Technology

‘Five Eyes’ Demand Back Door Access To Encrypted Services … Or Else

Posted on by Andy Miller

The frustration of the so-called ‘Five Eyes’ governments in not being allowed access to end-to-end encrypted apps such as WhatsApp has boiled-over into the threat of enforcement via legislative (or other) measures.

Who Are The ‘Five Eyes’?

The so-called ‘Five Eyes’ refers to the intelligence alliance of the governments of the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Dating back to just after World War 2, the alliance is now secured by the UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

What’s The Problem?

The argument from the government perspective is that end-to-end encryption in apps such as WhatsApp and services such as Google is preventing them from gaining access to conversations of criminals, terrorists and organized crime groups, and that tech companies are refusing to build ‘back doors’ into these services to enable governments to snoop.

The argument from tech companies that use end-to-end encryption in their services is that they are private companies with a duty and responsibility to protect the personal details of their customers, to protect the free speech that takes place on their platforms, and to prevent the likely loss of customers / users and damage to their brand and image if they were known publicly to be allowing government snooping. Also, tech companies argue that if ‘back doors’ are built into supposedly encrypted and secure services, then they are no longer secure or fully encrypted, and they could be accessed by cyber-criminals, thereby posing a security threat to users.

Example

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd (since replaced by Sajid Javid) was particularly vocal about the subject, and pressed for a back door to be built-in to WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services after the London terror attacks in 2017 and after it was discovered that terrorist Khalid Masood, who killed four people outside parliament had used WhatsApp a few minutes before he launched his attack.

Also, an assessment by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) earlier this year said that that encryption impacts how effective law enforcement organisations can be in gathering intelligence and collecting evidence. This is particularly topical in the UK now, since Facebook recently refused to give the login details of a murder suspect to police, who are investigating the murder of Lucy McHugh.

Threats From The Five Eyes

The Five Eyes are reported to have warned that if the tech industry does not voluntarily establish lawful access to their products e.g. back doors they may pursue enforcement, via legislative or other measures in order to guarantee entry.

The Five Country Ministerial (FCM) has also concluded that the industry needs to implement functions that prevent illicit and harmful content from being uploaded in the first-place, and build user safety into the design of all online platforms.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

While it sounds reasonable and understandable that law enforcement and intelligence services would like to be able to have access to encrypted apps and services in the interests of national security in fighting terrorism and reducing crime, building in back doors to encryption means that it’s no longer encrypted and secure. These ‘back-doors’ could also, therefore, be accessed by cyber-criminals, thus causing a security threat to millions of users, most of whom aren’t terrorists or criminals. A security breach (e.g. using a back-door) could also cause major damage to the app / service-providing company in fines, lost customers/revenue and bad publicity.

There is also an argument that the privacy of users of currently encrypted apps and services could be compromised in a ‘big brother’ style way as governments and intelligence agencies are given carte blanche to snoop, and are unlikely to be transparent about just what they are snooping on. Many privacy campaigners feel that we already have enough surveillance e.g. CCTV and the power granted by the Investigatory Powers Act (aka the ‘Snoopers Charter’).

Tech companies have good commercial and other reasons for not budging in their stance, while governments can also provide convincing arguments for the building of back-doors. As with so many other powerful private companies such as the tech companies, it may take the threat of (or actual) imposed regulation and legislation to make them give any ground in an argument that is likely to run further yet.

Apple’s Autonomous Car Involved in Crash

Posted on by Andy Miller

Apple’s new autonomous vehicle, part of its ‘Project Titan’, has joined an expanding list of self-driving car prangs.

What Autonomous Vehicle?

Apple is reported to have been working on vehicle projects since 2015 under the name of ‘Project Titan’. Ever since the early reports, there has been much speculation about when an iCar will come onto the market.

