Apple, Google Collect User Data - is there a way to block the sending of this data?

Forums › Mobile handsets › Apple, Google Collect User Data - is there a way to block the sending of this data?

valtam

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# 82187 23-Apr-2011 13:31

A hot topic in the press at the moment, well covered here - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277101723453610.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories

Is there anyway the end user can stop this from happening?

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nakedmolerat

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# 461775 23-Apr-2011 13:33

what are you trying to hide?

billgates

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# 461777 23-Apr-2011 13:33

Then people will complain that their A-GPS is not working properly.

Do whatever you want to do man.

valtam

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# 461779 23-Apr-2011 13:40

nakedmolerat: what are you trying to hide?

"In the case of Google, according to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour. It also transmitted the name, location and signal strength of any nearby Wi-Fi networks, as well as a unique phone identifier.
Google declined to comment on the findings."

Whats Google trying to hide? Why not simply rebut the findings?

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nakedmolerat

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# 461781 23-Apr-2011 13:51

valtam:
nakedmolerat: what are you trying to hide?

"In the case of Google, according to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour. It also transmitted the name, location and signal strength of any nearby Wi-Fi networks, as well as a unique phone identifier.
Google declined to comment on the findings."

Whats Google trying to hide? Why not simply rebut the findings?

they declined to comment. they will not rebut the findings because they are collecting those details. have you read their terms and conditions before use?

to answer your topic, you can block this by NOT using them.

sbiddle

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# 461827 23-Apr-2011 17:43

billgates: Then people will complain that their A-GPS is not working properly.

A GPS is different. That uses a network connection to establish a connection to the AGPS server and use data such as CellID's.

Most apps use cached data such as that collected by Google and Apple. Because both of these devices are storing the data locally on the device there is no need to even establish a data session to get a quick location fix.

If you use Google maps you've been sending Google data for years.

dclegg

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# 461857 23-Apr-2011 19:32

nakedmolerat: what are you trying to hide?

Who says valtam is worried about hiding information? As a prepay smartphone user, I am very miserly with my 3G data usage, and my first reaction when these stories broke was "Hey! Nobody has the right to be spending my money without my consent!"

As it turns out, I'm not sure that is the case. Isn't the iPhone data stored on the PC that the phone is synced with, and not sent to Apple at all? And I believe Google only do it if the user explicitly opts in to sending anonymous usage data.

NZtechfreak

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# 461867 23-Apr-2011 20:19

Don't know about the iPhone, but on Android you have to opt-in to sharing location data, so very easy to avoid.

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valtam

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# 461876 23-Apr-2011 20:57

NZtechfreak: Don't know about the iPhone, but on Android you have to opt-in to sharing location data, so very easy to avoid.

Thanks NZtechfreak, thats the answer I was looking for. I get my first smartphone (Android) next month so it's helpful to know there's an option, and as a user, I like options.

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freitasm

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# 461920 24-Apr-2011 09:47

The option is more likely to be "authorize the program [name] to use your location?"...

If you deny then you might not have a functional map program.

It's not granular as in "authorize the program [name] to use your location?" and ""authorize the program [name] to store and send your location to our servers?"

NZtechfreak

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# 461934 24-Apr-2011 10:38

@the big cheese: It doesn't affect using location based services, only whether you share the data with Google.

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