Google tracks your movements, like it or not

Tech Giant Claims It Gives Clear Description About Its Tools And How To Turn Them Off
San Francisco:  TOI 14.08.2018

Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so. Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at AP’s request.

For the most part, Google is upfront about asking permission to use your location information. An app like Google Maps will remind you to allow access to location if you use it for navigating. If you agree to let it record your location over time, Google Maps will display that history for you in a “timeline” that maps out your daily movements.

Storing your minute-byminute travels carries privacy risks and has been used by police to determine the location of suspects — such as a warrant that police in Raleigh, North Carolina, served on Google last year to find devices near a murder scene. So the company will let you “pause” a setting called Location History.

Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.” That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking.

For example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Automatic daily weather updates on Android phones pinpoint roughly where you are. And some searches that have nothing to do with location, like “chocolate chip cookies”, or “kids science kits”, pinpoint your precise latitude and longitude and save it to your Google account.

The AP learned of the issue from K Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley who studies the commuting patterns of volunteers in order to help urban planners. She noticed that her Android phone prompted her to rate a shopping trip to Kohl’s, even though she had turned Location History off. “So how did Google Maps know where I was?” she asked in a blog post .

The privacy issue affects some two billion users of devices that run Google’s Android operating software and hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for maps or search.

Storing location data in violation of a user’s preferences is wrong, said Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton computer scientist and former chief technologist for the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement bureau. “If you’re going to allow users to turn off something called ‘Location History’, then all the places where you maintain location history should be turned off,” Mayer said.

Google says it is being perfectly clear. “There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

“We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.” To stop Google from saving these location markers, the company says, users can turn off another setting, one that does not specifically reference location information. Called “Web and App Activity” and enabled by default, that setting stores a variety of information from Google apps and websites to your Google account.

While disabling “Web & App Activity” will stop Google from storing location markers, it also prevents Google from storing information generated by searches and other activity. That can limit the effectiveness of the Google Assistant, the firm’s digital concierge.

Critics say Google’s insistence on tracking its users’ locations stems from its drive to boost advertising revenue. “They build advertising information out of data,” said Peter Lenz, the senior geospatial analyst at Dstillery, a rival advertising technology company. “More data for them presumably means more profit.” Since 2014, Google has let advertisers track the effectiveness of online ads at driving foot traffic , a feature that Google has said relies on user location histories. The company is pushing further into such location-aware tracking to drive ad revenue, which rose 20% last year to $95.4 billion. AP



K Shankari (inset), a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley, noticed that her Android phone prompted her to rate a shopping trip to a department store even though she had turned Location History off

Rude coworkers can affect your parenting style

Toronto:14.08.2018

Children could be unintended victims of workplace incivility, say scientists who found that women who encounter rude coworkers are more likely to engage in stricter parenting practices, negatively affecting their kids. Workplace incivility is any behaviour that is rude, disrespectful, impolite or otherwise violates workplace norms of respect. This behaviour shows a lack of concern for others, said Kathryne Dupre, of Carleton University in Canada.

Some examples of workplace incivility include ignoring or making derogatory remarks about someone, taking credit for the work of others, passing blame for your own mistakes, avoiding someone or shutting people out of a network or team.

To better understand the effects of workplace incivility spill-over at home, the researchers conducted an online survey of 146 working mothers and their spouses. Mothers were asked about their experience with incivility in the workplace as well as feelings of effectiveness as a parent. Their spouses were asked to report on the mothers’ negative parenting behaviours, both authoritarian (strict and controlling) and permissive.

They found a significant association between experiencing rude behaviour at work and authoritarian parenting by working mothers at home. There was no association found with permissive parenting. Survey results also showed that incivility in the workplace was associated with mothers feeling less effective as parents, which could help explain the increased need to engage in strict, controlling parenting behaviours, said Dupre.

Authoritarian parents have high expectations of their children, with rules that they expect their children to follow unconditionally. At the same time, though, they provide very little in the way of feedback and nurturance and harshly punish any mistakes, said Dupre. They tend to have lots of regulations and micromanage almost every aspect of their children's lives, valuing discipline over fun. “These findings reveal some previously undocumented ways that women, in particular, suffer as a result of workplace aggression,” said Angela Dionisi, from Carleton University. PTI



The study found a significant link between experiencing rude behaviour at work and authoritarian parenting by working mothers at home

U’khand HC is legal guardian of cows in state

Vineet.Upadhyay@timesgroup.com

Nainital:14.08.2018

In the first ruling of its kind in the country, the Uttarakhand high court invoked the ‘parens patriae’ clause (becoming a legal protector) for “the welfare of cows and other stray cattle in Uttarakhand.” By invoking this provision, the court declared itself a legal guardian of members of the bovine family across the state. The court’s order was delivered on August 10 but a certified copy was available on Monday.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari in a detailed 41-page order spelled out steps for the protection of cows in the state. Citing various references in its order, including Supreme Court rulings, excerpts from upanishads and arthashastra as well as teachings of Jainism and Buddhism and quotes of Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama to stress the importance of caring for animals, the judges gave a series of directions to the state government.

