Scary tracking feature reveals where you've been and photos you snapped
there

Google, in its almighty big tech way of harvesting more of your privacy,
has a hidden feature inside its photos and maps tools that looks like a
weather map when accessed. Instead, the only storms you see are exactly
where you've been, when you were there and the photos you captured in that
spot.

Yes, Google still tracks your every move with location data and more. In
exchange, it makes some of the most sought-after mapping tools and photo-
storage tools. What�s convenient and a novelty is also a very personal
history of your life available to anyone who can get access to your phone
or Google account.

iPhone: 4.7 stars (at time of publishing)
Android: 4.5 stars (at time of publishing)
If you don't want to be tracked and have all of your photos' location data
mapped on Google, then follow these tips.

How to check Google Photos settings (iPhone & Android)

Launch Google Photos app
In the bottom bar, tap search
Under the Places section, you can see all the places associated with the
photos you've taken
That's where you see Your map showing all the photos taken in a specific
spot

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/202
3/06/720/405/1-google_photos_app.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Can my photos be tracked through Google?

The short answer is yes, Google can track all your data, even through the
photos you take. Google's services and applications often request various
permissions, such as access to your device's camera and photo library, in
order to provide features and functionality. By granting these
permissions, you enable Google to analyze and process the data within
those photos, which can contribute to its data-collection efforts.
However, this happens only when you have the Location Settings for your
photos turned on. There is a way to turn this off. However, this will
still show a location on your photos that only you can see.

How to limit Google's tracking of your photos on your iPhone

Open Google Photos

Click the circular icon (with your image or initials in it) in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen

In the pop-up box, click Google Photos settings in the second-to-last row

Click the�Location row (seventh row down). On the next screen, you'll see
two options:

Photos with location - Click this row, and you'll see all the photos you
currently have with location details
Location sources - Click this row, and it will show you how your photos
get location data.��Under location Services, you will see the following
three options:
Camera settings - review whether your camera app adds location to photos
(Tap it, and you will see detailed instructions in the app on how to
adjust per setting)
Estimate missing locations - if you toggle this Off, it will prevent the
use of landmarks, your location history and other sources to estimate
where your photos were taken.�
View and manage estimated locations - If you click this row, you'll see
all your photos with estimated locations. Here's how to enter a location
or remove a location:�

Click a photo
Click the three dots in the top right of the photo
Scroll down and note the "estimated location" under the photo

Click the pencil icon at the end of the row, and click "Remove location."�
Similarly, if for some reason you wanted to add a location to this photo,
you could manually add it in this box where it says Enter location

How to limit Google's tracking of your photos on Android

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone's manufacturer

Open Google Photos
Click the circular icon (with your image or initials in it) in the upper
right-hand corner of the screen
In the pop-up box, click Google Photos settings in the second-to-last row
Click the�Location. On the next screen, you'll see two options:

Photos with location - Click this row, and you'll see all the photos you
currently have with location details
Location sources - Click this row, and it will show you how your photos
get location data.��Under location Services, you will see the following:
Estimate missing locations - if you toggle this Off, it will prevent the
use of landmarks, your location history, and other sources to estimate
where your photos were taken
View and manage estimated locations - If you click this row, you'll see
all of your photos with estimated locations. Here's how to enter a
location or remove a location:�

Click a photo
Click the three dots in the top right of the photo
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Scroll down and note the "estimated location" under the photo

Click the pencil icon at the end of the row and click "Remove location."�
Similarly, if for some reason you wanted to add a location to this photo,
you could manually add it in this box where it says Enter location

Please note that you can only update or remove estimated locations. If the
location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you
can't edit or remove it.

However, moving forward, you can change a crucial setting so that your
location is not on future photos.

How to disable your location on photos on iPhone

Go to Settings
Click on Privacy and security
Then tap on Location services
Scroll down to Photos - then click Never
How to disable your location on photos on Android
Settings may vary, depending on your Android phone's manufacturer
Select the Camera app
Tap the sprocket icon in the upper left
Scroll down, and toggle off Location tags (This will remove any location
tags to your pictures so no one can see where they were taken)
It's important to realize that while you may want to be super-private if
you do remove your location from future photos, you will not be able to
search your photos by searching by city or state.

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How to disable Google Photos location map feature

On Mobile (iPhone & Android):

Open Google Maps on your phone while signed into your Google account

Click the icon in the upper right-hand corner

Click Your timeline

Click the 3 horizontal dots (iPhone) or 3 vertical dots (Android) in the
upper right-hand corner

Click Settings and Privacy

Go to the 5th row down which says Location History.� Be sure to select
that it is off.� If it is currently on, click the row, which will bring
you to the next page, scroll down and click the "Turn off" button.

