Yet another reason to disable GPS and location history (and any other functionality you use infrequently) when not actively necessary.
And no one quite knows why, other than "because we can". There is Google Maps, but when I'm not using it, when exactly is this orwellian infrastructure to my benefit and not exclusively Googles?
While a true statement, it’s unfortunate how broad of a license it ultimately provides.
Did I make mistakes in the above paragraph? Probably. But you know what, that's Google's fault, because it sure isn't clear what they aren't and are doing, who can and can't use it, and what I can can't opt out of.
That's the really frustrating part, here. It's purposely obfuscated and changing - similar to Facebook's privacy settings - to keep you on your toes even if you are in the tiny percentage of the population that actually cares. Most won't until something panicky / headliney happens to make them care. I'm kind of glad the EU is making life tough for American tech companies with regards to privacy (even though I work for American tech companies).
As mentioned in the article, Google was previously caught tracking people even when they had location, data, and Wi-Fi turned off. We just have to take their word now that they don't do it anymore, and the word of a big profit driven corporation that has been implicated in PRISM and previously tracked people isn't worth too much.
Furthermore, even if Google doesn't track you the cell phone companies still know which tower your cell phone was connected to, so they know your location within three miles at all times. It's not as precise as GPS info, but the police could still ask the cell phone companies to give them a list of phone accounts that were visible to a specific set of cell phone towers at a particular set of times.
1. WeChat. This is made completely useless without internet connectivity.
2. Kindle. This is totally unaffected by internet connectivity.
3. Pleco (a Chinese-English dictionary). The only internet-using feature here is the addon store. Again, totally unaffected.
4. Reading my email. Impossible without the internet connection.
5. OsmAnd. Requires the GPS, but doesn't need or use the internet connection.
6. The camera. Again, no need or use for the internet connection.
What's the point, indeed?
You can carry a phone inside a Faraday cage, or a phone without those radios. I think this remains consistent with my comment.
[Citation Needed]
While your location can absolutely still be tracked (via WiFi, Cell Towers, etc), disabling GPS significantly reduces the accuracy of this tracking, and disabling location history makes it even more difficult to freely track you.
While it's certainly possible Google maintains location history even after you opt out, doing so would likely be illegal, would possibly invalidate any data obtained from a warrant, and would unquestionably be a PR fiasco for Google when it got out.
As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that GPS continues to function after turning off the software kill switch.