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Alphabet's Google has shut down a service it provided to wireless carriers globally that showed them weak spots in their network coverage- as it fears data privacy issues that might attract the scrutiny of regulators and users.
Sources exclusively told Reuters that Google is ending it's free Mobile Network Insights service -- which collected data from Android devices... to create a map for wireless carriers with signal strengths and connection speeds they were delivering in each area.
Wireless carriers then used the data to help decide on where to extend or upgrade their coverage.
Google says it only gathered data from users who had opted into sharing usage and diagnostics and did not explicitly link any information to individual users...
But the abrupt end of Google's service which started in March 2017 -- is the latest example of an internet company opting to shutter a data-sharing resource rather than risk a breach...
And comes as U.S. and European lawmakers have stepped up their focus on how tech companies treat user data after a series of large-scale data security failures.
Facebook has also begun reviewing data deals with app developers and the four big U.S. wireless carriers recently stopped selling data on customers' real-time locations to marketers and other firms.
