Apparently Android (Google) are gathering location information as part of their race to build massive databases capable of pinpointing people’s locations via their cellphones. Android devices keep a record of the locations and unique IDs of the last 50 mobile masts that it has communicated with, and the last 200 Wi-Fi networks that it has “seen”.
This post is more a of a guide to help limit the leakage of data.
This is a scripted I knocked up a while ago and have been using for fresh installs of OxygeN ROM to remove the Google stuff I not use before I enter SIM unlock code and log into the phone. All that is left is enough Google stuff to keep market happy, along with Droidwall and allowing apps you want access to the Internet my 3G signal status never goes green ie mean my phone logged into Google.
With doing this I have also noticed that my location information is not being logged to cache.wifi and cache.cell under /data/data/com.google.android.location/files
#!/bin/sh
## edit path to adb
PATH=/home/<user>/bin/android-sdk-linux_86/platform-tools
$PATH/adb remount
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/GenieWidget.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.apps.genie.geniewidget
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/Gmail.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.gm
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/GoogleBackupTransport.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.backup
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.syncadapters.calendar
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/GooglePartnerSetup.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.partnersetup
$PATH/adb shell rm -f /system/app/Talk.apk
$PATH/adb uninstall com.google.android.talk
wait 1
echo "All Done, rebooting now"
$PATH/adb reboot
You can also block the following using DroidWall, to try and keep all bases covered:
- Settings > Location & security and unchecked the “Use wireless networks” box
- Network Location, Google Calendar Sync, Google Services Framework, Google Contacts Sync
- (Kernel) – Linux kernel
- Maps
Reference:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/21/android-phones-record-user-locations?CMP=twt_gu
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