You can also set an Auto Delete option where the location data will be
automatically deleted from your view after a period of time you set.

On a Desktop

HOW TO ADD YOUR FAVROITE WEBSITE TO YOUR DEVICES HOME SCREEN

Open Google Maps on your desktop while signed into your Google account

Click the icon in the upper right-hand corner > Manage your Google Account

Click Data & Privacy

Under History settings�module in the center of the page, go to the
Location History�row, and click the row

Be sure to Turn off�location history

You can also set an Auto Delete option where the location data will be
automatically deleted from your view after a period of time you set.

Kurt's key takeaways

In a world where convenience and novelty come at the cost of personal
privacy, Google's hidden weather map feature in Photos and Maps reveals a
disturbing reality: every moment captured on your device becomes a
detailed record of your life, accessible to anyone with access to your
phone or Google account. To protect your privacy, follow these steps to
limit Google's tracking of your photos and disable location services.

Should Google and other big tech companies be required to ask you first
before deep tracking of your life? We'd love to hear from you. Let us know
by writing us at Cyberguy.Com/Contact

For more of my security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report
Newsletter by heading to CyberGuy.com/Newsletter

Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com.� All rights reserved.

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/map-buried-inside-your-phone-reveals-where-
youve-been-and-photos-you-snapped-there

On 20/07/2023 02:54, RichA wrote:
> Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.

Or just to turn off the options you don't want!

Personally, I prefer to have GPS information in my photos, and it was always an
extra task when using a non-phone camera. I also like to keep track of where
I've been, and carry a separate GPS just for this purpose.
--
Cheers,
David
Web: https://www.satsignal.eu

On 20/07/2023 1:54 pm, RichA wrote:
> Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.

Certainly if you don't know how to control settings on your phone and/or
are taking photos of things you shouldn't in places you would prefer not
to be known about.

geoff

On 2023-07-20 23:16, geoff wrote:
> On 20/07/2023 1:54 pm, RichA wrote:
>>   Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.
>
> Certainly if you don't know how to control settings on your phone and/or
> are taking photos of things you shouldn't in places you would prefer not
> to be known about.

And it is a well known feature of Google, anyway.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 22/07/2023 1:47 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2023-07-20 23:16, geoff wrote:
>> On 20/07/2023 1:54 pm, RichA wrote:
>>>   Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.
>>
>> Certainly if you don't know how to control settings on your phone
>> and/or are taking photos of things you shouldn't in places you would
>> prefer not to be known about.
>
> And it is a well known feature of Google, anyway.
>

Yeah they email you a map of where you've been every month. If you don't
want it, you turn it off.

But 'the conspiring authorities' can track your movements reasonably
well anyway, with any live mobile phone.

geoff

Am 23.07.2023 um 08:37 schrieb geoff:
> On 22/07/2023 1:47 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2023-07-20 23:16, geoff wrote:
>>> On 20/07/2023 1:54 pm, RichA wrote:
>>>>   Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.
>>>
>>> Certainly if you don't know how to control settings on your phone
>>> and/or are taking photos of things you shouldn't in places you would
>>> prefer not to be known about.
>>
>> And it is a well known feature of Google, anyway.
>>
>
> Yeah they email you a map of where you've been every month. If you don't
> want it, you turn it off.
>
> But 'the conspiring authorities' can track your movements reasonably
> well anyway, with any live mobile phone.

On my phone Google Maps is always in the "incognito mode", so shouldn't
track me. However today something happened, and suddenly Google Maps was
showing a map of Medina (Saudi Arabia) where I had been last December.

I wonder if this 'do not track' thing really works. Based on what
happened today, it seems Google keeps a log of places where you have
been even if you use the incognito mode.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

In article <jJdvM.123788$mIIb.53638@fx11.ams1>, Alfred Molon
<alfred_molon@yahoo.com> wrote:

> On my phone Google Maps is always in the "incognito mode", so shouldn't
> track me.

that's funny.

> However today something happened, and suddenly Google Maps was
> showing a map of Medina (Saudi Arabia) where I had been last December.

yep, and not just today.

> I wonder if this 'do not track' thing really works.

it's a request, which can (and normally is) ignored. it also makes one
more unique because most people don't enable it, thereby making them
*easier* to track.

> Based on what
> happened today, it seems Google keeps a log of places where you have
> been even if you use the incognito mode.

google keeps a log of everything you do, even if you ask them not to.

