Google collects cell tower info even if location services are disabled

Re:Google collects cell tower info even if location services... by mattrices on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @02:06PM (#15750591)

Google can use user prediction to guess which account you are with your browser, ip, ism, mac address, and other persistant metadata. Its how their whole 'you signed in from a new location' security scheme works.

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Re:Google collects cell tower info even if location services... by londons_explore on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @09:12PM (#15753648)

'you signed in from a new location' uses a cookie that remains after signout.

Clear cookies, and you'll see it again.

In Chrome, it also uses the TLS Client Channel ID, which is a persistent unique identifier established between a browser and a server which (on capable platforms) is derived from a key stored in a hardware security module, making it hard to steal. Ie. if you clone the hard drive of a computer, when you use the clone, Google will know you are a suspicious person, even though you have all the right cookies.

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Re:Google collects cell tower info even if location services... by j_s on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @11:30PM (#15754251)

Thanks for the heads-up re: TLS Client Channel ID.

Sounds like another reason to limit my personal use of Google's Chrome browser.

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Re:Google collects cell tower info even if location services... by thisacctforreal on Tuesday November 21, 2017 @07:47PM (#15753196)

Sure, but why would they re-center the map for a logged-out device, even if they can tell it's overwhelmingly likely that it's the same user?

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