Google has been fingered in the secret act of collecting locational information about smartphone users behind their back even when their internet is off.
Smartphones with no sim, no location service on or even that which has just be reset to its factory mode still keeps tracks of you and sends information to Google.
It's been proven that Google has been collecting Android phones' locations data even when location services are turned off, a a revelation made by an investigation that Google tracks you.
Quartz, an online media publication observed that android smartphones mutually works hand in hand with others thereby collecting the addresses of a nearby mobile phone masts and sends them back to Google.
The data collected has no bound that even if the service location (GPS) were turned off on the phones, no installed or pre-installed apps, or no SIM card in the phone. It collects data regardless of all these and send them to Google and Google tracks you wherever you go.
"The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals' locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy," wrote Quartz reporter Keith Collins.
Also, a Google spokesperson told Quartz that the cell tower addresses were included in information sent to the system Google uses to manage push notifications and messages on Android phones for the past 11 months. They were never used or stored and the company is taking steps to end the practice.
It's no longer a secret that Google tracks you with your phone's location at every instance in time, many of the apps we use on a regular bases wouldn't work as well without the device location services turned on.
Also, we the end users also have the right to tell Google through your Android phone to remove your location history from your Google Maps Timeline and stop keeping screenshots of your old searches if you're so concerned about your privacy.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this.