Privacy and Location

Remember the good ol' days when privacy was just that - private? No? Well, you may be a millennial. But ever since Google came blasting onto the scene with their free services where they collected information about you and me in order to sell that information to third-party advertisers. Once Google made this process their modus operandi and swiftly made more money than most of us - heck, more than some nation-states - everyone else quickly jumped on board.

This platform isn't necessarily bad for the user as long as the user [1] knows what's going on, [2] has control over what data is collected, or [3] has the ability to opt-out, even if that means incurring a fee. For example, I pay for a GSuite account. I'm paying money for a service through my own personal domain. Should Google also make money on the backend with my personal data? According to the United States Congress, everyone should be allowed to make money off your personal data, even if you'd rather they not.

Only time will tell if ISPs (internet service providers) will voluntarily allow opting out of such data collection or, at the very least, provide some sort of information control such as Google and Microsoft provide.

https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-10-location-and-privacy

Speaking of Microsoft, did you know that you cannot use the Cortana function that's baked into the Windows 10 without having location data turned on? This is true even for desktop computers that might not travel three inches in three years. Yes, that's right: you cannot use Cortana for searches or to add information to your office apps without giving Microsoft your exact location at all times.

Google does this as well, except Google will also work with your general location as determined by wifi and cell tower triangulation. Cortana, not so much.


Now, if you're one of those people who doesn't believe a corporation should know all your private data, such as location and web histories then you're in luck: ethical companies are giving you the ability to control, or at least erase, what they collect about you. They don't have to make it easy to find, though. Google does a fairly decent job if you know where to look. They place all their settings access under https://myaccount.google.com/privacy .

Microsoft, also makes privacy easy to access. At least in Windows 10, it does:

Windows ➡ Settings ➡Privacy

Heck, Microsoft even allows you to choose certain privacy settings based on individual apps. So, for example, if you don't want Instagram knowing your location, you can turn that off but still leave location data available to Cortana - or vice-versa. 

Yes, it's a pain in the butt to go through each setting and determine which is the best course of action for your own needs, but it's a burden we must all bear in this, our modern society.

Info:

https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement

http://choice.microsoft.com/en-us/opt-out

https://account.microsoft.com/privacy?ref=privacy-bingpers#/

https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-10-location-and-privacy