Google Is Tracking You, According to Google Execs

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Even amid refuting accusations of smartphone tracking, internal emails among Google execs reveal that location is important to the company, and that they are, indeed, using phone location data for their purposes.

Both Google and Apple are currently in hot water over location-tracking issues, after security researchers discovered that both platforms store location data and even send these back to homebase for analysis. While both Google and Apple have issued statements clarifying that these are only used to improve location-based app performance, recent email exchanges disclosed to the public reveal otherwise.

Google is currently in court battle with Skyhook, a competitor in location-based services. As part of evidence, email exchanges were submitted to court, and these were subsequently obtained by the San Jose Mercury News. In the emails, now-CEO Larry Page, Android head Andy Rubin, and other officers exchange emails that stress the importance of obtaining and tracking location data from phones that run Android.

While caching and transmitting location data does help with the performance of location-based apps, it’s also a potential privacy threat, since companies also use it to target advertisements and marketing. The bigger issue here is whether the companies use the data for something more serious than advertising.