Ideas for an exercise to show you what info your phone is collecting

November 26, 2017 7:55 PM

I'm conducting an exercise where people will check settings on their phone and (hopefully) be shocked and horrified at the insane amount of information their phone is collecting about them. I would love links to stories that show (e.g.) how apple and google track locations, browsing history etc. The idea would be to collect the information and tally it up.
posted by Sebmojo to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

iPhones track Frequent Locations, and the list and map can be viewed here:

Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations
posted by sacrifix at 8:11 PM on November 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

for android go here (full browser may be easier): https://www.google.com/maps/timeline

i'd suggest clicking all the way down to a month/day and see how scarily it knows exactly where you were walking/driving and where you stopped.
posted by noloveforned at 8:16 PM on November 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

and google has details on your web and app usage here: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
posted by noloveforned at 8:17 PM on November 26, 2017

Looks like Frequent Locations on iPhone has been renamed/replaced by Significant Locations (possibly for iOS 11?); same Settings location, however.
posted by lesser weasel at 8:56 PM on November 26, 2017

Note: You can turn off many of these settings. It may be helpful to show default settings vs locked down.

Also maybe useful to illustrate how unique a given browser can be and how many websites track of that (eg, you are using chrome x.x with these extensions on this kind of phone with cookies from these sites).
posted by typecloud at 7:14 AM on November 27, 2017

Or read this thread for an unique app case: https://twitter.com/GaryPendergast/status/933543456982450176
(Smartphone app that uses mechanical turkey/people to type in your information)
posted by typecloud at 9:09 AM on November 27, 2017