He who is harry newton said on Tue, 21 Nov 2017 22:32:53 +-0000 (UTC):
Does anyone know more about disabling "Firebase Cloud Messaging" services? For example, what if you're on Android 4.3 (like I am) with all location services disabled?
Here's another article...
Google collects Android users+IBk- locations even when location services are disabled
Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers+IBQ-even when location services are disabled+IBQ-and sending that data back to Google.
Google was apparently collecting cell tower data from all modern Android devices before being contacted by Quartz. A source familiar with the matter said the cell tower addresses were being sent to Google after a change in early 2017 to the Firebase Cloud Messaging service, which is owned by Google and runs on Android phones by default.
Devices with a cellular data or WiFi connection appear to send the data to Google each time they come within range of a new cell tower. When Android devices are connected to a WiFi network, they will send the tower addresses to Google even if they don+IBk-t have SIM cards installed.
Android devices never offered consumers a way to opt out of the collection of cell tower data.