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.
