For those who have it turned on, location history collected by Google will be automatically deleted after three months, down from 18 months previously.
Google will soon change the way it stores location data from people’s phones by saving them on the device instead of company servers, a proceed that is likely to end the practice of geofence warrants used by law enforcement.
In an announcement this week, the Alphabet-owned company said changes to be rolled out throughout the next year will see user location history be stored on their device, giving them more access to their data and preventing police from having access to it.
This only applies to those users who have opted to keep their location history on in the Google Maps app that gives them access to the Timeline feature. The changes will be rolled out across iOS and Android devices.
Google confirmed that users will have the choice to back up their data on the cloud so that they don’t lose their data when their phone gets lost or replaced.
“We’ll automatically encrypt your backed-up data so no one can read it, including Google,” said Mario McGriff, director of product at Google Maps.
He also confirmed that location history data will be automatically deleted after three months of being collected. Previously, this option was set to 18 months.
“If you want to save memories to your Timeline for a longer period, don’t worry – you can always select to extend the period or turn off auto-delete controls altogether.”
These changes will make it impossible for Google to access users’ location data, rendering it unable to supply law enforcement with sensitive information when given what is known as a geofence warrant, a tool used by governments to seek who was present within certain specified locations during any given period.
Geofencing is the use of GPS and other location-based technologies to create a virtual geographic boundary. It has been designed, for instance, to alert a driver when their car breaks the speed limit – and then slow down the vehicle.
“These warrants are dangerous. They threaten privacy and liberty because they not only supply police with sensitive data on individuals, they could turn innocent people into suspects,” Jennifer Lynch of the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in a blog.
“advance, they have been used during political protests and threaten free speech and our ability to speak anonymously, without fear of government repercussions.”
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