In news that should be taken with a grain of salt, computer technology company Oracle has made claims to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Digital Platforms Inquiry that Google is tracking Android phones and then using customers own data allowances to report it back to their servers.
According to a report on News.com.au Oracle claims that ACCC chairman Rod Sims has been briefed by Oracle, who say that user location data is tracked by Google and then sent back to their servers using up to 1GB of data every month. The data is apparently used to help target users for advertising according to their location.
The sending of data can’t be stopped unless the phone is turned off, with News saying:
The Oracle experts say phone owners’ data ends up being consumed even if Google Maps is not in use or aeroplane mode is switched on. Nor will removing the SIM card stop it from happening. Only turning off a phone prevents monitoring.
Mr Sims has told News Corp Australia that the ACCC is looking into it, describing the presentation by Oracle as “extremely interesting” and “valuable input”
Oracle is of course in the middle of an ongoing lawsuit against Google in the US with regards to Google supposedly using protected Java APIs in Android. Google claims they developed ‘cleanroom’ versions, however the lawsuit has gone on for some time and after a trip on appeal by Oracle to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in March, Google was found to have infringed upon their copyright. The case is due to head back to a lower court to decide damages, however Google is expected to appeal.
Making claims against Google of this nature seems to be an unusual way of rattling sabers. The claims of Google tracking your location data is dragged out regularly, this is the first time that the link to using customer data allowances has been made. The ACCC is currently looking into the claims as part of the Digital Platforms Inquiry.
Google has never hidden the fact that they are tracking your location, you can see your location history in Maps by going to ‘My Timeline’. You can also choose to delete that data by going to ‘myactivity.google.com‘.
Oracle are already the laughing stock of the tech world. Their execs are just amazing sales people and seem to know exactly who within the Government they should take to dinner and play golf with. Every time you hear of Government overspending on under-performing tech then odds are Oracle were involved. It’s an enormous farce, they’re incompetent on the grandest scale. Oracle reporting this publicly to the ACCC is pretty embarrassing and once again highlights that Oracle really don’t have a clue. Of course Google tracks your phone by default, it’s called Location History, it’s clearly visible in the Google… Read more »
you have got to be kidding right? of course google tracks your location – this isn’t something new. how do you think the majority of their services work as well as they do?!? for example how does maps know which traffic alert to give you. secondly, and most importantly, how do people think google receives your location data for use in the services they provide you? carrier pigeon…? google is a “cloud” company. all their computing and “magic” happens in the cloud. not on your device. your device doesn’t magically have all the traffic data and process what it needs… Read more »
yeah and seeing last month I used 600MB I call this bull
yeh, i was watching the “tech expert” on the news this morning regurgitating the 1gig data use…..what a load of crap, and anyone who thinks google don’t track your phone are seriously naive. they probably think its magic when google asks you to review that country cafe that you just went to and the traffic info comes from people phoning a hotline with their average speed on the roads.
Yep, I know they track my movements it is very obvious, my data usage never really goes beyond 1.5 gb a month and I can see where all that data was used, moving way below 1gb then yeah they are full of it.
Also you have to wonder how this magic data is being sent if your phone has the sim removed as they say and not on wifi…