Pete Voss, a Google spokesman, said the virus alert apps that use the company’s software do not use device location. Once Android users turn on location, however, Google may determine their precise locations, using Wi-Fi, mobile networks and Bluetooth beacons, through a setting called Google Location Accuracy, and use the data to improve location services. Apple, which does not require iPhone users of the virus apps to turn on location, declined to comment on Google’s location practices. The Android location requirement underscores a troubling power imbalance between governments and two tech giants that dominate the mobile market, some security and privacy experts said. Google and Apple, for instance, bar government virus apps using their technology from tracking users’ locations.

Source: New York Times July 20, 2020 19:18 UTC