Google plans to store Maps’ Location History data on users’ devices. In a blog post on Tuesday, the tech giant also announced that any backups of this data will be automatically encrypted, preventing Google from accessing it. This ultimately means Google can’t respond to controversial “geofence” warrants.
“Geofence warrants require a provider—almost always Google—to search its entire reserve of user location data to identify all users or devices located within a geographic area during a time period specified by law enforcement,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in a Wednesday text.
This decision comes in the wake of increased scrutiny of law enforcement’s use of broad surveillance. In 2021, Google said 25% of all the warrants it receives are geofence warrants.
The new updates to Maps will be rolled out over the coming weeks on Android and iOS.
‘Your Location Information Is Personal’: Google
In its blog post, Google detailed three significant updates in the way it manages Location History data.
Firstly, this data will be stored on the user’s devices by default, marking a shift from cloud storage. Secondly, the default setting for data deletion is being changed from the current period of at least 18 months to three months. Lastly, if users opt to back up their data to the cloud, Google has pledged to automatically encrypt it, ensuring it’s unreadable.
“These changes would appear to make it much more difficult—if not impossible—for Google to provide mass location data in response to a geofence [law enforcement] warrant, a change we’ve been asking Google to implement for years,” the EFF said.
In January 2023, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed an amicus brief challenging the use of data obtained through a geofence warrant as evidence in a robbery case in Virginia. While US District Judge Hannah Laucklater later ruled that the warrant violated the Constitution, the data was admitted in the case.
“These warrants are dangerous. They threaten privacy and liberty because they not only provide police with sensitive data on individuals, they could turn innocent people into suspects. Further, they have been used during political protests and threaten free speech and our ability to speak anonymously, without fear of government repercussions,” the EFF said.
How to Protect Your Location Data
This update does not mean that Google will stop collecting location data for its services. It also doesn’t mean that Google will scrap its “Sensorvault” database, which allegedly contains the location data of “hundreds of millions of devices worldwide,” collected over several years.
To learn more about the data Google collects and how to take control of your privacy, read our guide to what Google knows about you.
Did you know that online platforms can determine your location from your IP address? To stay anonymous online, we recommend using a privacy-centric browser and a premium VPN like NordVPN.
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