Need directions, travel times, or a nearby place? Location services make those everyday tasks easy by determining where your device is. The same capability can also track movements with accuracy down to a few feet or meters. section 2.2.1
The visible service is convenient and often free, but it also feeds a larger commercial data ecosystem. Providers collect, integrate, share, and sell location data to third parties, while the people generating it usually receive no payment. Once shared, the data may travel to unknown buyers and uses. section 2.2.1 section 2.2.2
From movement to business insight
Location data from five major US providers was used to estimate visits and dwell times at roughly a thousand locations, predict future visits, and improve a business use case. section 2.2.1
You can reduce location tracking through practical choices:
- Turn off location services to stop location tracking completely, but turn them back on when maps or location searches require them. section 2.6.2
- Delete unused apps and set data-sharing permissions to the most restrictive options, allowing location services to remain available with less unwanted targeting. section 2.6.2
