Further to the tracking revelations from Apple last week, and the privacy panic by some about their movements being stored in a consolidated.db file on Apple iPhones.
Google has now announced that they too track their Android phone users, but added that it did so with the knowledge of users and did it anonymously. A Google spokesman, explained Google does track movements of users, but it did so to provide customised services such as maps and searches for shops or restaurants, and to study traffic on various roads.
“Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymised and is not tied or traceable to a specific user.”
If you are wondering what information is stored on your iPhone you can use a simple little application to view the data and clear the consolidated.db file. Apple has still not commented on the discovery of the data within their iOS. Unfortunately nothing has been released as yet for Android devices but if something does come to light we will let you know.
Android and iPhone users can opt out of data collection by turning off location services on their phones, but this limits certain functions of the phone, such as photo geotagging and the “Current Location” bookmark on iPhone maps.
