Google Urged to Stop Tracking Location Data Ahead of Roe Reversal
Lawmakers argue Android phone data could be “weaponized against women” if the US Supreme Court officially overturns abortion protections. MORE THAN 40 Democratic members of Congress called on Google to stop collecting and retaining customer location data that prosecutors could use to identify women who obtain abortions. “We are concerned that, in a world in which abortion could be made illegal, Google’s current practice of collecting and retaining extensive records of cell phone location data will allow it to become a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care. That’s because Google stores historical location information about hundreds of millions of smartphone users, which it routinely shares with government agencies,” Democrats wrote May 24 in a letter led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). The letter was sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Specifically, Google should stop collecting “unnecessary customer location data” or “any non-aggregate location data about individual customers, whether in identifiable or anonymized form. Google cannot allow its online advertising-focused digital infrastructure to be weaponized against women,” lawmakers wrote. They also told Google that people who use iPhones “have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices.” The draft Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade could be followed by strict limits or bans on abortion in many states, and Democrats wrote that “Republicans in Congress are already discussing passing a law criminalizing abortion in all 50 states, putting the government in control of women’s bodies.” Location Data From Android Phones In their letter, Democrats told Pichai: While Google deserves credit for being one of the first companies in America to insist on a warrant before disclosing location data to law enforcement, that is not enough. If abortion is made illegal by the far-right Supreme Court and Republican lawmakers, it is inevitable that right-wing prosecutors will obtain legal warrants to hunt down, prosecute, and jail women for obtaining critical reproductive health care. The only way to protect your customers’ location data from such outrageous government surveillance is to not keep it in the first place. Google obtains detailed information “from Android smartphones, which collect and transmit location information to Google, regardless of whether the phone is being used or which app a user has open,” they wrote. While Android users have to opt into this data collection, “Google has designed its Android operating system so that consumers can only enable third party apps to access location data if they also allow Google to receive their location data too. In contrast, Google is only able to collect location data from users of iPhones when they are using the Google Maps app,” the lawmakers wrote. We contacted Google about the letter yesterday and will update this article if we get a response. Exactly how Google’s location privacy settings work has been a matter of confusion, even for some Google employees. As we wrote in August 2020, documents from a consumer fraud suit the state of Arizona filed against Google “show that company employees knew and discussed among themselves that the company’s location privacy settings were confusing and potentially misleading.” Democrats Say iPhone Users Have More Privacy Because many of the cheaper smartphones use Android, the lawmakers warned of a “digital divide” affecting the privacy of people with low incomes: No law requires Google to collect and keep records of its customers’ every movement. Apple has shown that it is not necessary for smartphone companies to retain invasive tracking databases of their customers’ locations. Google’s intentional choice to do so is creating a new digital divide, in which privacy and security are made a luxury. Americans who can afford an iPhone have greater privacy from government surveillance of their movements than the tens of millions of Americans using Android devices. While Google uses location data to target online ads, the company often turns over the data to law enforcement officials who obtain court orders, the Democrats wrote. “This includes dragnet ‘geofence’ orders demanding data about everyone who was near a particular location at a given time,” they wrote, adding that “Google received 11,554 geofence warrants in 2020.” iPhones also use location services, though the lawmakers seem to be satisfied with Apple’s privacy promises. Among other things, Apple says that if location services are turned on, geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers are sent “in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple” to augment a “crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations.” With the Find My feature that can locate lost devices, Apple says it “retains location information and makes it accessible to you for 24 hours, after which it is deleted” and that “device location services information is stored on each individual device and Apple cannot retrieve this information from any specific device.” Post-Roe State Abortion Laws Assuming the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, there could be more state laws like the recently enacted Texas Heartbeat Act that bans abortions after it’s possible to detect a “fetal heartbeat.” The law defines that as “cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.” This effectively bans abortions after six weeks, and the state law lets private citizens file lawsuits to obtain injunctions and damages of at least $10,000 per abortion. These lawsuits could be filed against anyone who “performs or induces an abortion” that violates the Texas Heartbeat Act or anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets” an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Aiding or abetting includes “paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise, if the abortion is performed or induced in violation of this subchapter.” Civil suits can also be filed against anyone who “intends to engage in the conduct” described in the law. The Texas law doesn’t allow the exact scenario Democrats warned of in their letter, that prosecutors could jail women who obtain
\’Dragon of Death\’ Unearthed in Argentina Is One of the Largest Pterosaurs Ever Discovered
The ancient flying terrors were as large as school buses. The \\\’Dragon of Death\\\’ feasted on birds over 80 million years ago. Imagine a winged dinosaur the size of a school bus casting a massive shadow over you as it swoops down to Earth. Fossils of such a beast, dubbed the \\\”dragon of death,\\\” have been unearthed by scientists in the Andes mountains region of Argentina, according to a report by Reuters. The ancient flying reptiles roamed the skies 86 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, at around the same time as dinosaurs. The creature had a huge wingspan, measuring up to about 30-feet long. This new species is now one of the largest flying reptiles discovered worldwide, and the largest found in South America. \\\”Dragon of death\\\” is a catchy moniker stemming from the newly discovered creature\\\’s official scientific name: Thanatosdrakon amaru. The name is a combination of the ancient Greek words for death (thanatos) and dragon (drakon). \\\”It seemed appropriate to name it that way,\\\” project leader Leonardo Ortiz told Reuters. \\\”It\\\’s the dragon of death.\\\” The research was published in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research in April.
