Comment by joshuamorton
8 years ago
>It's very useful information, but I do not recall an explicit prompt about Google collecting my location history in this way.
You did.
It sounds like you want something different than transparency about when information is collected, but instead you want transparency about what information is used to give you a specific feature.
For example, you opted into location history a long time ago (likely), should Google again ask for your permission every time they add a new feature that takes advantage of your location history information? (assuming said features don't affect the privacy of your data)
That seems like a very strange onus.
> instead you want transparency about what information is used to give you a specific feature
Not OP, but - sure, why not? It would be really nice to have that. Especially if it wasn't the meaningless kind of transparency, "we use your location data as well as past interests to provide this feature", but something concrete - "we use regular GPS/cellular/wifi location updates to determine places where you've stayed for longer and correlate that with your recent searches in Google, as well as visits to venue sites that use Google Analytics".
(Personally, I'd be fine with such concrete announcements popping up the first time you use the app after a new feature was added, and if a feature is something one might want to not use, I'd be happy with it being opt-out. Just don't surprise people with application suddenly doing new things by itself, without much prior warning.)
>Not OP, but - sure, why not?
Because if we lived in that reality, you'd end up complaining about how Google was sending you unwanted marketing emails about new features multiple times per week, and I'd be arguing that they were emails discussing new privacy updates.
Not to say that no one would want that, but as someone who does, by way of working at Google, more or less get emails similar to the technical descriptions of newly released features you want, very few of them are relevant to me.
> you'd end up complaining about how Google was sending you unwanted marketing emails about new features multiple times per week
Maybe they'd combat the perception I have of Google - that they just do UI redesign every couple of months, which more often than not lose useful features than add anything of value.
You say you get lots of those e-mails internally; I'd love to know where Google is actually adding all those features - because it definitely doesn't seem to be Inbox, or GMail, or Google Maps.
Actually, if you’re in the EU then GDPR makes that explicit: consent for the use of collected data must be tied to granular functionality. You can’t now collect data and use it for indiscriminate purposes.
I think (keyword think) you have that a bit mixed up. additional functionality using the same data is fine. But you cannot collect data without a specific use case. "Future features" might be a legit use, but then people should be able to opt out.
I don’t believe you’re right (though I’m welcome to be proved wrong). Assuming the consent basis, GDPR requires that consent needs to be for a given set of data and a defined processing model. You can’t process the same data in a different way without getting new consent, and you can’t collect data indiscriminately. So saying “additional functionality using the same data is fine” is true if and only if your original consent was wide enough to include that additional processing, but consent needs to be “granular” at the same time. Tbh it’s all a bit up in the air at the moment until some case law happens. Also obviously if you’re using a different basis then none of this applies.