The evidence, that this would be likely, came in the form of reports of hundreds of Apple employees working on a car project, hints during an interview with CEO Tim Cook back in June 2007, reports of two Apple computer scientists publishing research about a 3D detection system (that could be used in an autonomous car), and in July this year, news that an ex-Apple employee had been charged with stealing trade secrets from Apple to take to a Chinese car start-up.

Apple is also reported to be working with VW on a driverless vehicle to shuttle its employees to and from work.
The Apple car involved in the recent accident is a Lexus SUV that is being used as part of the testing for its autonomous car project.

In Driverless Mode, But Rear-Ended

In this case, even though the Apple autonomous vehicle was in driverless mode at the time, the cause of the crash (last month) is thought to be that the driver of a Nissan Leaf rear-ended the Apple car while it was doing less than 1 mph, trying to find a safe space to merge onto Lawrence Expressway in California.

Most Autonomous Vehicle Crashes Caused By Humans

It’s tempting to think that testing autonomous vehicles on public roads is bound to result in crashes caused by faults with the technology. In fact, the statistics tell a different story and indicate that human error has been the main cause of accidents involving autonomous vehicles.

For example, Axios research shows that only 8% of these types of crashes were caused by a vehicle fault, and only one such crash happened when the vehicle was in autonomous mode. In fact, six out of seven accidents happened while a human was driving, and only one of a total 57 accidents to date involving moving autonomous vehicles was caused by a fault with the AI. One more left-field statistic is that self-driving vehicles have actually been attacked by humans 3 times!

That said, and joking aside, it’s worth acknowledging that there has already been one fatality related to driverless cars. It happened when a woman was hit by a driverless car that was being tested by Uber while she was crossing the street in Tempe, Arizona.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Although we may not be entirely convinced yet, or used to the idea of cars, lorries, and even planes operating autonomously on our roads and above our heads, the fact is that all have been tested, and look likely to become a more regular reality. At this time, it is still relatively early days for autonomous vehicles which means that there are still many untapped opportunities to use autonomous vehicles commercially, and there are of course many challenges and issues to consider around safety, insurance, regulations and reliability. For the time being, autonomous vehicles are, therefore, likely to be adopted more quickly on closed sites but operators who decide to adapt such sites to work for autonomy could expect significant improvements in productivity and safety.

As the technology to operate these vehicles becomes more advanced, prices decrease, and technical and operational problems are ironed-out, their potential to add-value to businesses / organisations / cities .e.g. for distribution / logistics, public transport, and many other uses will become apparent. They may also offer cost savings, greater reliability and easier management and planning, which are appealing benefits to businesses.

Are You On The Wrong Side Of An Algorithm?

Posted on by Andy Miller

Research carried out in Australia by US data experts have highlighted the possible dangers of a future where, by default, many of us could fall foul of unchecked big-data and automated algorithmic decision-making.

Travels Yield Insights

After travelling around Australia studying the potential risks posed by algorithmic decisions affecting more parts of our lives, Dr Powles and Professor Frank Pasquale, an expert in big-data and information law at the University of Maryland, were able to highlight some important points to bear in mind.

Do You Fit The Algorithm Maker’s Assumptions?

One important thing to remember about algorithms is that they are made by a human who has a set of assumptions, and that they rely on statistics. On this basis, the researchers have concluded that some statistical processes such as averaging results in those people who fit the assumptions made by the algorithm’s creators being treated fairly, and those who don’t i.e. those who are ‘statistical outliers’ are in danger of being treated unfairly by default by algorithms.

Why Use Algorithms?

According to Professor Frank Pasquale, some of the main reasons why algorithms are used and sometimes favoured over human interaction are:

– Speed and scale. They allow you to do things quickly and can allow you to scale them to over tens of thousands of people, which can also help users to avoid the queues.

– Efficiency and productivity. The progress of pushing the use of big data and AI forward is often framed in terms of efficiency or productivity, and algorithms help with these.

– Greater sharing and enabling re-use of data.

