Google to let users opt out of location data collection

In a bid to play nice with European regulatory authorities, Google announced yesterday that it will soon launch an opt-out option for owners of wireless access points the company uses to gather smartphone location data.

"Even though the wireless access point signals we use in our location services don't identify people, we think we can go further in protecting people's privacy," Google global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer wrote in a blog post. "At the request of several European data protection authorities, we are building an opt-out service that will allow an access point owner to opt out from Google's location services. Once opted out, our services will not use that access point to determine users' locations."

Google has come under fire as of late for its collection of location data from wireless access points. The issue relates to problems with GPS on smartphones. According to Google, since GPS is not always available, and many applications, including Google Maps for Mobile, require location data to work, the company, like many others, must use another method to determine a person's location. Since location data from cell towers isn't "very accurate," Google says, it has instead decided to access "publicly broadcast Wi-Fi data from wireless access points to improve our location-based services."

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20106029-17/google-to-let-users-opt-out-of-location-data-collection/#ixzz1Xwglstwh