Every Move You Make

Video Transcript:

We know that Google is tracking us. We agree to it when we set up our phones. So we wanted to figure out what exactly Google is learning about us throughout the day. So here's what we're going to do. We have two identical phones. The only difference between these two phones is this one is an airplane mode. Both of the phones lack a SIM card, and they haven't been set up to access any Wi-Fi networks. So for all intents and purposes, these phones have no connection to a data network. We're going to keep them with us throughout the day. And while I travel around DC, we're going to figure out just what Google is finding out about me. Our first stop, Sims Convenience Store, just outside our Fox Bureau. For a quick coffee, from there, we took a walk to the Capitol and took a quick walk around the Senate Office buildings and then decided to hop in a car and head around town. Hello. We're going to the Children's Hospital, please. To run our test, we had to do more than walk the block. So we took a tour around our nation's capital. First, do north to the Children's National Medical Center hospital, then west to St. Albin School and the National Cathedral. Our tour around town was a 14 mile journey that lasted more than an hour. The entire time, the phones had no access to the internet. Oh my goodness. Not a Wi-Fi connection and not any cellular data service. It almost seemed quaint to assume that Google wouldn't even be able to collect data on me. I said back to the Bureau, my friend. That church is beautiful. Google's business model is simple. Collect data on its users and then use that data to sell targeted ads. It's a business model called surveillance capitalism. But does that critical data collection work even when your phones aren't connected? So we're back here at our Fox Bureau in DC and we've got both of our phones exactly how we left with them. The only difference, really, I snapped a couple of bad selfies at the National Cathedral. Ah! But otherwise they have stayed in my pocket for the entire day. So let's find out what they know. This is our man in the middle device. It's basically a Wi-Fi network that these phones are going to connect to once we turn their Wi-Fi on. It's going to pass data through it on the way to Google. But on the way, we're actually going to get a copy of the same data that Google's going to get. We'll be able to decrypt it and then find out where we've been throughout the day. Within minutes, the numbers rolled in. The phone that wasn't on airplane mode registered more than 100 locations, 130 activities, and even 152 barometric readings. As soon as it hooked up to our Wi-Fi, it transmitted 300 kilobytes of data straight to Google. The phone even logged our exact locations, tracking us all around town, the capital, the hospital, the school, and the cathedral. Now you may notice what's missing here is the exact route that we took, but it got that data too. It knows when I got out of the car. The metadata has a time log down to the very second, tracking everything when they think that you're walking, riding, and yes, even getting out of the car. OK, so you're thinking, this isn't a big deal. I'll just put my phone in airplane mode. Yeah, we thought of that too. This is the other phone that we had with us that no SIM card also remained in airplane mode the entire time. Let's see what kind of data it captured. The phone with airplane mode activated actually logged more locations and activities than the other phone. And it also transferred hundreds of kilobytes of data to Google as soon as it was activated. The only thing that's missing from this map is our stop at the children's hospital. But it still knows we were there. There it is. Exiting vehicle, 100% accuracy. Through complicated user agreements and free software, Google gets users to sign away their privacy for nothing. They're even following you in the places that most people would expect total privacy, government buildings, a children's hospital, a private school, a private church. Every move you make, every step you take, Google is watching you.