– Human preference. The Professor noted that there are many occasions where people prefer interaction with a computer system to e.g. what they perceive as uncaring or unfeeling bureaucrats. Also, young people are becoming more accustomed to, and often prefer interacting with computers e.g. seamless, frictionless, easy interaction.

Problems

The Professor also noted that problems with relying on complicated algorithms can arise when they lack transparency i.e. what exact factors people are being judged on. The example of consumer credit scores was given where if you are eligible for a mortgage can depend, in part, on secret algorithms used to assess how creditworthy you are.

Also, as Dr Powles pointed out, some computerised systems can become so complicated that even their designers don’t know how they work, and this can cause serious problems as regards transparency.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

There is clearly a case for the value-adding use of algorithms and the products of big data as they enable businesses to increase speed and achieve scale in dealing with processes such as searches, applications etc.

As Dr Powles points out in the findings of this research however, it is vitally important that, if big decisions made by businesses and organisations that affect lives are made by algorithms, there should be fairness and transparency by default. Algorithms also need to be accountable to the people about whom they’re making decisions.

Another important point, this time from Professor Pasquale, is that automated decisions that cannot be explained simply to the people they affect will be alienating.

Businesses, therefore, need to take these factors into account when introducing algorithms to important business processes e.g. screening job applicants and making decisions on whether or not services can be supplied to those who apply.

Google Search Results Biased Says Trump

Posted on by Andy Miller

President Donald Trump has criticised Google for what he sees as hiding “fair media” coverage of him in its search engine results in a way that amounts to left-wing political bias and negativity.

Tweeting Again

The US President’s latest swipe at a tech giant accused Google of prioritising negative news stories from the “national left-wing media”.

He went so far as to say that his perceived promotion by Google of mainstream (left-wing) media outlets such as CNN, and the suppression of conservative political voices amounted to a dangerous action and a “very serious situation”.

Prompted By Fox News Report?

It has long been known that President Trump’s favourite (right-wing) news channel is Fox News. Many commentators believe that it may be no coincidence that his criticism of Google via Twitter followed the morning after a feature about the matter on Fox News.

The segment featured details of a report by Paula Bolyard who said she had performed test searches in Google on many different computers registered to different users, and that she found that 96% of the news articles presented by Google for the phrase “Trump news” were from left-wing news outlets. This is the exact figure that President Trump reported in his tweets. While Ms Bolyard accepted that this was not a scientific experiment, she noted that it did suggest a “bias against right-leaning content.”.

Paula Bolyard is also a supervising editor at PJ Media, the conservative news site.

Search Not Used To Set A Political Agenda

Google’s response has been to re-iterate that its search feature, which is controlled by automatic algorithms, is not used to set a political agenda, and that the results of searches aren’t biased toward any political ideology.

Google’s search algorithms are reported to take into account over 200 different factors, and these algorithms are regularly changed and improved to make sure that they find the most relevant links to user queries as quickly as possible.

One possible explanation for sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com ranking highly in searches is the fact that they are likely to have many readers linking to them, and they are very popular sites.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Google (Alphabet Inc) is a private company, and as one U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu pointed out in a tweet responding to President Trump’s tweets, courts would not tolerate governments trying to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies.

It is, however, important to note that President Trump’s comments can have a direct and fast effect on any countries / industries / businesses that he focuses on. For example, as well as shares of Alphabet falling 0.3% after Mr Trump’s accusations, President Trump’s warning against countries doing business with Iran forced the EU to bring in a blocking statute to protect EU firms and a means to allow EU businesses affected by the sanctions to sue the US administration.

Many see these latest comments as a continuation of President Trump’s criticism of news media coverage of him, a desire exert control over what’s being said, and as a way to apply more pressure to tech companies to clamp down on anything that could point to any foreign interference in and disruption of US politics, especially in the wake of accusations of Russian influence and Facebook being used to spread messages that may have affected the US election result. Facebook and Twitter have also been in the US administration’s firing line over accusations of removing content from some conservatives, and being called upon to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

This is a war of words with economic consequences that is likely to continue.

