Permissionless data slurping: Why Google’s latest bombshell matters

According to an old Chinese proverb: “When a wise man points at the Moon, an idiot looks at his finger.” Google may have been hoping that you were examining a finger, not reading a Quartz story yesterday, which reveals how Android phones send location data to Google without you even knowing it.

Google received the data even if you didn’t have a SIM card in your phone, and everything else was turned off.