\’Stranger Things\’ or \’Obi-Wan Kenobi\’: Which Will You Watch?
Netflix and Disney Plus stream their big hitters May 27. CNET staffers make the case for Stranger Things or Star Wars. Are you Team Hawkins or Team Tatooine? The next Star Wars TV show pits Obi-Wan Kenobi against his darkest enemy, Darth Vader. But that isn\\\’t the only clash of titans on your screens right now. Rival streaming services Disney Plus and Netflix go head to head as the Obi-Wan Kenobi show and Stranger Things season 4 premiere on the very same day — today, Friday May 27. Disney Plus hadn\\\’t even debuted when Stranger Things launched on Netflix in July 2016. We\\\’ve watched the kids from Hawkins, Indiana, tackle teen angst and Upside Down monsters in this \\\’80s-influenced monster hit. By contrast, Obi-Wan Kenobi sees Star Wars star Ewan McGregor pick up his lightsaber for the first time in 17 years. And it turns out both are pretty good — CNET\\\’s Richard Trenholm calls Obi-Wan \\\”assured, pacey and … most importantly, character-driven\\\”, while CNET\\\’s Gael Cooper says season 4 of Stranger Things is \\\”the best one yet.\\\” Decisions, decisions! We asked CNET\\\’s staffers which of these two sci-fi epics they\\\’re most psyched to see. Which will you choose? Hello there Much as I love spending time in the neon glow of Stranger Things, I\\\’m extremely eager to follow old Obi-Wan Kenobi on some damned-fool idealistic crusade. Star Wars is irresistible, McGregor has only gotten better in the years since Revenge of the Sith, and director Deborah Chow helmed some of The Mandalorian\\\’s finest episodes. I\\\’d happily watch Obi-Wan just wander around Tatooine for six episodes, but it sure looks like he\\\’ll have to show some Imperials who\\\’s boss. It\\\’s going to be epic. Turn me upside down… again I love Star Wars, but I\\\’m more excited about Stranger Things. And before you boo me, let me explain. We know Obi-Wan will be fine. There\\\’s no tension, danger or mystery about what\\\’s going to happen to him. We already know he falls to Darth Vader aboard the Death Star so Luke and the crew can escape. Any tension or sense of danger within Obi-Wan\\\’s show is undercut by the fact that we know how his story plays out. The story of Eleven and the rest of our Hawkins gang, on the other hand, is a mystery. We can guess and speculate, but we don\\\’t know. I want to be at least a little surprised about what happens. That\\\’s what\\\’s pulling me to Stranger Things. A tough choice That\\\’s a tough choice. Both appeal to my Gen-X DNA. Modern Star Wars products feel so overwarmed and designed-by-committee that I can\\\’t imagine anything surprising. From the trailers, Obi-Wan (the show) looks like The Book of Boba Fett, which looked like The Mandalorian, etc. Apparently space is… mostly desert. Stranger Things does feel like it ran out of ideas after the first two seasons. Sometimes it\\\’s OK to say: \\\”We\\\’ve done enough, we\\\’ve told our story, let\\\’s go out on top.\\\” I did go to the in-person Stranger Things Experience in NYC a few weeks ago, however, so maybe I\\\’m all talk. Complaining and overanalyzing is a pivotal part of fandom, so that\\\’s just my way of saying I\\\’ll be watching both. A celebration I am really excited to watch both of these shows at some point, but Obi-Wan will absolutely be coming first, and really for me it comes down to timing. Stranger Things was one of the first horror-adjacent things I could watch with my kids, one of which is now deeply happy to sit and enjoy anything spooky. And the recent teases that this next season is going to lean darker really has me curious. But as I write this, I\\\’m double-checking the pieces of my Jedi robes I\\\’ve spent the last month assembling for the Star Wars Celebration convention happening on the same day as the release of Obi-Wan. So, obviously, that\\\’s going to be something I\\\’ll need to watch first to avoid any spoilers at the con. Help me, Obi-Wan This is probably sacrilege, but Stranger Things has never really done anything for me. Right from the start, I didn\\\’t have much emotional connection to those 1980s retro touchstones like The Goonies or Dungeons & Dragons. Maybe I\\\’m missing out, but I haven\\\’t watched it since the first season. But Ewan McGregor with a lightsaber? That is extremely my jam. Star Wars TV shows have been a mix after the excellent Mandalorian and the plodding Book of Boba Fett, but Obi-Wan is a character who just exudes that big-screen Star Wars magic. In my mind, the franchise is crying out for some of that energy. And if the first episodes aren\\\’t so great? Top Gun: Maverick is in theaters this weekend, and that\\\’s a lot of fun. It\\\’s pulling us in! Given the history, I am 100% sure that Stranger Things will be a better season of television. Besides a few dud episodes, the Duffer brothers have barely put a foot wrong with what has ultimately become one of the most influential TV shows in the short history of streaming television. I\\\’ve loved Stranger Things with every fiber of my being. But unfortunately, Star Wars is Star Wars. Like a decaying draugr, ambling awkwardly in the direction of brains, fate has decreed I must flay myself once more at the altar of George Lucas. Like most long-term Star Wars obsessives, I\\\’m duty bound to watch this show the second it drops. Also like most Star Wars fans, I\\\’m duty bound to complain about it online. I fully expect that Obi-Wan will be disappointing and underwhelming, but I will be there from day one, desperately hoping to be \\\”whelmed.\\\”