Diabetes Eye Disease Diagnosing System Needs No Doctors

Posted on by Andy Miller

An AI system for diagnosing eye disease caused by diabetes that has been approved for use in the US works autonomously and doesn’t need a doctor to interpret its results.

New Way To Solve Old Problem

Diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness among adults, is caused by high blood sugar levels damaging the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye / the retina. The condition affects up to eight out of 10 people who have had diabetes for 10 years or more.

Given the extent of the problem, Google and DeepMind are reported to have been working on building machine-learning algorithms for detecting diabetic retinopathy for some time.

The new AI-based device from Iowa diagnostics company IDx LLC is the first FDA-approved AI system for diagnosing this particular eye disease.

No Doctors Required For Diagnosis

The system can be used to spot the disease i.e. signs of mild diabetic retinopathy in scans of people’s retinas. This would normally be a job that would require human input, and as such, the new device is a first in eye care.

Although the system can diagnose the disease on its own, and therefore, doesn’t require a doctor’s input for diagnosis, it cannot recommend treatment plans, as this requires human doctors.

How Does It Work?

The system uses two convolutional neural networks.

The first one studies and analyses the image quality of retinal scans, from this it can determine if the focus, colour balance, and exposure are good enough to pass the photos to the diagnostic algorithm.

The second stage / network looks for common signs of damage related to the disease e.g. haemorrhages from burst blood vessels which may be caused by unstable blood sugar levels.

From these processes, the system is able to make a diagnosis.

How Accurate Is It?

Given the complicated nature of the medical condition, the accuracy of the system has been tested (using 900 subjects) in terms of its sensitivity, specificity and imageability. The device is reported to have scored 87% sensitivity i.e. identifying patients who have a mild version of the condition, 90% cent specificity i.e. indentifying those with no eye damage, and 96% imageability i.e. a high enough quality of image was generated to achieve a diagnosis.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

AI is being incorporated in more value adding and innovative ways to solve many problems across all industries and sectors, and as such, represents an opportunity for those businesses developing devices and systems with an AI element.

Not only does this device perform an important part of a service that hitherto required expert human input, it also frees up time that the human expert would have spent on diagnosis, thereby allowing valuable medical resources to be extended and allocated elsewhere. This demonstrates how AI can add value, save time / costs, and allow more leverage to be gained from existing services.

We already trust devices / machinery to handle many important aspects of medical care, and with this in mind, there should be no real reason to mistrust the accuracy and fitness for purpose of this system, particularly given that it has been tested, and that there will be human input at the treatment plan stage that may help to spot any errors.

AI in medical care represents an important step into the future that could bring some incredible benefits.

Uber Moves Into Bikes & Scooters

Posted on by Andy Miller

Ride-hailing service Uber, which has until recently been associated with cars, has announced a shift in focus towards bikes and scooters in order to drive growth and keep people using the platform.

The Challenges

Uber has faced a number of challenges in recent times, some of which have been of its own making. These challenges have included:

  • Congestion in inner-city areas (particularly in rush hour), the exact places where many of its customers use the service in large numbers to travel short distances. Uber itself has been accused by Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, of adding to city’s congestion problems. This has resulted in another challenge in that city for Uber – a suggested cap on the number of Uber drivers. New York has also voted to impose a temporary cap on new licences for ride-hailing vehicles in order to tackle congestion
  • Trouble over licences, the effect on revenue, and associated bad press. For example, Uber only has a 15-month provisional licence in London which was only granted on appeal this year.
  • The need to get the company into good financial shape before it is floated on the stock market, with a value of up to $70bn.
  • More bad press and potentially costly problems relating to Uber resisting court rulings giving employment rights to its drivers.
  • The opportunity of getting a substantial piece of the mobility market, but not being in the ideal position to do so.
  • The need to keep engagement of customers with the company / brand.
  • The need to drive growth in the longer term.

