Blumenthal, Markey Press Google on Location Tracking

Google's explanation for how it handles location tracking is "inadequate," said Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai, after an investigation by Quartz showing Google collects location information from Android devices even after consumers disable tracking. "The American public is growing increasingly uneasy about the amount of data collected on them," said the letter, which asked Google to explain its data collection processes in detail, particularly when users are offline or in airplane mode. It was asked to specify by Jan. 12 whether location data it collects is associated with a specific device ID; what information is collected in Wi-Fi and hot spot access points; and whether it collects user data from Apple devices. The company didn't comment Monday.