Many of you have probably already read the news:
Apple, Google Receive Phone Users' Locations
I must say, they're doing it to a degree beyond what most of us may have assumed was taking place.
How can we stop this? Do we know if cooked ROMs also do it?
Update 4/25/2011 5:00PM ET:
- Here's how I stop Android from phoning home.
- I dont' use this, but here's a sweet google removal script.
- A seperate thread for discussion: Why the data Android sends to Google is less anonymous than Apple's implementation
Update 4/26/2011 9:25PM ET:
- [Q] How do we protect our Android device from the CelleBrite UFED?
Update 6/8/2011 5:24PM ET:
- Use Autostarts to stop apps from opening behind your back!
Its not that they care where you are personally, you're more of an anonomous statistic to them. They use these huge mountains of collected data to decide which markets are the most potentially lucrative fir them to invest their zillions of dollars of advertising and marketing money into. You and I will likely never be directly affected by our locations being disclosed, save for more accurate search suggestions from our google search widgets.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
I'll ask again to try and keep this thread on topic. Anyone who wants to discuss why the companies do it is free to start another thread and discuss that there.
How can we stop this? Do we know if cooked ROMs also do it?
Droidwall...
I was so mad when I heard what they were doing, I wanted to throw my phone out the window. How is it even legal for them to do this, regardless of where its anonymous or not its still bs and I want that crap off my phone. I am a newb to the whole android and software thing and I wish I could help.
There out to find your house and steal your prized poodle. Honestly if its for marketing then it what it is. Honestly if you want to get mad at something, get mad at T-Mobile for throttling 4G speeds. I see what your saying but I would like them putting the right ads for my area and know quickest way to the quickie-e-mart.
Also we are using their OS.
Every other OS is monitored also.
Sent from my UD Glacier
What's with the useless comments defending these companies?
Can anyone answer the question - DO cooked ROMs also track your location?
According to this article, Android tracks the last 50 mobile masts and last 200 WiFi networks.
This is a problem, anyone have the solution?
I found this comment on one of the articles, does this explain it?
All mobile phones keep a record of the locations and unique IDs of the most recent mobile masts that it has communicated with. It's called the neighbour cell list and normally it enables the phone to connect to the network more quickly than it otherwise would. GSM mobile phones have done this since about 1992.
To see the benefits storing the neighbour cell list compare the time it takes a mobile to find a network after it is switched on in a new location, e.g., after a long flight, with the time it takes to find a network when the phone is switched on in the location where it was switched off.
The difference in the iPhone case is that the iPhone is keeping this information for such a long period of time.
Click to expand...
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wrapper said:
I found this comment on one of the articles, does this explain it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is about the iPhone storing, not about a device sending GPS location data day and night.
So far, the only mentioned potential solution is Droidwall.
I'm going to play around with that.
There's a related app named HiSurfing, but one reviewer says that does not work as well as DroidWall. Seems DroidWall does a better job of keeping things from slipping out when they've been blocked.
Darnell_Chat_TN said:
So far, the only mentioned potential solution is Droidwall.
I'm going to play around with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only viable option I can see to block is "10052: Network Location, Google Calendar Sync, Google Services Framework, Google Contacts Sync."
Problem is, I use some of these.
I have ultimate juice defender it has a section in it where you can control how and when apps connect to the network, but I don't know if it will stop the Droid from phoning home.
wrapper said:
The only viable option I can see to block is "10052: Network Location, Google Calendar Sync, Google Services Framework, Google Contacts Sync."
Problem is, I use some of these.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, it uses a different listing number on my device, but "Network Location, Google Calendar Sync, Google Services Framework, Google Contacts Sync" may be the one to disable to stop the device from phoning home. I sync my data locally (via MyPhoneExplorer), so I can't think of any personal need for those, I've disabled that from all network and WiFi connectivity.
I've done some testing (blocking an app I could test with) and the firewall continues to work even after exiting DroidWall and even after killing DroidWall with a task killer. That's good to see so it won't be any burden on the battery.
I'm not any expert that can test for "certain" whether my device has really stopped phoning Google with my location data, but this seems to be the best shot for now.
Darnell_Chat_TN said:
I've done some testing (blocking an app I could test with) and the firewall continues to work even after exiting DroidWall and even after killing DroidWall with a task killer. That's good to see so it won't be any burden on the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because DroidWall is just an interface for iptables, the built-in firewall. So your battery life will not change at all, that's correct.
I'm not any expert that can test for "certain" whether my device has really stopped phoning Google with my location data, but this seems to be the best shot for now.
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You could connect to your wireless network, run a sniffer like Wireshark on your PC and check whether any packets are transmitted to Google servers.
frosty_ice said:
You could connect to your wireless network, run a sniffer like Wireshark on your PC and check whether any packets are transmitted to Google servers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or turn on my router's logging and check there, yea either of those would work.
