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So Google is now preventing people from removing location data from photos taken with Pixel phones. (mediacdn.aus.social)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by ajsadauskas@aus.social to c/technology@lemmy.ml

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So Google is now preventing people from removing location data from photos taken with Pixel phones.

Remember when Google's corporate motto was "don't be evil?"

Obviously, accurate location data on photos is more useful to a data mining operation like Google.

From Google: "Important: You can only update or remove estimated locations. If the location of a photo or video was automatically added by your camera, you can't edit or remove the location."

It's enshitification in action.

Source: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6153599?hl=en&sjid=8103501961576262529-AP

#technology #tech @technology #business #enshitification #Android #Google @pluralistic #infosec

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[–] alan@kolektiva.social 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology @pluralistic I have the current Pixel. Updated Android this morning. The camera app still has a toggle for this.

Sounds like this is more about not being able to remove the metadata in the file in Google Photos, only the metadata stored by the app (outside the file) itself. I'm not sure Google Photos had a way to strip the metadata from the file before.

[–] ajsadauskas@aus.social 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@alan @technology @pluralistic Go into Google Photos.

Open a recent photo you've taken with your camera.

Scroll down to the toggle to edit the location data, tap it, and see what happens.

[–] dotproto@toot.cafe 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

@ajsadauskas @alan @technology @pluralistic You're talking about Photos, not the camera app. You can disable location data collection in the camera app: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/9921876?hl=en#zippy=%2Cgoogle-devices

Cameras write location data to the image itself as metadata. If they're using a content addressable storage system, they can't update this data without changing the underlying image itself. Seems like edits in Photos are stored separate from the image itself. Editing image metadata may require architectural changes.

[–] jenned@mstdn.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @alan @technology @pluralistic Location is always off on my phone. Location data on photos only has option to add a location.
Yes, I have tape over my PC and tablet cameras, and access to mics is off, too. 🤷‍♀️

[–] flowerpot@mas.to 1 points 2 years ago

@jenned @ajsadauskas @alan @technology @pluralistic Same (post-it note over cameras). I forgot about the mic settings. BRB