In a letter US senatorsdated December 12 that was released Tuesday, Facebook explained how it is able to estimate users’ locations used to target ads even when they’ve chosen to reject location tracking through their smartphone’s operating system The letter was widely shared on social media Tuesday
The Facebook social network, which was responding to a request for information by two senators, contended that knowing a user’s whereabouts has benefits ranging from showing ads for nearby shops to fighting hackers and battling misinformation.Facebook said that clues for figuring out a user’s location include being tagged in a photo at a specific place or a check-in at a location such as at a restaurant during a dinner with friends.People may share an address for purchases at a shopping section at Facebook, or simply include it in their profile information.
Along with location information shared in posts by users, devices connecting to the internet are given IP addresses and a user’s whereabouts can then be noted.Those addresses include locations, albeit a bit imprecise when it comes to mobile devices linking through telecom services that might only note a town or city.Facebook said knowing a user’s general location helps it and other internet firms to protect accounts by detecting when suspicious login behavior occurs, such as by someone in South America when a user lives in Europe. IP addresses also help companies such as Facebook battle misinformation by showing the general origin of potentially nefarious activity, such as a stream of politically oriented posts which might be aimed at a particular country.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will give internet users the right to see what data big tech companies collect and with whom it is shared.
At the end of October Australia’s consumer watchdog sued Google on Tuesday alleging the technology giant broke consumer law by misleading Android users about how their location data was collected and used. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission accused Google of collecting information on users’ whereabouts even after they had switched off the location setting.
An Associated Press investigation last year revealed that several Google apps and websites stored user location even if the user had turned off the Location History setting. To stop Google from saving these location markers, users had to turn off another setting, Web and App Activity. That setting, enabled by default, does not specifically reference location information.Google later clarified in a help page how the Location History works, but it didn’t change the location-tracking practice.
Huge tech companies are under increasing scrutiny over their data practices, following a series of privacy scandals at Facebook and new data-privacy rules in Europe. Critics say Google’s insistence on tracking its users’ locations stems from its drive to boost advertising revenue. It can charge advertisers more if they want to narrow ad delivery to people who’ve visited certain locations. The Australian commission began proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia alleging Google breached the law through a series of on-screen representations made as users set up Google accounts on their Android phones and tablets.
The AP investigation found that even with Location History turned off, Google stores user location when, for instance, the Google Maps app is opened, or when users conduct Google searches that aren’t related to location. Automated searches of the local weather on some Android phones also store the phone’s whereabouts.
Earlier, the business news site Quartz found that Google was tracking Android users by collecting the addresses of nearby cellphone towers even if all location services were off. Google changed the practice and insisted it never recorded the data anyway.
