Google Maps and your Privacy

Google Maps mobile was monitoring users' GPS location without letting them know about it

On Wednesday November 28th Google released a new version of its Google Maps software for Mobile phones. This new version includes a feature called "My location" that can identify your location based on your cell tower information.
Intrigued, I tried it and was surprised to see that it found me right in my house, even though there is no cell tower in my immediate neighborhood. How weird! And how is it doing that?

So I did a little research to understand how the whole thing works and found the answer in this excellent New York Times article:

Apparently Google has been monitoring and storing the exact GPS location of millions of users (including me) that were using Google Maps.
The article goes on by saying that this location was recorded "secretly". Right after this article was published, Mr Barry Schnitt, Google's spokesperson contacted the author of this article to make him publish the following correction.

"UPDATE: Barry Schnitt, of Google’s PR department, wrote with some clarifications. The service, he said, is in beta and the accuracy will improve as it is used. He took issue with the word “secretly” about how Google gathers the GPS data because such use is disclosed in the privacy policy of the service."

So I went and looked at the Privacy policy that was in the version of Google maps that I was using and that was monitoring and storing my GPS data without me knowing it. Here's what the Privacy policy says in the section "Information we collect".

“The downloadable application includes a unique identifying number that enables us to return proper results and offer reliable service to you. In addition to this unique identifying number, Google’s servers automatically record certain standard log information, including the URL, IP address, carrier gateway information, along with the date, time and content of your request.”

No mention of the GPS data that they were collecting. Here are the screen captures.

In addition, I looked at all the places in the software and there was no way to prevent my whereabouts from being monitored and stored on Google's servers.

Google's response

I wrote this comment in the discussion thread following the article since I was very surprised that this monitoring activity was going on and that it was not mentioned in the privacy policy. Here's the response I received from Barry Schnitt, Google's spokesperson:

"Hi Emily,

Thanks for your comment and your diligence on our privacy policy. I checked with our team and everyone is pretty sure that there is only one way that your application has the text you provide as part of its privacy policy (and not the text I sent to Saul, which has been part of our privacy policy for all mobile products since November 1, 2006). Can you check the “about” link and see what software you actually have? We believe you downloaded Google Local for mobile (GLM), which is the predecessor to Google Maps for Mobile (GMM), the application we just updated yesterday.

GLM was launched in 2005 and we’re puzzled as to how you might have found it recently. N95s haven’t been around that long. Please let us know so that we can help get the website where you found it updated. Also, we encourage you to upgrade your mapping application. We’ve made a lot of progress since 2005!

Finally, GLM does not send location information back to Google. That’s why that particular text is not part of the privacy policy. All versions of GMM that send anonymous information back to Google have the text I provided.

I hope that helps. Please post any additional questions and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Best,
Barry

— Posted by Barry Schnitt
"

No, this was not Google Local Mobile but indeed Google Maps Mobile that was installed on my phone like indicated on this snapshot. And it was not dated  2005 like suggested by Mr Schnitt but 2007. This was the exact version that was collecting my GPS data that I had downloaded just three days before the announcement was made. And no mention whatsoever of the GPS data that was collected in the background in the privacy policy.

So Mr Schnitt went out of his way to make the New York Times journalist post a correction to his article based on something that was without merits. It looks like Mr Schnitt didn't even read the privacy policy that he wants us to read before we use Google Maps...

I then responded here and since then, complete silence from Google.

Download and check the privacy policy

The old version of Google Maps collecting your GPS data without letting you know about it can be downloaded here (works on Nokia/Symbian phones).  Check out the privacy policy: you will see that there is nothing about the GPS data that is collected in the background. In case they take it down, you can also download it here.

So here's my problem with all of this:

Is it just me or is there something really wrong with it?

And since Google has been monitoring and storing my GPS location over the past few months without disclosing it, what's next on their agenda?  Are they going to collect my phone number? What about all the contacts in my address book? Are they going to upload them on their servers to create their next social networking application?

OK, their privacy policy doesn't say it's uploading my phone number. But that was also the case with my GPS data, wasn't it?

Did you say "No evil"?

Update: Mr. Schnitt from Google posted a response:

"Emily, apologies for the delay in response. We wanted to take a thorough look at this to see what might have caused the confusion and that took a little time. It appears that a few localized versions of Google Maps for Mobile weren’t updated properly and we think that explains why the version you see does not include the text I originally provided to Saul. Some Nokia phones like the N95 are defaulted to UK/English because they are more popular in Europe and we suspect this is the case on your phone. The most recent privacy policy is likely available in other locales on your phone and has been there since you originally downloaded the application.
We are now updating all new versions of Google Maps for mobile with the most up-to-date privacy policy. We’re sorry for the oversight and any confusion that we caused and really appreciate your bringing this issue to our attention. If you have any additional questions or suggestions, please let us know.

— Posted by Barry Schnitt"

OK so it is now clear in Mr. Schnitt's own word: the privacy policy did not contain the disclosure about the collection of GPS data. So what's the deal now if I didn't want this data to be collected by Google without my approval?

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