The Solution

The solution for Uber, according to its Boss Dara Khosrowshahi, is to diversify into bikes and scooters. The main reasons for this is that they will be more effective and efficient than cars in congested city areas, they represent a way to get another slice of the lucrative mobility market, and they can be used to help shape consumer behaviour and keep levels of engagement high.

How?

Uber has already also invested in electric scooter company Lime, invested in several bike firms over last year (including spending $200m on bike-sharing firm Jump), and added e-bikes to its app in some US cities. This has already enabled Uber to offer Jump electric bikes in eight US cities, including New York and Washington, and soon Berlin.

Playing The Longer Game

Uber has admitted that although the shift in focus will not bring short-term financial benefits, it should take the company nearer to where it wants to be in the longer term.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This is an example of a business thinking with more strategic clarity, seeing their market as the whole ‘mobility market’, and finding a relatively simple solution for themselves to position themselves for a wider share of it through diversification, and in the meantime finding a way around some of the more immovable challenges e.g. congestion.

Uber has built a brand that has married new technology with existing technologies and services (mobile use and apps with car-hailing services), has experimented with future technologies e.g. driverless cars, but has also made the headlines for less positive reasons. Users of the service simply have a basic need to get from A to B as quickly, safely, and cheaply as possible, and bikes may well prove popular, as well as addressing some environmental concerns.

Tech Tip – Get Alexa In Windows 10

Posted on by Andy Miller

Many of us are used to using Amazon’s digital voice-activated assistant for all kinds of things at home. You can also use it via Windows 10 in the office. Here’s how:

Many new computers may come with the Alexa App pre-installed. Look for the Alexa app in the Start menu or type ‘Amazon Alexa’ in the Start menu Search bar.

If your computer doesn’t support hands-free access, click the Alexa icon at the bottom of the app to call up the voice assistant.

If you don’t have the Alexa App pre-installed on your computer, you can install it:

Ensure your PC is up to date and configured with US Language settings.

Download the Alexa app and follow the installation instructions – https://www.windowscentral.com/how-install-amazon-alexa-windows-10

To show the Alexa app all the time in your Windows 10 taskbar:

Go to Windows Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Select which icons appear on the taskbar and enable Alexa.

Superfast Broadband Boosts Business and Jobs

Posted on by Andy Miller

Among the findings of a recent government report about superfast broadband in the UK are claims that superfast broadband rollout so far has led to job creation and a £12.28 benefit for firms for every £1 invested by central and local authorities.

Measurable Benefits

The Evaluation of the Economic Impact and Public Value of the Superfast Broadband Programme report, by The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), covering 2012 to 2016, claims that the fact that superfast broadband has now reached almost five million homes and businesses (Openeach puts the figure at 10 million) has provided noticeable, measurable and business and economic benefits.

Fewer Jobseekers, More Jobs

For example, according to the report, superfast broadband has driven a reduction of almost 9,000 jobseekers allowance claims, and the creation of 49,000 local jobs.

What Is Superfast Broadband?

Superfast broadband refers to connections with broadband speeds of 24 megabits per second and above.

Where?

Superfast broadband is more available in some parts of the UK than others. For example, the highest rate of superfast broadband availability is in North East England (97.19%). Also offering high rates of superfast broadband availability are South East England (97.07%) and the West Midlands (96.56%).

Unfortunately, those who live and work in Northern Ireland are currently treated to the lowest rates of availability in the UK at 87.74%.

Boost

The growth in the levels of superfast broadband availability has been given a boost by factors such as Openreach, the firm that runs the vast majority of the UK’s telecoms infrastructure, reducing the wholesale price of broadband.

This is thought to have helped take-up for superfast and fibre broadband services by homes and businesses, and given competitors e.g. Sky and TalkTalk the opportunity to reduce the cost of using the network, provided that they can get enough sign-ups.

