Google caught tracking phone users even when location tracking permission is denied

Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. "There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people's experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services," a Google spokesperson said in a statement to the AP. But leaving "Web & App Activity" on and turning "Location History" off only prevents Google from adding your movements to the "timeline," its visualization of your daily travels. With Location History off, Google Maps and other apps store your whereabouts in a section of your account called "My Activity," not "Location History." Sean O'Brien, a Yale Privacy Lab researcher with whom the AP shared its findings, said it is "disingenuous" for Google to continuously record these locations even when users disable Location History.