07/22/2021 9:12 AM
Clarín.com
Technology
Updated 07/22/2021 9:12 AM
One of the great battles in the world of technology is in the field of
application privacy
.
Every tech company acts differently.
Apple
, for example, claims to be the staunchest defender of users;
while
Google and Facebook
defend free use, benefiting from the information they obtain.
Of course, the three technology companies agree that each user can change the data usage settings on their mobile device, although sometimes this is not so easy to find.
Privacy is once again in question in Google's latest innovation: the "Timeline" tab that started to appear on Google Maps.
This feature allows an
estimate of the places
the user may have been and the routes they may have taken based on their location history.
All these locations can be seen in the
Google cloud
, day by day and classified by category.
In addition, Google tells you how much time you spent shopping, or on public transport or dining in bars.
Although the company continues to defend that user data
is never shared with third parties
and uses world-class anonymization technology, this new function gives the company a lot of power over users.
The Google Maps vs.
Apple Maps
If you don't want Google to follow you to every site you go, in principle, it would be enough to
disable or restrict Google's location tracking
.
On the other hand, if the idea is to keep the function, because it seems interesting to have this information, you should make use of the function of progressive automatic deletion of your data stored in Google from time to time.
But
location data isn't the only
privacy
issue
Google Maps presents.
The application collects a lot of other data that cannot be prevented from collecting by disabling location.
Apple Maps, the geolocation service for iPhones.
Photo: AP.
In this sense, iPhone users have an alternative,
Apple Maps
.
This app is best configured from a privacy point of view.
Although it still has a lot to improve, it
is a better option than Google Maps
.
Still, if you prefer to use Google Maps, there is an
incognito mode
that can be enabled when using the application.
This will hinder some of the user data-driven functions such as "commute" statistics, "location history", or "search history" and
thus avoid data collection
.
IPhones have a hidden feature to prevent data collection.
Photo: capture.
Within the differences between these apps, Apple has an important location settings called
"Locations significant" (
Significant Locations
in English)
hidden on iPhones and you get a
lot of
information.
Did you know this existed?
Would you be able to find it on your iPhone with the naked eye?
This feature is hidden within the privacy section and is suspicious.
According to ESET's Jake Moore, "I can't think of a positive or useful reason why Apple would include this feature on their devices."
From the Settings> Privacy section, you can access the Significant Locations.
Photo: capture.
Apple's Significant Locations is a similar feature to Google Maps "Timeline".
Through this function,
Apple
keeps
track of the places the user visited recently
, and also saves the frequency with which you go to those places and the date.
In this way,
your iPhone knows how you travel and how long it takes to arrive
and thus alerts you, among other things, when you have to leave home to go to work.
Google Maps enabled incognito mode to leave no traces of locations.
The level of precision of this new function of the mapping applications seems quite invasive and reminds us that for both Apple and Google, having our data
is a great benefit
within their business model.
The more information they have about their users, the more they can be profiled and the
more they will know about our private and daily lives
, so it is recommended to look at the privacy settings and disable location tracking whenever possible.
The big difference between Apple and Google in the case of information on locations is that in the case of the Internet search engine
this information does not stay on the phone
, it goes further and it is impossible to know what to do with it.
With Apple this does not happen.
But it is still very sensitive data in terms of privacy available to anyone who has access to the device.
As users, one of the things that we will have to ask ourselves is if we want to keep our privacy, to what extent these types of functions are really useful for us on a day-to-day basis and if we are allowing large technology companies to cross a red line with our permission. .
SL
Look also
Ten tips to leave fewer traces when using the Internet
More changes to Google Maps: present quick access to saved places
