Google is tracking your every move and there’s a website that proves it
Many people have no idea that the internet knows exactly where they are at any given time. Smartphone users are particularly easy to locate, especially when they use popular apps like Google Maps. Google actually uses an integrated locating feature that not only shows the location of the smartphone user, but also saves it each time it updates.
And this can have very negative consequences! Criminals and hackers can easily find out where their potential victims are at any time. The same thing goes for stalkers — even when people have taken all other precautions, they can still be found if they're leaving a location history.
This might sound like a bad joke, but unfortunately it's reality. If you're not quite convinced, try doing this: log in to your normal Google account and click on this link. Now you can see all the locations you've been to in the past month!
The good news is, you can decide how much of your data is saved. Simply follow these steps:
- First check to see if your location feature is activated. To do this, click on the link shown above and the box on the lower left will tell you whether it is activated or not.
- If the location feature is activated, you can click on the button here to deactivate it.
- Deactivating the feature does not delete the data that was previously saved. In the Settings tab you can delete your entire location history.
- If you click on "Manage Activity" you can see all the locations you've visited in the past month. Here you can adjust the setting to determine which time period from your location history should be deleted.
Send this article on to your friends and family so they can decide how their data is handled. After all, everyone has a right to know what Google is doing with their personal information!