These included “ensuring the banning of slaughter of cow, bull, bullock, heifer or calf, prohibition on selling of beef or beef products in any form throughout the state, providing medical treatment to all the stray cattle, appointing infirmaries within a period of three weeks in order to treat and take care of animals, evicting all unauthorised occupants/encroachers from gaushalas within a period of three months and ensuring adequate patrolling by state police in rural areas once in 24 hours to ensure that no cow is slaughtered.”

“A special squad is ordered to be headed by an officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police in both commissionaries that is Kumaon and Garhwal with one veterinarian to protect cows,” the judges said.

The court ordered cases to be registered under sections 289, 428 and 429 of the IPC as well as various provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960 and Section 7 of the Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act, 2007, against the owners of any cattle which are found on the streets. The court further directed chief engineers of all national and state highways to ensure that no stray cattle comes on roads.

New CJ gave Ganga living status
Nainital:

Justice Rajiv Sharma, who delivered landmark orders such as granting living entity status to Ganga and the animal kingdom, was appointed the acting chief justice of the Uttarakhand high court. Justice Sharma was appointed the acting CJ last week. Born in October 1958, Justice Sharma has so far heard more than 75,000 cases. After joining the Himachal Pradesh high court in 2002, he was appointed additional judge of the high court in April 2007 and became a permanent judge in March 2013. He was then transferred to Uttarakhand HC where he assumed office in September 2016. TNN

Linking of UID & social media accounts violates privacy, says Madras HC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  14.08.2018

The Madras high court on Monday termed the relief sought through a PIL ‘dangerous’ as it wanted the Union government to declare the linking of Aadhaar compulsory for authentication while creating email and social media accounts.

“There is a pressing need for administration, regulation and supervision of social media, specially, on abusive and derogatory posts, comments and memes which further promotes misinformation and propaganda. Taking note of these factors, particularly their unhealthy effects thereof, mandating Aadhaar is considered to be the most practical way of addressing the menace and imposing stringent penalties, as it paves way for tracking individual identities uploading multiple posts and memes,” petitioner Antony Clement Rubia said.

When the PIL came up for admission before a division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad, the bench wondered under what constitutional right the petitioner was seeking such relief.

“This a dangerous relief. It would affect the right to privacy of every individual. If the petitioner faces any such issue he can very well file a complaint with the police concerned and definitely they can track such people and penalize under appropriate law,” the bench said.

The court then directed the Centre to file a reply and directed the appearance of deputy superintendent of police incharge of the cybercrime wing to explain the manner in which such complaints are dealt with and the cooperation provided by social media companies. The court then posted the PIL to August 20 for further hearing.

According to the petitioner, the recent unforgettable misery which took lives of many young children was a game circulated through the social media named ‘Blue Whale Challenge’. “It was a time when the administrators of the game as well as the targets were difficult to locate, because there was no record of the true identity of users of social media accounts,” he added.

RTI reveals there was oxygen shortage at BRD med college

Lucknow/Gorakhpur:  14.08.2018

An RTI response has revealed that there was in fact a shortage of oxygen cylinders at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, on August 11, 2017, the day more than 30 children died in the hospital’s encephalitis and neo-natal wards. The response states that 10 cylinders had been arranged on August 11from suppliers other than the authorized suppliers.

Lucknow-based RTI activist Sanjay Sharma had sought in his August 14, 2017 query information from the state government on nine points pertaining to the deaths at BRD Medical College. “I received the reply in July this year. But no information has been provided on seven points, and it has been stated that the matter is pending in court,” Sharma said.

In response to his query seeking day-wise numbers of oxygen cylinders provided by suppliers other than the authorised ones between August 1 and August 14, 2017, the public information officer (PIO) of the college stated that six cylinders were provided by Anandlok nursing home, Gorakhnath, Gorakhpur, and four by Dr Kafeel Khan, then nodal officer of the hospital, on August 11.

The response vindicates the stand of Dr Khan who had been in the eye of the storm ever since he had said there was a shortage of oxygen because the administration had not made payments to the supplier.

