Years after exploitation, Google is finally changing how the Maps App stores our location history, to safeguard our identity.
The new change will save the Google Maps Timeline data(location history of past dates) on our device instead of Google Cloud. This would make the company empty-handed for law enforcement whenever they wanted to check our location history with a search warrant.
Storing in a Device Instead in its Cloud
Google is one of the many companies that law enforcement poach on for tracking criminals or suspects, as many leave their digital footprints with the tech giant in some form. One among them is location data, compromising their travel history and check-ins – providing valuable insight to the police.
While it eases the tracking of a legitimate criminal, it also infringes the rights of those who aren’t. And with rising cases of law enforcement exploiting this privilege, Google is forced to find a way to mask it’s users’ location data for good. And today, it came up with a reliable plan.
Rolling out next year, Google Maps will start storing the location history of it’s users on their respective devices instead of the cloud. While it may rip off the benefits we get through data sync, it saves us from any illegal tracking by law enforcement.
The recent incidents of controversial “geofence warrants” allow law enforcement to procure user data from tech companies – like Google, and track them illegally. The agencies could ask for data on anyone passing through a particular area during a specific period of time.
To devalue this technique, Google will store data on user devices rather than in it’s cloud. Talking to The Verge, Marlo McGriff, director of products at Google Maps, said, “We’re always working on ways to give people more control over their data”.
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