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What I find particularly aggravating about that is the UX dark pattern they've utilised for the dialogue. I forget the exact wording, but rather than "Would you like to switch on Google's location service? [Yes] [No]", it's something like "To continue, enable Google's location service. [OK] [Cancel]" - implying that you need to switch it on to do what you wanted to.

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Not surprising.

Your lifetime value for Google multiplies when they can track your location. They learn where you live/work, how you commute, who you hang out with, whether and where you travel, when you get sick, etc.

Much of it can be approximated by looking at your searches alone, but the correlation with your location record yields much higher accuracy.

I am SOOO glad that in iOS 11 I'll be able to force apps to only get my location data when they're running (e.g. Waze). Right now some of these apps can get location data because they the app only presents old-style privacy controls (all the time / not at all).

I'm sure the calculator app that requested my location, camera, microphone, and list of running apps is streaming it to some ad/analytics company.

The dark pattern I remember they use is hiding the "No" button if you mark the "don't ask me again" checkbox.

Scumbags through and through.

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