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posted by martyb on Monday February 11 2019, @09:53PM   Printer-friendly

Phys.org:

Sixty-seven percent of smartphone users rely on Google Maps to help them get to where they are going quickly and efficiently.
A major of[sic] feature of Google Maps is its ability to predict how long different navigation routes will take. That's possible because the mobile phone of each person using Google Maps sends data about its location and speed back to Google's servers, where it is analyzed to generate new data about traffic conditions.

Information like this is useful for navigation. But the exact same data that is used to predict traffic patterns can also be used to predict other kinds of information – information people might not be comfortable with revealing.

For example, data about a mobile phone's past location and movement patterns can be used to predict where a person lives, who their employer is, where they attend religious services and the age range of their children based on where they drop them off for school.

Perhaps we can carefully craft our data patterns to tell advertisers, "Take a hike!"


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 11 2019, @10:40PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 11 2019, @10:40PM (#799798)

    For some reason my organization uses outlook for their email. This means if I buy plane tickets Microsoft reads my email and puts it on some a calendar I have never seen nor want they made for me. I don't want Microsoft to read my emails but do want to keep using that address.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 12 2019, @02:38AM (#799891)

    Encrypt message contents before sending
    Set this as a standard within your organization

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:10PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 12 2019, @03:10PM (#800108) Journal

    My organization also uses outlook for email. Despite my horrible opinion of Microsoft, I think the reason is quite clear. It pains me to admit it but Outlook / Exchange managed by a competent staff is pretty good enterprise software, for mail, calendars, scheduling things, including resources like meeting rooms or projectors, etc. central corporate directories etc. Especially for thousands of people.

    That said, Google does the same thing you describe. When I exchange travel info over Gmail, Google gives my phone alerts about leaving for the airport, if my flight will have any delays, etc. If my spouse shared travel plans with me, and I need to go pick her up at the airport from the return trip, I get android alerts reminding me that I will need to leave for the airport soon, the flight is on time, what gate it arrives at, etc.

    I find this to be terribly convenient. So I'm not sure I would complain if Microsoft did it. I just don't use any Microsoft products outside work, so I would never have noticed any kind of Microsoft calendar you speak of.

    People say in the same breath: I hate how much google knows about me, hey google can you recommend a movie I might like?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.