Re: geolocation services disabled and Gnome maps
On 2020-04-12, Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Du, 12 apr 20, 08:05:49, Curt wrote:
>> Surely there must be a way of stracing the Maps app in Gnome to
>> determine what it is doing and how, with a view to seeing whether the
>> OP's privacy settings are being respected or not. It does appear,
>> though, at any rate, that a 50 m radius geolocational precision is
>> feasible by IP address alone.
>
> Just to clarify, the privacy concern here is the software accessing the
> internet without explicit user consent, regardless of what it is using
That's not my understanding. I understood the OP explicitly "ran" the
Gnome Maps program, which kind of connects to the Internet by definition
(and performs fun functions other than eventually pinpointing the user
on a map).
OP:
"... when I enter the Gnome Maps application, it determines and shows my
location on the map."
https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Maps
About Maps
Maps gives you quick access to maps all across the world. We use the
collaborative OpenStreetMap database, enabling our users to make
smaller changes to places and points-of-interests.
If your privacy settings allows, Maps will use the GeoClue service to
find your location. And if you have a Facebook or Foursquare account we
allow you to check-in there.
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue/-/wikis/home
The aim of project is to utilize all possible sources of geolocation to
best find user's location:
WiFi-based geolocation (accuracy: in meters)
GPS(A) receivers (accuracy: in centimeters)
GPS of other devices on the local network, e.g smartphones (accuracy:
in centimeters)
3G modems (accuracy: in kilometers, unless modem has GPS)
GeoIP (accuracy: city-level)
GeoIP. Is that simply guessing his position via his IP address or
something else, maybe some database?
https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/privacy-location.html.en
Geolocation, or location services, uses cell tower positioning, GPS, and
nearby Wi-Fi access points to determine your current location for use in
setting your timezone and by applications such as Maps. When enabled, it
is possible for your location to be shared over the network with a great
deal of precision.
One notes that the above description of location services doesn't
include GEOIP (certainly a loophole for one of the many Philadelphia
lawyers in the group), and thus turning them off would not in principal
preclude GeoIP, though the accuracy maybe isn't constrained as asserted
to the "city-level."
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