Updated 7:50 pm Added links to Steve Jobs talking about location privacy.
Google said Friday that it collected location data from Android phones, but that it did so anonymously and with user consent. The company said it gathered the data to provide services like maps and searches for shops or restaurants near a person’s location. The company said it also used the information to estimate traffic on various roads.
“Phones know where you are, and they need to for many of the services we offer,” said Mike Nelson, a Google spokesman.
Mr. Nelson was responding to a growing controversy that erupted Wednesday, when researchers reported that Apple’s iPhone and iPad stored the places visited by a user in an unencrypted file in the phone, and later on the user’s computer when the phone or tablet was synced. Further reports said the data was being transmitted to Apple, albeit anonymously.
While many privacy advocates and iPhone users said they were alarmed by the discovery, some security experts said they believed Apple was collecting the data not to track users but to be able to pinpoint a phone’s location more quickly, saving bandwidth and battery life, when their owners used location-based services like maps and navigation. Some also said Google was collecting similar data and also storing it on phones.
Apple declined to comment. (Last year, Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said that unlike many competitors in Silicon Valley, Apple takes privacy very seriously. He singled out location as an area of particular concern. “Privacy means people know what they are signing up for,” Mr. Jobs said. “In plain English and repeatedly. That’s what it means.” (Watch the video of the interview.)
Mr. Nelson said that while Google tied the location to a unique identifier, it did not link it to a person. Some privacy advocates, however, believe that given a phone’s movements, it would be easy to identify the person to whom it belongs.
While many cellphone owners believe that the services that pinpoint their location on smartphones rely on GPS technology, more often than not, companies like Google and Apple identify a phone’s location by comparing the names and strengths of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots against a database of Wi-Fi hotspots. The technique was pioneered by Skyhook Wireless. Apple initially relied on Skyhook’s technology.
But over time, Google and Apple began building their own databases of Wi-Fi hotspots. Google did so with its StreetView cars. And both companies do so by using their customers’ phones as sensors.
Still, some wondered why the companies needed to store information on users’ phones.
“We do not store info on the phone,” said Michael Shean, the co-founder and senior vice president of business development at Skyhook. Mr. Shean said it too used data from users’ phones to update its database of Wi-Fi hotspots. But he said it only looked up the information when a location-based application asked for it, as when, a camera application tried to geotag a photo. “We only do a location look up when an application requests it,” he said.
Mr. Shean said pinpointing location through Wi-Fi hotspots was often more accurate than through cell towers, and easier than through GPS. He said it complemented GPS well, since the satellite-based system often did not work well in streets surrounded by tall buildings or in indoor locations.
