Google's location tracking could bring scrutiny from Congress, regulators

Google is drawing fire from the privacy community for quietly tracking the location of smartphone users -- even when they took specific steps to prevent the tech giant from doing so. Google services on Android devices and iPhones stored users’ location data even if they turned off the setting known as “Location History.”  The move could bring the company new attention from lawmakers. Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has already spoken out, saying on Twitter, "Google’s relentless obsession with following our every movement is encroaching  & creepy. I’ve called for an FTC investigation into its persistent privacy invasions." Sen Blumenthal and Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) asked the FTC to look into Google's location tracking earlier in 2018, so the issue is likely already on the commission's radar. And on Aug 17, the nonpartisan Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, told the FTC in a letter that Google’s practice violates a 2011 settlement between Google and the FTC requiring the company to be transparent about the data it collects on users.