and beyond that, thinking ahead to people traveling for healthcare, Missouri and a few other states are or already have enacted a crime of "conspiracy to commit abortion", which means as little as booking flights or hotel.
You would like China then.
In the US and most of the west, governments derive their power from the governed, which means their ability to investigate crime is at the consent of the governed as well. It is due to the law not catching up to technology that google has been allowed to share that information.
If cops need information to catch criminals they should get warrants. No company can refuse such a request so long as a magistrate reviews it as being a lawful pursuit of justice.
In the US and most of the west, governments derive their power from the governed, which means their ability to investigate crime is at the consent of the governed as well. It is due to the law not catching up to technology that google has been allowed to share that information.
If cops need information to catch criminals they should get warrants. No company can refuse such a request so long as a magistrate reviews it as being a lawful pursuit of justice.
"...is due to the law not catching up to technology..."
Tragically, it's not only in this area that governments are woefully behind. Smart operators and Big Tech are so far ahead in the IT/communications game that dismantling many of the most egregious aspects of it will be nigh on impossible. Users are now addicted to so-called free services etc. to such an extent that weening them off them just isn't practical.
Even if governments were now 100% committed to fixing the problems—which they aren't by a long shot—then it'd still take many decades to fix.
Tragically, it's not only in this area that governments are woefully behind. Smart operators and Big Tech are so far ahead in the IT/communications game that dismantling many of the most egregious aspects of it will be nigh on impossible. Users are now addicted to so-called free services etc. to such an extent that weening them off them just isn't practical.
Even if governments were now 100% committed to fixing the problems—which they aren't by a long shot—then it'd still take many decades to fix.
That's not contrarian, this is an extremely common ignorant view similar to "nothing to hide" (of course they are abusing it and not catching themselves)
With everyone carrying a phone things are getting increasingly silly.
The convincing part to me is the bad guys increasingly sophisticated use of technology. They know exactly where the victims are 24/7 (if they want to)
The convincing part to me is the bad guys increasingly sophisticated use of technology. They know exactly where the victims are 24/7 (if they want to)