Every step you take

27. november, 2018

How deceptive design lets Google track users 24/7

In this report, we look at how Google continuously tracks the location of its
users through a number of different technologies. This tracking is implemented
and enabled through the features “Location History” and “Web & App Activity”.
These settings are integrated into all Google accounts as a personalisation
feature, and are also used to facilitate targeted advertising.

We argue that consumers are deceived into being tracked when they use
Google services. This happens through a variety of techniques, including
withholding or hiding information, deceptive design practices, and bundling of
services. We argue that these practices are unethical, and that they in our
opinion are in breach of European data protection legislation because they fail
to fulfill the conditions for lawful data processing