Back in March last year, Ofcom (the telecoms regulator) announced that BT has agreed to legally separate from Openreach, which owns and operates the UK’s broadband infrastructure. This move was intended to enable greater competition among broadband providers and greater investment in the network infrastructure.

Fibre

Fibre has offered greater broadband speeds and reliability, but at the moment, most connections have fibre-optic lines up to the local street cabinet, but then copper phone lines from the cabinet to the house.

The government says that its aim is to give all of the UK full-fibre broadband (fibre to and from the cabinet) – rather than rely on broadband delivered over copper networks, by 2033.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Broadband is now an essential service for business, and businesses would obviously welcome any improvement in broadband speeds in the UK as it would undoubtedly help UK companies to become more competitive, and would boost the economy.
Unfortunately, while those who are able to benefit from superfast and (full) fibre broadband are clearly reaping the benefits, this is not the case in many areas of the UK. For example, in April this year, a survey by consumer watchdog ‘Which?’ has revealed that more than half of UK customers across 12 providers, are having problems with their broadband service or price.

Although this latest government announcement paints a positive picture of superfast broadband in the UK, the UK is now only at 35th place in the global average broadband speed league tables. This is because it has been too late in embracing a full-fibre solution – FTTP (fibre to the premises). Many critics have pointed to UK infrastructure provider Openreach shying away from FTTP because of the perceived costs and level of difficulty of large-scale rollouts.

For the time being then, UK businesses have to rely on the slower FTTC (fibre to the cabinet), and this has put UK businesses at a competitive disadvantage with businesses in many other European countries.

Major improvements to broadband speeds for UK businesses in most areas are still a long way off as the UK may only actually have 7% full fibre coverage by 2020, with full coverage unlikely for another 15+ years.

Apple iPad Battery Gas Leak – Shop Evacuated

Posted on by Andy Miller

The leaking of vapours from a damaged iPad battery led to an Amsterdam shop being evacuated and 3 staff being treated for breathing problems caused by the released gas.

Fire Brigade Called

Although the fire brigade was called and attended, there were no reports of any actual flames / fire coming from the affected iPad. Staff had, however, initially reacted to the smoking iPad by putting it in a sand-filled fire bucket.

Incidents of Similar Faults

Reports online indicate that similar faults have occurred elsewhere since Apple had started its iPhone battery replacement programme e.g. as reported on the Apple news site 9to5mac. Some reports indicate Apple stores in Switzerland , Spain and Hong Kong have been evacuated and medical incidents being reported this year due to problems with combusting / fumes from iPhone batteries.

While details are patchy, the insinuation by some commentators has been that the incidents involved the batteries of phones that been brought into the shop as part of the battery replacement programme.

There have, for example, been reports from 3 years ago of old batteries giving off smoke if pierced during replacement, although it is not clear if this was the cause of the latest incident.

What Battery Replacement Programme?

Back in 2017, Apple apologised for intentionally slowing down older iPhones (Phone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 models), perhaps with a view to encouraging upgrades. Since Apple’s actions were discovered, Apple owners with older models complained of facing huge costs for upgrading, and Apple highlighted how older batteries lose power over time. This led to Apple deciding to introduce a battery replacement programme. This means that Apple will offer anyone with an iPhone 6 or above a newer battery for just £25. This represents a £54 saving.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Apple phones are widely used and valued by business people and home users alike. The revelation of Apple deliberately slowing down phones to speed up the act of customers replacing their devices with the latest (and some would say expensive) versions, blotted what had been a relatively clean copy-book. The battery replacement programme appeared to be a practical way to perhaps gain customer trust back, say sorry, and legitimately solve some battery problems.

Like many phone makers, however, the at times unpredictable and potentially dangerous behaviour of some lithium-ion batteries can cause some very unwelcome incidents and publicity e.g. the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. These incidents illustrate how important it is that all aspects of the value chain in the creation and branding of premium products are right.

