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ChromeOS adding a location privacy toggle

Last year, ChromeOS introduced Camera and Microphone access toggles that match the Android experience, and Chromebooks will soon be getting a location privacy control.

This high-level “Privacy control” will let you determine whether Android apps, web apps in the Chrome browser, and system services can access your geolocation. It specifically disables Google Location Services, though apps and websites could still always estimate location using IP address.

The ChromeOS location on/off toggle will appear in Settings > Security and Privacy > Privacy controls, and will be available in the first half of 2024.

ChromeOS is also adding “granular application-level permissions on camera, microphone, and geolocation services” for web and Android apps:

Meanwhile, for enterprise customers, ChromeOS is getting secure local data recovery: “When users misplace or forget their passwords, ChromeOS requires that the user have access to their account and to their physical device in order to restore local data.” Recovery attempts are “logged into a tamper-proof, persistent ledger in a privacy-preserving manner, ensuring all unauthorized access attempts are immediately detected.”

Google is extending data loss prevention (DLP) policies and BeyondCorp Enterprise scanning/rule-based protections to local files. There are also partnerships with Okta on Device Trust Connector  and Splunk with a ChromeOS app for “deep insights into device usage and potential threats.”

Finally, Google touted an enterprise study on how “ChromeOS offers the most secure experience out of the box” when compared to macOS and Windows 11.

More on ChromeOS:

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com

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