Google, Apple Under Scrutiny Over Location Tracking

Amid rising concern from legislators, regulators and consumers, Google is trying to defend the way it collects location data from Android smartphones. Apple is being its usual closed-mouth self and has said nothing so far.

The Wall Street Journal revealed last week that both companies' smartphones regularly transmit users' locations back to Google and Apple.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was among those expressing concern today. She is calling for a meeting with Apple and Google executives and wants the companies to detail what information the company is storing, for how long and what it is used for.

“I want to know whether consumers have been informed of what is being tracked and stored by Apple and Google and whether those tracking and storage features can be disabled,” Madigan said. “It’s important that these companies ensure that their users’ private information is protected.”

Independent security analysts have said that Android phones they studied collected location data every few seconds and sent it to Google several times an hour. Apple disclosed in a letter to Congress last year that its phones "intermittently" collect location data, and the company receives it twice a day.

Opt-in

Both companies say all users have to do if they don't want to be tracked is turn off location-based services. Of course, if they do that, they won't be able to use maps, navigation or other handy services.

Google said Friday that "all location sharing on Android is opt-in by the user." He added that "any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user."

However, in this case, opt-in doesn't mean the service is turned off by default, as one would normally expect. When a user activates her Android, a screen appears that says Google provides location information to various apps and that it will collect anonymous location date even if none of those apps are running.

The box to accept this feature is checked by default but the user can uncheck it.

How well that explanation sits with the attorneys general and other regulators remains to be seen.

Madigan and her counterparts in states around the country launched an investigation last year into Google’s collection of data over wireless networks for its Street View mapping feature. In addition to featuring photographs of neighborhoods nationwide, Street View captured data being transmitted over public networks, including user emails, passwords and web surfing activity. Google has said that was inadvertent.