ChromeOS is scheduled to receive some new privacy tools in a future update, and chief among them is the ability to control your Chromebook's location privacy settings. According to a post on the Google Cloud blog, the feature is an expansion of privacy controls the company added last year. They refer to the microphone and camera changes last April. Google didn't really provide many details in its post, but 9To5Google helped out with a recent deep dive.
The site indicates that you can determine which applications and system services on your laptop have “access [to] your geolocation”, providing you with almost total anonymity. Is not perfect. The post explains that the tool “specifically disables Google's location services,” however, it's still possible for an app or website to get an idea of where you currently are by looking at the IP address.
Geolocation controls exist in ChromeOS, but are limited to the Chrome browser itself. The device software remains free to collect your information unless you access an app and manually disable the respective tool. This update will make the process easier. No more micromanagement.
Camera, microphone and location privacy controls.
In addition to the privacy update, ChromeOS will also introduce more granular camera, microphone, and geolocation controls. For certain apps like Instagram, you can decide how you want it to interact with your hardware. Access to a Chromebook's microphone can be denied completely, free interaction allowed, or something in between. For example, Instagram can connect to a webcam, but only when you, the user, are actively using the social network. Otherwise the connection is blocked.
The Google Cloud blog mentions other features coming, but they speak more to enterprise customers; not everyday users. It talks about local data recovery, as well as an expansion of Google's data loss prevention policy.
A company representative told us that the geolocation patch will roll out to all Chromebooks in the first half of 2024, hopefully before the end of June.
To find the new tools, you will first need to launch the Settings menu and then go to the Security and Privacy tab. They will be under Privacy controls. Or alternatively, you can go to a specific app in Settings and expand the Permissions tab. Controls can also be found there.
If you're in the market for a new laptop, check out TechRadar's list of the best Chromebooks for 2024.
