SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Unredacted suit shows Google's own engineers confused by privacy settings:
In 2018, the Associated Press reported that Maps and some other Google services (on both iPhone and Android) were storing users' location data even when users had explicitly turned Location History off.
"There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people's experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services," a Google spokesperson told the AP at the time. "We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time."
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich's office launched its own investigation following the AP report, and in May 2020 the state sued Google, alleging that the company violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
The initial lawsuit was heavily redacted, as the Arizona Mirror reports. But following an August 3 petition from trade groups Digital Content Next and the News Media Alliance, the judge has ordered several documents related to the case to be unsealed, and a new, less-redacted version of the suit is now available.
The new version of the suit (PDF) includes a number of employee emails and chat logs where Google employees agreed with the AP story, and these employees highlighted their own frustrations with the settings. Among the highlights:
- "The current UI feels like it is designed to make things possible, yet difficult enough that people won't figure it out."
- "Some people (including even Googlers) don't know that there is a global switch and a per-device switch."
- "Indeed we aren't very good at explaining this to users. Add me to the list of Googlers who didn't understand how this worked and was surprised when I read the article ... we shipped a UI that confuses users."
- "I agree with the article. Location off should mean location off, not except for this case or that case."
"Speaking as a user, WTF?" another employee said, in additional documentation obtained by the Arizona Mirror. "More specifically I **thought** I had location tracking turned off on my phone. So our messaging around this is enough to confuse a privacy focused (Google software engineer). That's not good."
Also at news.com.au
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 01 2020, @03:52PM
The dog isn't there to protect property, so much as to protect YOU. I have two dogs now. One is sweet and loving, and would probably run off to hide if a threat were to appear. Her sister, the alpha, is a lot less sweet. She's very protective, and no one is coming in the yard or the house without challenge. No one is going to offer violence to a member of the household without challenge. The sweet and loving sister will follow alpha's lead though, so if alpha goes for your throat, sister will probably be going for your balls.
The dogs don't care about any of the stuff in the house. "Give me bacon, take whatever you want!"