Thread: Google Surveillance is on even when it's "off"

Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven't used any apps, and haven't even inserted a carrier SIM card?

Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they're connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed.

Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals' locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.

https://qz.com/1131515/google-collec...-are-disabled/

All a person needs to do is shop on one site, go to FB, and *suddenly*, everything you clicked on on the shopping site is showing up in your FB feed ads... And that's just a single raindrop in the internet ocean.

Originally Posted by A.J.

All a person needs to do is shop on one site, go to FB, and *suddenly*, everything you clicked on on the shopping site is showing up in your FB feed ads... And that's just a single raindrop in the internet ocean.

Yep. I can go to a particular site, and then that site's ads show up on every other site I go to.

I call it persistent surveillance. Always watching.