"To determine popular times, wait times, and visit duration, Google uses aggregated and anonymized data from users who have opted in to Google Location History." [1]
"Location History and Location Reporting data may be used by any Google app or service." [2]
It looks like you can turn it on or off, and delete your location history. I don't see a way to use Location History without having it also be anonymously used for traffic and other stuff. [3]
I've turned it off on my phone to see what happens. Occasionally I'll run across a permission dialog to turn it on.
Thanks for the links, although deleting data from Google doesn't sound like a relief/solution to me because they keep all the data.[1][2] From my experience, after you deleted your gmail account, you are not allowed to register with the same address anymore. They claim it's due to security reasons. Such claim sounds reasonable and I believe them. Anyway, they have the ability to keep the data you think you deleted for whatever reasons, which is enough for me to have doubts. I have no methods to prove that other kinds of data are kept or deleted, i.e. I don't know how to check if they deleted my location history completely, or just archived it for future use. Even the data has been anonymized, it still can be used for statistic purposes, which possibly could be used to influence elections.
I wonder if most of users would read through ToS and support articles before they started using those features. It's just much easier to click on "I agree." I won't call it a trap, but it's pretty close. As a result, users are signing contracts they don't even bother reading. And eventually, users are the ones who get blamed by the company for not paying attention.
And again, we are not sure about how they are actually using our data. Before this FB scandal, some people might still believe FB wouldn't do things like this.
"Location History and Location Reporting data may be used by any Google app or service." [2]
It looks like you can turn it on or off, and delete your location history. I don't see a way to use Location History without having it also be anonymously used for traffic and other stuff. [3]
I've turned it off on my phone to see what happens. Occasionally I'll run across a permission dialog to turn it on.
[1] https://support.google.com/business/answer/6263531?hl=en [2] https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/example/may-collect-... [3] https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3118687?hl=en