this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2023

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So Google is now preventing people from removing location data from photos taken with Pixel phones. (mediacdn.aus.social)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml

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So Google is now preventing people from removing location data from photos taken with Pixel phones.

Remember when Google's corporate motto was "don't be evil?"

Obviously, accurate location data on photos is more useful to a data mining operation like Google.

From Google: "Important: You can only update or remove estimated locations. If the location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you can't edit or remove the location."

It's enshitification in action.

Source: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6153599?hl=en&sjid=8103501961576262529-AP

#technology #tech @technology #business #enshitification #Android #Google @pluralistic #infosec

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[–] mxk@hachyderm.io 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic when using stock pixel android, Google does not need the location from Fotos to have your location data.
On the other side, Google is actually building pretty cool things still under NDA to prevent location data to leak to other apps
.
If you don't trust Google, don't use Android with Google services. It always has been that simple.

[–] tenet@defcon.social 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@mxk @ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic Stop apologizing for the shitty behavior of fucking billionaires. They are not your friend. They do not care about you. They don't know you exist.

"Just don't use it!" is the cry of ever braindead fanboy out there.

Do better.

[–] mxk@hachyderm.io 1 points 2 years ago (5 children)

@tenet @ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic well, there are trust models.
Its a simple question if your trust model includes google or if it does not.
Talking about "friends" is silly here, it's not about that.

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[–] rickf@indieweb.social 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic @amyegan Insanity.

[–] stufromoz@aus.social 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic @reselsnark if you want to remove location data from photos, open them in the standard paint on a windows computer and save. It kills a lot of metadata

[–] jonhendry@iosdev.space 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic

Probably also useful for AI data sets.

[–] YurkshireLad@mastodon.social 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic My previous phone was a Pixel 2. My new phone is an iPhone as I've had enough of Google. Not that Apple is perfect. It's all levels of evil really.

[–] analogfusion@mastodon.art 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic That is really evil. I have a Pixel 4a, but I'm running GrapheneOS for security.

[–] miah@hachyderm.io 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic I recommend ObscuraCam. It can remove metadata from existing photos, detect and obscure faces, and take photos without metadata.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.witness.sscphase1

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[–] alex_02@infosec.exchange 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic this is going to backfire on them.

[–] RassilonianLegate@mstdn.social 1 points 2 years ago (7 children)

@ajsadauskas

@technology @pluralistic

And with that I continue to inch closer and closer to giving up and getting a linux phone...

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[–] prashmohan@discuss.systems 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic I have no personal knowledge of the matter, but it reminds me of the quote - "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence"

[–] agarbathi@squeet.me 1 points 2 years ago

@pluralistic @ajsadauskas that's why I would never use a Google Phone.

[–] b_cavello@mastodon.publicinterest.town 1 points 2 years ago

@technology @ajsadauskas @pluralistic image description:
Google instructions on how to edit or remove an estimated location from a photo reading
“Important: You can only update or remove estimated locations. If the location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you can't edit or remove the location.”

[–] morpheo@kolektiva.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas
can you use a different photo app?
@technology @pluralistic

[–] morpheo@kolektiva.social 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas
...and would it make any difference?
@technology @pluralistic

[–] hgrsd@hachyderm.io 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic

Better make sure you turn off location data and location estimates in your settings before it's too late.

Google Photos > Settings > Location > Location Sources

[–] efi@chitter.xyz 1 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic do we have start lawyering for exif data to be owned by the author???

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