While the nation's are fighting very hard to control the ongoing corona disease, Google has came forward to support the government Authorities by sharing the location data of users in an anonymized way meaning, it will not expose the exact user but it will share in such a way that more people are in this area to control the spread of virus, Google said in a blog post published today titled "Helping public health officials combat COVID-19"..
If you have any question like what will happen? will my locations will be shared, then Google assures you don't need to panic. Because all the information is sent in anonymized way and will not reveal personal information at any point.
Here is what Google Says..
Even though Google was criticized for being the biggest data collector in this world next to government, sharing this information at this moment is much welcomed by Many countries in this world, as it will help a lot to control the spread of virus and We hope the data will be anonymized as google claimed.
In the mean time, if you don't want your data to be shared then you can turn off the location history on your Google account, as the only data that is going to be shared are of users who have turned on location history on their device, which is off by default.
However, if you want to delete your entire location history, then you can delete it from timeline.
Be safe :)
If you have any question like what will happen? will my locations will be shared, then Google assures you don't need to panic. Because all the information is sent in anonymized way and will not reveal personal information at any point.
Here is what Google Says..
The reports use aggregated, anonymized data to chart movement trends over time by geography, across different high-level categories of places such as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations, workplaces, and residential. We’ll show trends over several weeks, with the most recent information representing 48-to-72 hours prior. While we display a percentage point increase or decrease in visits, we do not share the absolute number of visits. To protect people’s privacy, no personally identifiable information, like an individual’s location, contacts or movement, is made available at any point.
Even though Google was criticized for being the biggest data collector in this world next to government, sharing this information at this moment is much welcomed by Many countries in this world, as it will help a lot to control the spread of virus and We hope the data will be anonymized as google claimed.
In the mean time, if you don't want your data to be shared then you can turn off the location history on your Google account, as the only data that is going to be shared are of users who have turned on location history on their device, which is off by default.
However, if you want to delete your entire location history, then you can delete it from timeline.
Be safe :)
