Jennifer Valentino-Devries | The Seattle Times

August 19, 2020 at 12:18 am

How your phone is used to track you during coronavirus pandemic, and what you can do about it

Even anonymous location information can be revealing, as the data can show intimate details like trips to doctor’s offices and outings with romantic partners. The...

Nation & World

May 3, 2020 at 12:01 pm

A scramble for coronavirus apps that do no harm

Dozens of tracking apps for smartphones are being used or developed to help contain the coronavirus pandemic. But there are worries about privacy and hastily...

FILE — People use their phones on a subway platform in New York, Jan. 9, 2017. The Federal Communications Commission voted on Feb. 28, 2020, to fine T-Mobile, AT&T and two other cellphone carriers more than $200 million for selling customers’ location data to companies that allowed it to be misused by rogue law enforcement officers and others. (Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times) XNYT135 XNYT135

February 28, 2020 at 6:59 pm

Phone carriers face $200 million in fines for not protecting consumers’ location data; T-Mobile fine would be the highest

The proposed penalties are among the largest the FCC has sought in years, and come after the data was misused by rogue law enforcement officers...

January 24, 2020 at 3:57 pm

Have a search warrant for data? Google wants you to pay

Facing an increasing number of requests for its users’ information, Google began charging law enforcement and other government agencies this month for legal demands seeking...

Business

April 13, 2019 at 1:31 pm

Google’s Sensorvault is a boon for law enforcement. This is how it works.

Location History is not on by default. Google prompts users to enable it when they are setting up certain services — traffic alerts in Google...

Nation & World

April 13, 2019 at 9:43 am

Tracking phones, Google is a dragnet for the police

The warrants, which draw on an enormous Google database employees call Sensorvault, turn the business of tracking cellphone users’ locations into a digital dragnet for...

Nation & World