Security News > 2020 > March > Google data puts innocent man at the scene of a crime

Like many of us, McCoy had an Android phone that was linked to his Google account, and he used plenty of apps that store location data: Gmail, YouTube, and an exercise-tracking app called RunKeeper that feeds off of Google location data and which helps users to track their workouts.

On the day of the burglary - 29 March 2019 - Google knew that McCoy had passed the scene of the crime three times within an hour as he looped through his neighborhood during his workout.

Even after police acknowledged that McCoy wasn't a suspect anymore, Kenyon wanted to make sure they wouldn't harbor suspicions about his client, whom they still only knew as "John Doe." So the lawyer met with the detective in order to show him screenshots of McCoy's Google location history, including data recorded by RunKeeper.

Investigators stipulate a timeframe and an area on Google Maps and ask Google to give them the record of each and every Google user who was in the area at the time.

When police find devices of interest, they'll ask Google for more personal information about the device owner, such as name, address, when they signed up for Google services and which services - such as Google Maps - they used.

News URL

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/03/10/google-data-puts-innocent-man-at-the-scene-of-a-crime/