>You can turn off the collection of location data for Google.
If you have an android phone, please try turning off the location service and see what happens.
The sheer number of dark patterns google uses to get you to turn it back on is illuminating.
I remember in the early versions of android, you could turn on/off the gps from the lock screen. Then one day it went away and was only available once the phone was unlocked. Now it's hidden inside the settings app. The cynic in me guesses that a future update will turn that option off as well.
That's the icon I was talking about. It was present on my Nexus 5 with Android 6 (marshmallow), but disappeared when I upgraded to android 7 (nougat) and there's no way I can see to bring it back. It's possible that other carriers have it enabled, but google's flagship phones have it disabled.
If you have an android phone, please try turning off the location service and see what happens. The sheer number of dark patterns google uses to get you to turn it back on is illuminating.
I remember in the early versions of android, you could turn on/off the gps from the lock screen. Then one day it went away and was only available once the phone was unlocked. Now it's hidden inside the settings app. The cynic in me guesses that a future update will turn that option off as well.