No response has been provided to questions like details of patients who died between August 1and August 14, 2017; the causes of their death and certified copies of their postmortem reports; the supplier companies found guilty in the probe; the rate at which authorized suppliers provided cylinders; a certified copy of the magisterial probe report; and a certified copy of the then principal’s suspension

‘Party will be ruined under Stalin’s leadership’

My Father’s Loyalists Are All With Me, Says Alagiri

Barely a week after the death of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, ugly sibling rivalry resurfaced with estranged leader M K Alagiri swearing that loyalists of his father were with him. In an interview to Julie Mariappan, the rebel leader who was expelled from DMK in 2014 said his brother and DMK working president M K Stalin lacked the leadership qualities of their father.

Why did you choose to express your grievance at your father’s burial site on the Marina?

I have nursed the grievance for long and I could only express it today.

People say express your feelings to god and I have done precisely that, to my god (father).

My father will punish them (the wrong-doers). You will know what I am talking about within six months.

But you were expelled from the party by your father.

Yes, my father expelled me. But people instigated him. I conveyed that grievance to him today.

Isn’t your family helping you to get back into the party?

That is wrong information spread by the media. The family has not taken any effort and I am unaware of what their motives are.

Had the party chief been alive, do you think he would have taken you back into the DMK?

Certainly. He knew me, my hard work very well, and that I had fetched many victories for the party. Winning or losing is immaterial, but I put in a lot of hard work for the party. I was in charge of Andipatti (assembly constituency) when (former chief minister) Jayalalithaa contested twice. The leader (Jayalalithaa) was nervous and campaigned for two more days. Her own functionaries admitted this.

Are you saying Stalin is opposed to your being taken back into the party?

How can I blame him alone? The family members could have colluded too. I don’t know.

What do you think of the party now?

Things are getting worse day by day. The outcome of the R K Nagar bypoll (in which DMK candidate lost deposit) is an example.

The party will be ruined under Stalin’s leadership. You will see the (disastrous) results soon. DMK leaders are in touch with actor Rajinikanth.

There were opinions, divergent views, and disagreements among many sections, but ‘thalaivar’ (Karunanidhi) steered the party by embracing every one. That’s his style. His opponents too were treated affectionately and encouraged to work for the party. Stalin lacks such tactics. He has one group and does not bother about others.

Why were you expelled in the first place?

There was an organizational election and many applications (of my supporters) were rejected. The members contested not because I told them to do so. They (Stalin and his men) wanted their loyalists in plum posts and I questioned that. I rallied behind (the rejected ones) and wanted them to contest because at the end of the day everyone will say ‘Kalaignar vazhga’ (Long Live Karunanidhi). But they cheated my father.



They (Stalin and his men) wanted their loyalists in plum posts and I questioned that. I rallied behind (the rejected ones) and wanted them to contest because at the end of the day everyone will say ‘Kalaignar vazhga’

M K Alagiri

2ND ROUND MBBS COUNSELLING OVER

Better NEET results, same seat count make admissions tougher

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

As the second round of MBBS counselling for the state came to an end on Monday, students, who were being admitted based on their NEET scores for the second consecutive year have raised the bar.

Admission to medical colleges in the state was tougher in 2018 compared to 2017. The last student to enter a state-run medical in the state this year had a score of 200 in NEET compared to 161 in 2017. The difference in scores compared to last year was the smallest among ST category (39) and widest among MBS (88). In the OC category difference is 42 marks.

Minutes after the state completed counselling and released list of allotted students, Manickavel Arumugum, a freelance consultant of medical aspirants worked out data for 2018. The numbers showed that better performance in NEET 2018 and lack of increase in seats made admissions tougher this year.

The top score in NEET this year was 676 marks— 20 points higher than that of last year’s topper. Eightyone students scored above 550 in NEET in both 2017 and 2018. But there are 213 students who got 500 or more compared to 203 students last year. The gap widened as the scores went down. For instance there were 1,279 students above 400 compared to 1,466 last year and 4,791 above 300 compared to 2,569 last year.

Admission to all medical and dental colleges is conducted by the state committee based on NEET 2018 marks and 69% rule of reservation. “Unlike last year, the DGHS returned more seats to Tamil Nadu. Many students had to options of getting a seat,” said selection committee secretary G Selvaraj.

On Saturday, round two counselling began with the seat matrix for second round MBBS counselling with 242 MBBS seats including 128 seats in government medical colleges, 26 seats in Annamalai University, 11 seats in ESIC Chennai and 77 seats under government quota in private colleges. By Monday MBBS seats in all colleges were exhausted.

The counselling to government management seats in BDS courses at selffinancing colleges will be held soon, he said.