Being stalked by Google

Date November 12, 2009

Here’s a sample of Google now tracking my movements, via Google Location History and Latitude. Who would’ve thought that it would come to this a few years ago, back when they were just a cool new search engine?

I’m sure this will shortly prompt a slew of articles about privacy and how much personal information Google stores about you, even though this is very much an opt-in services. Not to mention the dramatic increase in transparency that (also recently released) Google Dashboard now offers. Personally, I’m not too concerned.

On a related theme, this is also a great way to track exactly how much time I spend on motionless trains between Flinders St and Richmond or North Melbourne. Thanks again Connex!

Google Latitude tracking my travels

Google Latitude tracking my travels

Note that this is from the Blackberry Bold app, which is able to run and update my location in the background. For things to really get useful, my iPhone needs to come up with a way to do this too. To be honest though, I think that this is the only point so far that has been awarded to the Blackberry – it’s pretty hopeless at everything else.

Category Posted in Tech

  • jennigan
    That's kind of cool. I'm not really sure if I like the idea of being tracked in real life as well as online, too. Isn't it enough that Google knows what I search for and what my emails and waves are about? It really doesn't need to know when I leave work and where I go out or how often I go out... This is like a bizarre real-life/sci-fi crossover.
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