RunKeeper App + Google could cost you $2,000 US

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I just finished reading an article by Jon Schuppe of NBC, NBC on the Google App RunKeeper. The Header reads different in the story

In the article, which is longer than a post should be, it tells a story about a person who became a suspect in a crime because with Google’s help the police honed in on him as a suspect, even though he was completely innocent.

Orwellian?  Nah, naysayers might claim, it’s just the price for using a device that records your whereabouts. I disagree, and do not use any tracking devices, not even Phone Finder on my iPhone. The price is to high, and misuse is becoming all to frequent.

An excerpt from the article:

For most of his life, McCoy said, he had tried to live online anonymously, a habit that dated to the early days of the internet when there was less expectation that people would use their real names. He used pseudonyms on his social media accounts and the email account that Google used to notify him about the police investigation.

But until then, he hadn’t thought much about Google collecting information about him.

“I didn’t realize that by having location services on that Google was also keeping a log of where I was going,” McCoy said. “I’m sure it’s in their terms of service but I never read through those walls of text, and I don’t think most people do either.”

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Elly, wavy, Cybertooth, Kirsty

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Hmmm… So this oh, so very discreet man, always working hard not to have his identity revealed online (according to him), choose to use a Google application that actually tracks people’s location on line? And he also trusted those in charge of this sort of thing at Google to be perfect and unfailingly delete the records of his previous outings, so he didn’t have to do it himself?

I think that the morale of this story should be: “That our actions have consequences is also true of our ‘inactions.’ Or of our careless and thoughtless actions. Particularly actions with ‘Google’ in them.

What kind of trouble got him his unwise reliance on Google is another matter, and unfortunately, it means the police might have been a bit too eager to get things done quickly and with a minimum of detective work.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

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He actually used a different app (not written or provided by Google) that made use of his phone’s location services, indirectly involving Google in the mix.

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OscarCP

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indirectly involving Google in the mix.

Indirectly? Seems pretty direct to me, but I’m only a casual observer.

He used pseudonyms on his social media accounts and the email account that Google used to notify him about the police investigation.

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OscarCP

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[jabeattyauditor]

It was an Android phone – you have to give Google an email address to activate the device. He gave them one tied to a pseudonym.

ETA: The bottom line – if you use ANY location-enabled app, you’re passing that info on to Google or Apple. I don’t trust either of them to be “uncooperative” on my behalf when the local gendarmes come calling.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by jabeattyauditor.

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Cybertooth

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jabeattyauditor, thank you for correcting the misstatement I made. I have altered the topic heading to reflect as much. 🙂

My original reason for posting this was twofold.

First, it was a human interest story, albeit a sad statement for the un-savvy innocent. Secondly, it had a tech vibe built in, Google data collection. Most, if not everyone that reads AskWoody knows about privacy and Google, that they do not go hand in hand and most likely shouldn’t be used in the same sentence unless “lack of privacy” prefaces the word Google. That statement requires no justification here.

Runkeeper works on a lot of Apps, not just Android, and he paid the price for not reading the fine print. Not that riding your bicycle would ever come to mind prior to this incident. But now he knows, and what a costly way to find out that Google isn’t your friend.

Close the barn door please.

ASICS the Japanese manufacture of Runkeeper, who’s name is an acronym for the Latin phrase Anima Sana In Corpore Sano (sound mind and sound body),  I find  difficult to fault for this. Perhaps I should say “stuff happens” and leave it at that, eh … not likely.

I’ll keep tilting at windmills.

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Bletrix: “Close the barn door please.” Because the cops left it open after confiscating the horses. Careless of them: typical.

What still gets me is not just Google keeping a record of where the users of anything they have anything to do with have been or happen to be even right now, but that this knowledge is left in their servers indefinitely, it seems, and as experience has repeatedly shown, servers these days tend to be leaky receptacles of personal information, whose contents may not be available just to the police but, unintentionally, to their opposite numbers as well (“if you don’t do as we say, we know where you live, we know where you are right now, we know where you go every time you do, we even know who you are going to see and where, we also know your spouse doesn’t know, yet, about that little motel by the hour, but might be interested to know.”)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Sorry for misnaming you as “Bletrix”, Bluetrix. My mistake.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Non-story! Law enforcement use surveillance footage all the time (we still talk about it as physical film/tape) and we are not jumping up and down on the makers of the recorder.

cheers, Paul

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Yes-story. Read my comment just before yours, please. The issue is not just the police using personal location information from something that is not a security surveillance device intended expressly for such purpose (and doing so with or without a court order, as one would be required here by law, at a minimum?) The issue here is also that personal location information is being kept, perhaps indefinitely, for no earthly valid reason, in Google’s servers and subject, potentially, to being hacked by criminals, etc., etc.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Cybertooth

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OscarCP wrote:

information is being kept, perhaps indefinitely, for no earthly valid reason

“I want it stored so I can check my history” is reason enough.
An option to delete the data would be beneficial.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T wrote: “I want it stored so I can check my history ” But not in this case, apparently: the person complaining was not aware that that information was still around or had asked for it to be kept indefinitely:

“I didn’t realize that by having location services on that Google was also keeping a log of where I was going,” McCoy said. “I’m sure it’s in their terms of service but I never read through those walls of text, and I don’t think most people do either.” (Emphasis mine)

In other words: he had not consented, consciously, at least. And as to unconscious consent… “Well, Sir, why didn’t you read all the fine print carefully crafted by our extensive, very well-paid and brilliant platoon of lawyers that has been most ingeniously designed to bore and confuse people and make them think that: “all right, this should be OK if I just tick off ‘Agree.’ “?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Cybertooth

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Everyone using Google maps or Waze… can check how Google traces his movements on Google Maps Timeline
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6258979?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

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Oh, Dear! One reads that, and at the very end comes up against “Was this helpful? Yes, No” Seriously?

I thought I was going crazy, but clearly now, I see it’s just the world that is, and I am (somewhat) OK. For now.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

Oh, Dear! One reads that, and at the very end comes up against “Was this helpful? Yes, No” Seriously?

I thought I was going crazy, but clearly now, I see it’s just the world that is, and I am (somewhat) OK. For now.

I use Waze and my Timeline and any other data collect by Google (I use Chrome , Gmail, Google Photos, Google Translate..on my iPhone ,iPad and Windows PC) are set to disable and there is no tracking or browsing history.

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Alex5723 wrote:

and there is no tracking or browsing history.

There is no tracking or browsing history visible to you.

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Elly, wavy

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