Man sues over Google’s “Location History” fiasco, case could affect millions

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/did-google-violate-users-privacy-when-it-secretly-kept-location-data/

by plasticchris • 8 years ago

149 37 8 years ago

Dang, can we lose the ?amp=1 from the URL please?

sverige• 8 years ago

Wow, for once I could be a class member in a lawsuit that I'd actually like to succeed. The only problem I foresee is measuring damages, but it's California, so it might be possible to get them up to a billion. It'll take at least that for Google to give a shit.

kerng3• 8 years ago

Non AMP version here: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/did-google-viola...

Please dont post amp links.

skybrian2• 8 years ago

Works fine for me. Do you have a specific complaint about it not working in your browser?

mthoms• 8 years ago

It's formatted for mobile, for one.

craftyguy2• 8 years ago

I find the mobile version of arsetechnica much easier to read than the non-mobile version. There's less crap strewn about the body of the text (random plugs for other articles, in-line links, etc)

hrktb3• 8 years ago

Did you mean amp or the actual mobile version ?

nprz• 8 years ago

What is AMP? Why is it bad?

stonogo• 8 years ago

AMP is a Google CDN where they restrict the variety of web technologies publishers may use. In return, Google gets more tracking data.

Some people don't like Google, so they don't want to load pages from AMP servers.

kerng3• 8 years ago

https://danielmiessler.com/blog/google-amp-not-good-thing/

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/19/open_source_insider...

judge2020• 8 years ago

IMO the AMP version's limited HTML elements make it much less of a pain to visit a website without the website filling up 20%+ of my screen with ads.

hrktb3• 8 years ago

There’s cases where it’s distinctly slower though.

For this article, it might be due to caching strategies, but the non amp loads way faster for me (in perception about a second faster to start to read the article).

praneshp• 8 years ago

Is there a HN guideline about this?

dang• 8 years ago

We've changed the URL to take the amp bit out.

Animats• 8 years ago

Bypassing article and "skimresources" monetization (crypto coin mining?) leads to the actual court filing.[1] He's suing in California.

[1] http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4777351-gov-uscourts-...

mrgriffin• 8 years ago

Skimresources is probably an affiliate link thing (although they also try to sell your data to power targeted advertising), see: https://skimlinks.com/

Source: I used to work there.

srcmap• 8 years ago

Love to be one of the juries in this case!

jeremyjh• 8 years ago

It won't go to a jury, but if it did I guarantee no one with a HN account will be on it.

ams6110• 8 years ago

Yeah I've only been called for jury duty once, but I noticed that any potential juror who seemed to have particular expertise or background in the subject matter of the case was dismissed with a peremptory challenge.

mirimir• 8 years ago

Until the Associated Press story on August 13, Google's policy simply stated: "You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored."

Hey, that's because it's in "activity history" ;)

arenaninja2• 8 years ago

This is one of several reasons why I stopped buying android phones

sidyom• 8 years ago

I believe this also affects iPhone users that utilize Google services like Maps and searching via Chrome.

arenaninja2• 8 years ago

I don't have any google applications installed on the iPhone. I use the native mail application connected to gmail for looking at my mail, and the browser has google as the default search engine. That's about it

tinus_hn• 8 years ago

Apple Maps does of course not use Google Maps and the Google Maps app doesn’t track your location while you aren’t navigating. No app gets to track your location if you don’t allow it.

This suit is all about alleged this and alleged that and then it’s presented as the truth while there is no proof at all. Perhaps the Android part is going anywhere but my money is on at least the iPhone part disappearing rather quickly. Perhaps the idea is to bully Apple into a settlement with some negative press attention, well good luck with that.

Markoff• 8 years ago

you could just stop using gapps in your phone like i do with Lineage OS

badrabbit2• 8 years ago

Things that may or may not be true:

1) Google and other bigtech are essentially private sector branches of the U.S. intelligence community.

2) Google,Facebook and other not-so-famous companies are interested in not just behavioral analytics but also in behavior control and modification.

3) Google and Facebook can do a lot worse and get away with it,so long as they do it slowly. It's not thay they want world domination or just making more money,they're more concerned abour control. Making things more predictable,not leaving important decisions and situations to chance and free will. Of course some individuals have political ambitions (Eric Schmidt's new america initiative for example).

4) Whoever controls them,controls the country and western civilization. Even the greatest men will find that kind of power too difficult to wield without selfish and malicious intent.

It's history stuck in a for loop,rulers vs the ruled.

8bitsrule• 8 years ago

Great analogy ... and that loop's been iterating for 5000 years ...

badrabbit2• 8 years ago

It has,we pretend it's something new when it isn't and refuse to learn from history.

friesen• 8 years ago

Only 5000?

Man sues over Google’s “Location History” fiasco, case could affect millions

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