If you've never seen your Timeline on Google Maps, you're in for a big shock. If you have location history enabled (as many of us unknowingly do) on any iOS or Android device, then the Google Maps app has been logging every place you've ever visited. Go check out your location history here: Google Maps Timeline.
Launched in 2009, Google Maps Timeline "feature" gives you a detailed look into exactly where you were at any time, with place names, exact time ranges, and even displays photos you took at each place and time. It provides us a glimpse into the terrifying amounts of location data that Google collects from every user. On my Timeline, which goes back to October 2014, Google logged 363 places that I visit frequently! Each day I click features a detailed breakdown of each location I visited, how long I was in that place, the pictures I took during my stay at each place, and my mode of transportation between each place. You can see the below example example of just one day last week: the dark blue indicates that I was riding the bus, the light blue shows the path that I walked.
Professor James Moor of Dartmouth College says that we should “realistically take into account that ethics is an ongoing and dynamic enterprise.” One potential problem with Google's massive location data collection is that we don't actually knows what Google actually does with your location data, but we all know deep down that Google didn’t implement detailed location tracking just so we can view our pretty timelines. According to Google’s Privacy & Terms page, Google uses location data for improving search results, driving directions, estimating how full a store/restaurant is, and improving Google core services’ functionality. However, there is no government oversight or enforcement to make sure that Google is following their own rules and staying ethical with our data.
Moor also says, "as technological revolutions increase their social impact, ethical problems increase." With the amount of location data that Google has on each user, they could write unethical prediction algorithms to know where we will be at any time of the day, or advertising algorithms to target us before we even reach our destination. With location data, Google might be able to start to learn our behavior better than we even understand our behavior; after all, we are only a culmination of all of our experiences we've had and the places we've been. Or, worst of all: Google could get hacked, exposing all of our location data to malicious hackers. The only way to protect yourself fully is to completely delete your Google account, and stop using Google services. However, with Google as such an integral part of our daily lives, our best bet to reasonably stay protected is to disable their location history tracking.
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| My location history from just a few days ago: 02/14/2020 |
Moor also says, "as technological revolutions increase their social impact, ethical problems increase." With the amount of location data that Google has on each user, they could write unethical prediction algorithms to know where we will be at any time of the day, or advertising algorithms to target us before we even reach our destination. With location data, Google might be able to start to learn our behavior better than we even understand our behavior; after all, we are only a culmination of all of our experiences we've had and the places we've been. Or, worst of all: Google could get hacked, exposing all of our location data to malicious hackers. The only way to protect yourself fully is to completely delete your Google account, and stop using Google services. However, with Google as such an integral part of our daily lives, our best bet to reasonably stay protected is to disable their location history tracking.
This was a really interesting and relevant post! You did a really good job of describing what data Google collects and the dangerous ethical issues that come with it. I really liked how you included links to both the location history map and the link to turn it off, and the new picture/graphic you added in your revision was also a really nice touch. One thing I'd like to hear you talk more about is how the ability to turn off location history tracking affects the ethical issues associated with this topic. I also think you could discuss the connection between Moor's article and this topic more, but other than that this was a great post and I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteHi Harrison, comparing your revised blog post with your original, I can see that you made quite a few changes. I think your reference to the reading is better this time around since they seem more relevant, and you do a better job describing how they are related to Google's location tracking. However, I did not like how omitted a description of a day from your personal timeline. I think that it helped relate you to the audience. Finally, great touch with the link to disable location tracking.
ReplyDeleteHarrison:
ReplyDeleteGreat revision! As I wrote in your first blog post, I liked how you included (and still kept) an example of how Google tracks your location history. Moreover, in this particular entry you added a picture that shows the routes that you took in a specific time frame. I also believe that this entry is more concise, or atleast, it feels like it. This is a great feature to have as one of the main goals of this assignment is to have an informative, yet short blog post.
Finally, I loved how you added information on how to disable Google's location tracking. Looks like you really took some of the feedback from your previous blog post to heart! Great to see that as it is a great way to end the blog post and wrap up everything, while leaving the reader with something to think about (whether they should or shouldn't turn off Google's location tracking).