The New York Times: “Your smartphone is one of the world’s most advanced surveillance tools. This week, Times Opinion is reporting on a huge trove of location data showing the precise location movements for millions of Americans. Once your location is shared with the companies, there’s no way to delete that information or get it back. Your best bet is to avoid sharing your location in the first place — at least until the government bestirs itself to begin regulating how that information is collected, used and sold.

Stop sharing your location with apps – The most important thing you can do now is to disable location sharing for apps already on your phone. (Don’t worry, your phone will automatically send its location to emergency responders if you dial 911.) It’s easy to do this without having to open each app. Many apps that request your location, like weather, coupon or local news apps, often work just fine without it. There’s no reason a weather app, for instance, needs your precise, second-by-second location to provide forecasts for your city. Apple has recently made it harder for companies to snoop on your whereabouts via backdoor methods like checking for nearby Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks. Make sure your phone’s operating system is updated to benefit from these safeguards…”