There may be real hope for phone manufacturers, however, since Norwegian scientists at IFE claim to have discovered a new wonder-material, ‘SiliconX’, for phone batteries that can stabilise silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries and offer five times the charge capacity.

Google Location Tracking, Even When Switched Off?

Posted on by Andy Miller

An Associated Press report has accused Google of recording the locations of its users via their mobile devices, even when they have requested not to be tracked by turning their “Location History” off.

Discovered

The apparent tracking without permission was discovered as part of research, when a Princeton privacy researcher noticed in his account that Google has tracked his many different locations along a route after he had been travelling for several days, despite his Location History being turned off.

Also, research has revealed that, even when Location History is paused / switched off, some Google apps store time-stamped location data without specifically asking your permission. For example, Google stores data about where you are when you simply open the Maps app, automatic daily weather updates on Android can discover roughly where you are, and some searches apparently unrelated to your location can also pinpoint your exact latitude and longitude, and save it to your Google account.

Could Affect Billions

It is thought that this could affect around two billion Android and Apple devices which use Google for maps or search.

What Is “Location History” and Why Have It Anyway?

According to Google, Location History is one of several ways to improve the experience of users, and works for features such as Google Maps e.g. if you agree to let Google Maps record your location over time, it will display that history for you in a “timeline” that maps out your daily movements.

Google says that Location History helps you to find the places you’ve been and the routes you’ve travelled. Google states that, when you choose to enable Location History, it records your location data and places in your Google Account, even when you’re not using Google Maps.

What’s The Problem?

The problem is that Google also states that “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”

Also, researchers have discovered that two things (rather than one) need to be opted-out in order to prevent tracking. Users need to disable both “Location History” and “Web & App Activity” in order to opt-out. Some commentators feel that this has not been made clear by Google.

The Issues

The issues with this are that:

– In the UK, for example, this may constitute a lack of transparency, openness and fairness under GDPR about what users are being told is happening to their data and what is actually happening.

– Users appear to have chosen to opt-out of something / not give their consent to something that relates to their privacy and the security of their personal data, and yet have not been opted-out completely by the company (possible issues of GDPR compliance).

– Some commentators have described it as ‘sneaky’ and it could certainly be an issue that affects the trust of users.

– Location data of this kind has been used by police (in the US) to track suspects, and could also potentially be used by other players e.g. cyber criminals if they had access to the user’s account. This could put users at risk.

– Location data can also be used to target people with location-based advertising. This may be something that users would like to avoid.

What Can You Do To Avoid Being Tracked In This Way?

The Associated Press has produced a guide which details what actions you can take to avoid being tracked by Google, even if your Location History on your mobile device is paused / turned off: The guide can be found here: https://www.apnews.com/b031ee35d4534f548e43b7575f4ab494/How-to-find-and-delete-where-Google-knows-you’ve-been

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story should be a reminder, particularly since the introduction of GDPR, that people value their privacy and security, and that businesses now have a strong legal responsibility to take this seriously. Transparency, fairness, and openness are vital when telling your customers what you’re doing /what you plan to do with their data. The issue of consent i.e. your customers choosing to withdraw consent and your business complying fully with those requests should be now be treated very seriously, and there must be consistency with what your company says it is going to do and what actually happens.

Sadly, it appears that all too often, large organisations / companies don’t appear to be handling our data in a way that we would like or have requested. For example, Facebook’s sharing of the personal data of 87 million users with Cambridge Analytica caused widespread outrage, and recently the ‘Deceived By Design’ report by the Norwegian government-funded Consumer Council has accused tech giants Microsoft, Facebook and Google of being unethical by leading users into selecting settings that do not benefit their privacy.

It may be that we have to wait a little longer and see a few more big tech companies being properly held to account before things start to really change for the better for users.