<https://mashable.com/article/google-location-history-tracking>
So, you¹ve turned off Location History on your phone in an effort to
maintain your privacy and limit the amount of data you share with the
big tech companies. Well, it turns out Google may still be tracking
your movements.

An AP investigation published Monday discovered that some of Google¹s
many different services are still tracking users' every move on both
iPhone and Android phones regardless of whether they've toggled the
³Location History² setting on or off.

On 23/07/2023 21:37, nospam wrote:
> google keeps a log of everything you do, even if you ask them not to.

So what?

On 24/07/2023 5:47 am, Alfred Molon wrote:
> Am 23.07.2023 um 08:37 schrieb geoff:
>> On 22/07/2023 1:47 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>> On 2023-07-20 23:16, geoff wrote:
>>>> On 20/07/2023 1:54 pm, RichA wrote:
>>>>>   Just one more reason perhaps to not use a phone as a camera.
>>>>
>>>> Certainly if you don't know how to control settings on your phone
>>>> and/or are taking photos of things you shouldn't in places you would
>>>> prefer not to be known about.
>>>
>>> And it is a well known feature of Google, anyway.
>>>
>>
>> Yeah they email you a map of where you've been every month. If you
>> don't want it, you turn it off.
>>
>> But 'the conspiring authorities' can track your movements reasonably
>> well anyway, with any live mobile phone.
>
> On my phone Google Maps is always in the "incognito mode", so shouldn't
> track me. However today something happened, and suddenly Google Maps was
> showing a map of Medina (Saudi Arabia) where I had been last December.
>
> I wonder if this 'do not track' thing really works. Based on what
> happened today, it seems Google keeps a log of places where you have
> been even if you use the incognito mode.

Have you ever googled anything about Medina ? That could explain it.

geoff

Am 24.07.2023 um 06:25 schrieb geoff:

> Have you ever googled anything about Medina ? That could explain it.

A couple of things:

1. Usually I use Bing (not Google) to search the web.
2. On the phone I'm using the "Firefox Klar" browser which keeps no
history and deletes all cookies and other data when I close it.

--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site

In article <OExvM.164654$5Fkb.16262@fx14.ams1>, Alfred Molon
<alfred_molon@yahoo.com> wrote:

> A couple of things:
>
> 1. Usually I use Bing (not Google) to search the web.
> 2. On the phone I'm using the "Firefox Klar" browser which keeps no
> history and deletes all cookies and other data when I close it.

neither of those prevent tracking.

On 25/07/2023 4:51 am, nospam wrote:
> In article <OExvM.164654$5Fkb.16262@fx14.ams1>, Alfred Molon
> <alfred_molon@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> A couple of things:
>>
>> 1. Usually I use Bing (not Google) to search the web.
>> 2. On the phone I'm using the "Firefox Klar" browser which keeps no
>> history and deletes all cookies and other data when I close it.
>
> neither of those prevent tracking.

What is really scary is that the other day I started receiving adverts
for something I had only THOUGHT about the previous day.

I had never expressed a prior interest in the subject on the web, never
visited a related website, and never searched for anything remotely
connected.

Maybe it was always there and it was just my consciousness raised on
that particular subject.

geoff

In article <ZGGdnVvGdv1mZyP5nZ2dnZfqn_WdnZ2d@giganews.com>, geoff
<geoff@nospamgeoffwood.org> wrote:

> >> A couple of things:
> >>
> >> 1. Usually I use Bing (not Google) to search the web.
> >> 2. On the phone I'm using the "Firefox Klar" browser which keeps no
> >> history and deletes all cookies and other data when I close it.
> >
> > neither of those prevent tracking.
>
> What is really scary is that the other day I started receiving adverts
> for something I had only THOUGHT about the previous day.
>
> I had never expressed a prior interest in the subject on the web, never
> visited a related website, and never searched for anything remotely
> connected.
>
> Maybe it was always there and it was just my consciousness raised on
> that particular subject.

or maybe that they know your interests much better than you realize.

Am 25.07.2023 um 00:28 schrieb geoff:
> What is really scary is that the other day I started receiving adverts
> for something I had only THOUGHT about the previous day.
>
> I had never expressed a prior interest in the subject on the web, never
> visited a related website, and never searched for anything remotely
> connected.
>
> Maybe it was always there and it was just my consciousness raised on
> that particular subject.

This AI software is getting better all the time.
--
Alfred Molon

Olympus 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras forum at
https://groups.io/g/myolympus
https://myolympus.org/ photo sharing site