Google Admitted Tracking Users' Location Even When Phone Setting Disabled

If you are considering, or already have, a smartphone running Google's Android operating system (OS), then take note. ZDNet reported (emphasis added):

"Phones running Android have been gathering data about a user's location and sending it back to Google when connected to the internet, with Quartz first revealing the practice has been occurring since January 2017. According to the report, Android phones and tablets have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers and sending the encrypted data back, even when the location tracking function is disabled by the user... Google does not make this explicitly clear in its Privacy Policy, which means Android users that have disabled location tracking were still being tracked by the search engine giant..."

This is another reminder of the cost of free services and/or cheaper smartphones. You're gonna be tracked... extensively... whether you want it or not. The term "surveillance capitalism" is often used.

A reader shared a blunt assessment, "There is no way to avoid being Google’s property (a/k/a its bitch) if you use an Android phone." Harsh, but accurate. What is your opinion?