My Solution to Lost AirPods:The AirTags U1 Chip
Commentary: AirTags plus AirPods should equal a lot less frustration. The points of praise for Apple\\\’s AirPods and AirPods Pro are easy to find: simple pairing with Apple devices, solid battery life, lightweight case, good mic performance for calls. Even the design, once ridiculed, has aged well and no longer looks out of place. One thing that\\\’s really bad, though, is how hard it is to find these small white buds or their pocketable case when they are inevitably lost. As someone who has been an AirPods and AirPods Pro user for years, I can\\\’t count how many times I\\\’ve misplaced my buds. I\\\’m not a particularly forgetful person and would like to think I do a fine job keeping track of my devices, in general. AirPods, however, are just a different animal, as I experienced yet again on Thursday morning. I completely forgot where I left them, so I opened the Find My app on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, thinking I could ping them. Mistake No. 1: Apple\\\’s Find My App is great for finding missing iPhones, iPads, Macs or AirTags. It can be horrendous for finding AirPods. The app showed that they were in my apartment, which was certainly reassuring as it meant I didn\\\’t lose them while walking to play basketball at a nearby gym the night before. (Apple does have a \\\”notify when left behind\\\” feature that\\\’s nice, but not applicable to my situation.) At times, though, that is the only bit of useful information the app provides. Tapping \\\”play a sound\\\” did nothing as AirPods in the case can\\\’t always play audio — and it can be incredibly hard to hear when they do. Apple has a \\\”Find Nearby\\\” option for AirPods, but that can be similarly worthless for finding encased buds since the connection to other devices isn\\\’t consistently active. If one bud is lost, this actually can be useful as it uses Bluetooth, so it can help guide you in the right direction and the sound played from the AirPods is noticeably louder. In this instance, however, not so much. Unlike with the iPhone, iPad, AirTags, Apple Watches or the Mac, Apple\\\’s Find My app also doesn\\\’t show a battery life indicator for AirPods… so you have no idea how much charge remains before even those hints disappear I spent over an hour and a half turning my apartment inside out trying to find them. I searched through boxes, checked every pocket, looked inside the couch cushions, lifted said couch and emptied out my laundry bag. Nothing. After giving up all hope and stepping away from searching to do some work, they miraculously reappeared under the couch as I was putting the room back together. Read more: 10 AirPods Pro Tricks You Should Be Taking Advantage of Every Day While my latest episode had a happy ending, looking through Twitter I see I am far from alone in losing Apple\\\’s earbuds. A cursory search for \\\”lost AirPods\\\” finds countless examples of others sharing similar frustrations. What you need is U1? As rumors persist that Apple has a new version of AirPods Pro in the works for late 2022, I have a simple request: Apple, please put a U1 chip inside them so we can find the damn things more easily. Found in its AirTags, the U1 chip uses a technology known as ultra wideband (UWB) that allows for what Apple has called \\\”precision finding.\\\” This is how AirTags not only let you know if something is nearby but also show an arrow pointing you in the right direction and show how many feet away the AirTag is if you have a compatible iPhone (an iPhone 11 or later, excluding the iPhone SE 3). As my colleague Stephen Shankland has noted, UWB can calculate locations to \\\”within less than a half inch by measuring how long it takes super-short radio pulses to travel between devices.\\\” As anyone who has ever misplaced AirPods could likely attest, this would be a world of improvement better than Apple\\\’s current system for finding AirPods. Throw in the ability to work on the company\\\’s Find My network, and lost AirPods left behind in a park or on a bus might no longer be gone forever. Yes, I know there are some third-party cases that allow you to attach an AirTag to your AirPods, but it\\\’s time to go a step further. Add this chip into the AirPods charging case and finding missing headphones will become so much easier. If Apple can somehow squeeze a version of this technology into the actual buds, all the better, but at the very least start with putting one in the case. When Apple first introduced the U1 chip with the iPhone 11, it teased that the technology was \\\”going to lead to amazing new capabilities.\\\” This may not qualify as new, but putting the chip into AirPods would certainly, to me at least, be amazing.
