this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime::(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s Google is changing its Maps tool so that the company no longer has access to users' individual location histories, cutting off its ability to respond to law enforcement warrants that ask for data on everyone who was in the vicinity of a crime.Most Read from BloombergNetanyahu, Under Pressure Over Hostage Deaths, Vows to Press OnMike Johnson May Be the Next House Speaker to Lose His Job‘Underwater’ Car Loans Signal US Consumers Slammed by High RatesUS Navy Shoots Do

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[–] [email protected] 57 points 1 year ago (3 children)

There must have been an operational bottleneck with handling the LEOs requests that they decided to prevent the data requested from even existing in order to not be able to reply to such requests. Surely this came down to business and not alturism.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I doubt operational bottlenecks were the issue, more likely the rising volume of requests made Google reassess the policy.

LEOs already press the boundaries of the permissible, and as much as I hate giving props to the big G, good on Google for taking the initiative.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Cops only investigate people they think are guilty, and despite being objectively terrible at their jobs, they have ridiculous amounts of self confidence.

So to them, if they suspect someone of a crime, they can "bend" any rules for stuff like this because "the suspect is clearly guilty anyways, we just don't have proof".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wouldn't the inability to process the volume of request from LEOs be an apt example of an operational bottleneck?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

The article didn’t state that Google had problems responding to LE requests.

Also, Google can have as much capacity as God, whenever they decide to put their will to something.

They also consume data like mortals consume chips, and one bar chart would be all it took for them to address a potential bottleneck, and rising liability, by finally eliminating it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Or self preservation.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago

Regardless of low you look at it, this is great news.

It's not a reason to switch back to Google indeed, but people inside this ecosystem just got a little less surveillance.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Use GrapheneOS and stop giving power to Google. Google is not a friend of the people for offering "free" services, the user is the product and the companies and the surveillance state are the customer.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Surveillance states demand that Google gives all their data, but corps pay Google for all their data

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are there any phones supported that I can install an SD card on?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

No, for security concerns GrapheneOS team only support Pixel devices (unfortunately)

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

the surveillance state are the customer.

Except it would seem not, since you know this news.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

why not? the quote is in the present tense - while article claims Google will change policy

and are you sure this is the only service Google is offering to the surveillance state?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well that's an odd and inflammatory headline to use for the issue

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not really. Google is making this change so they have no way to share incidental bystanders location data when its requested/demanded by law enforcement. Google is the only tech company cooperating with police to provide this type of "geofence/general area" location data.

The change comes three months after a Bloomberg Businessweek investigation that found police across the US were increasingly using warrants to obtain location and search data from Google, even for nonviolent cases, and even for people who had nothing to do with the crime.

Google will change its app so that it can no longer tell law enforcement its users location data, inline with more privacy focused companies like Apple and their maps app. This change comes after years of advocacy from digital rights groups, but appears to be mainly motivated by negative press coverage.

The headline is specifically about what the article is about.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wow, surprising that for once Apple is the good guy here. There's a good reason this is a bad idea, and it's not reallt hard to see why. Circumstantial evidence isn't evidence of an actual crime for a reason.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Apple has been pushing digital privacy as a selling point for a while, and actually living up to it a bit.

[–] yolo 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

pushing digital privacy as a selling point and living up to it doesn't add up when you do compromise privacy behind closed doors

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  1. Apple and Google are both guilty of this. Frankly, however, neither of them are particularly “guilty”, as
  2. Both Apple and Google were legally obligated not do disclose this practice until recently. It was revealed by Apple as soon as this embargo was lifted.

I’m not sure what more they could have done in that situation. Did you expect them to break the (very fucked up) law just to alert the public? Can Signal no longer claim to be privacy-focused if the government forces them to log a suspect’s password?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That is even worse, they knew they were compromising privacy and still boasts about being privacy centric. It's like Saudi Arabia claiming to be a utopia while actively using modern slavery in the background.

Apple and Google are both guilty of this. Frankly, however, neither of them are particularly “guilty”,

Google doesn't claim to be a herald of digital privacy, nor its users claim Google is a saint.

[–] yolo 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple users every time any criticism comes up

Other companies do it too…

Ya no shit, we know other companies are bad, however, keeping Apple at the pedestal no matter what is annoyingly cringe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The only argument I’ve ever heard is that Apple has comparatively better privacy practices than most companies we interact with. I frankly don’t think that argument is particularly unreasonable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Google doesn't claim to be a herald of digital privacy, nor its users claim Google is a saint.

I never did, nor would, claim either of things about Apple.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yall need to read the "a bit" part of that sentence too.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, apple pushes "privacy" from companies that are not apple. They collect just as much data as the googs.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Well that’s an extreme exaggeration.

They do collect data, but a drop in the bucket to what Google collects lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Circumstantial evidence is all evidence except witness testimony.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Aha. For sure they won't do that anymore. Nah I won't buy it.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As usual, I have to scroll down more than a page to get past all the generic "Google bad" comments to see any discussion of the topic at hand. Never change, Lemmy.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Nice contribution yourself asshole.