Not sure if/when I'll get around to it .
droidhell said:
I have ultimate juice defender it has a section in it where you can control how and when apps connect to the network, but I don't know if it will stop the Droid from phoning home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that seems like the best app if it works, any way to verify?
slapshot136 said:
that seems like the best app if it works, any way to verify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm new to Droid, I really don't know how to test and see, it does stop other app really well, as far as a OS I don't know.
From what i here it's all stored in a location history file.
One simple solution might be to routinely delete this file.
Doesn't exactly solve the problem.
Might we consider expanding the subject to protecting our privacy? If not, I apologize in advance, as I think it is all connected.
It is probably Darnell's call, as he started the thread.
In the meantime, please consider this article: http://bit.ly/gCynrh
So let me understand this. I buy access to a network for my phone, which I also paid for. My location information, which is the result of my purchases is being used to generate income. So I'm allowing my spent cash to generate data and be leveraged to generate income. My information wouldn't exist with out my investment in the technology, so I own it.
I'm paying to be stalked !!!
Reduce my bill, provide remuneration for my investment in this technology, prove that it's anonymous, remember since I paid for the means to generate the data- the data belongs to me.
BTW for $1.50 I'll wire the battery to switch off, try getting data then.
I'd rather have an app which monitors my relevant info and bills the users for access to it.
Hi people,
Just to inform that Google Play Store 4.2.3 is out from Nexus 4 Android 4.3 system dump. You can download it here. For GPS 4.2.3 multi dpi normal or inverted for ics/jb go here. Enjoy.
Thanks
Any info about new features?
Edit: info from the site
What's New?
I've looked through it, and from what I can tell, it has some sort of additions related to the new functionality for restricting user access to Google Play. I suspect this is used in multi-user situations, where the primary user doesn't want secondary ones to be able to install things, but I haven't been able to confirm it just yet on the Nexus 7. Maybe there is a new menu that shows up in Android 4.3...
Another theory proposed by commenter Markus is that it's possible that this new functionality is meant for restricting Play Store's usage on devices that aren't licensed to use it and don't come with it pre-installed, which would... suck, though I don't see how Google could enforce it.
There is a new Activity called com.google.android.finsky.activities.AccessRestrictedActivity and this related new string:
Code:
<string name="limited_user_text">"You don't have permission to use Google Play Store."</string>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using a Nexus 4 and trying to get rid of all the Google tracking services and their built-in Android background communications with Google servers. I have already searched the internet and found a few articles about this, however most of them were outdated or didn't answer my questions.
I do like the look and feel of stock Android, which is why I would probably go for CyanogenMod for this. In an optimal world, it would retain its current look and feel, but without communicating with Google.
My questions that I currently have pretty much are as follows (when using CyanogenMod):
- is it possible to keep using SOME Play store / stock apps but taking their permission to send information to Google? For example, I still want to use whatsapp and I doubt I can find it in the F-Droid store, or perhaps i like the Google camera app, and so on
- is it possible to turn off all Google tracking services (obvious things such as Google Now, but also the less obvious, like the constant hidden communications with Google servers) using CyanogenMod?
I have an app I really like, but the developers have gone down a really bad route. It's been turned into a horrible web app that is now slow to load, clunky to use, and has adopted many iOS UI things.
I have the last known version before they went this horrible way, and they apparently don't care about their plummeting store ratings, and adamant they aren't going back.
I have prevented auto update of the app, but I also want to remove notification in the Play store (and anywhere else) that an update even exists for this app. Is this possible without root?
I am thinking perhaps changing the APK signing key, or package name, or some other way of mangling the app? or some easier way?
Just for reference resigning with a different key will make the app stop appearing in Play Store updates.
I will come out an name and shame UnTappd for not caring what their users want or think about thieir (un)responsive web app garbage.
If anyone wants the original last native APK (2.8.4), I have it, and I also have a resigned on that won't try and update via the play store.
Original (signed by Untappd):
http://hostracon.com/uploads/1763759451.Untappd Discover Beer_v2.8.4_apkpure.com.apk
Modified with new cert:
http://hostracon.com/uploads/439004733.untapped284 alt sign.apk
Hope someone finds them useful.
So I've come to discover that, if you enable Google Location Service on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (and I assume *all* other Android devices, but rebuttals to this are kind of the point of the post), all Google accounts logged into the device will be able to locate, and "remote control" the device via Find My Device app on any other device/desktop/etc. that can login via the Google account. And the only way to prevent this is to remove the Google account from the phone. There is no proper fine-grained control.
This means if you login a child's Google account to your device (say phone), to allow them to resume a game from the last save point in Google Games, they can then go back to their device, and locate your device/phone at any time, remote control it to say a ring for a prank, or worse, perhaps wipe the device.
I've google around, and haven't really found a post that describes this or comments on how problematic this can be... am I overreacting here? Isn't this really problematic and something that should be fixed in future Android releases?
da4an1qu1 said:
I've google around, and haven't really found a post that describes this or comments on how problematic this can be... am I overreacting here? Isn't this really problematic and something that should be fixed in future Android releases?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And of course, I am not suggesting that this community has anything to do with the Android baseline development. But I guess from the point of view of what customisations could go in, this might be of interest.