The Conman Hacker: A Satire

Photo by Luther Bottrill on Unsplash

In order to provide android users a mapping and navigational service, Google launched Google maps in 2005. It has over 1,14,00,000 downloads and has around 20 million users in India. Of course, it's available in Google Playstore and enjoys a lot of popularity, worldwide. Do you know how much Uber paid for this service, which we enjoyed for free? $58 Million over three years (Approximately Rs. 4,39,85,77,900). The funny thing is that it's in built in the world's most popular android phones and you cannot delete it (unless you root the phone). Google Maps runs on rooted phones too, which is a misuse of the service.

I won't get into the technical jargon about this because there is more than enough content on the internet about vulnerabilities in Google Maps. Plus, most people who may read this aren't interested in computerese. They are looking for some satire (or propaganda, if this was a seriously written piece of denunciation with pretzel logic). Here are some 'distressing findings' of this app:

Ability to know the locations of ATMs and working hours of Banks

This is by far the worst feature of this app. Theives who enter a new territory have an access to the locations of the ATMs. All the thief has to do is, open Google Apps and type in "ATMs near me". Obviously, he has to turn on his location. Not only that, he can know the location of any ATM in India (and Foreign countries too). He can even search for banks in different locations and see the working hours to plan his robbery, with great precision.

Determine the average cab fares

After the advent of the cab aggregators who operate with apps, the taxi and auto drivers have been facing a tough time. When a user reaches a new city, all he has to do is, type the destination and see the distance, travel time and even a comparative list of the cab services rates. Therefeore, the passenger is much informed and can even bargain with the taxi/auto drivers if he does not wish to take the 'app cabs'.

Errors in Navigation

This is a nightmare if it were to happen to you at an unknown place at an unearthly hour. It would suggest you to take your sedan through an alley which maybe 2 feet wide, or sometimes where no path exists. This was in its early stages. If you happen to see this now, please check if you have selected the bike/cycling mode by mistake.

Location sharing

This feature would be a death knell of the right to privacy. A suspicious girlfriend may turn it on, in her boyfriend's phone and then watch his location when he gets late. Vice versa too. This has the potential to ruin many relationships. This is also the reason why the delivery boy lands up at your doorstep with food, when you were planning to hoodwink some guests by saying that you cooked the food. So embarrassing isn't it?

Permission for storage

This app has access to all files in your storage (if you have given it permissions). Why does an app that helps people to find their way or help them in locating something, need it? Well, people can still use it sans the video and photo details, like we lived a long time even without the app.

Public availability of Private Information

When your mobile phone gets damaged or when you need to check out a new restaurant, all you have to do is search for it on Maps. You'll get their Contact details, Address and Reviews. This is a big violation of privacy when someone can get such sensitive information from Google maps. Some people may even go to the extent of not entering the CVV number of their cards while doing a legit transaction as they fear it may come up in public.

To sum it up, Google is already aware about these issues and it will never be rectified. "There's nothing we can do about this" is what they subtly say when confronted with these concerns. Though its name is 'secular', it is riddled with such issues illustrated above. Google is that private (non governmental) operator who has no right to make a map of this wonderful planet, opines the second cousin of Harvey the Rabbit. Users of this app ought to be very careful since the Big Brother is watching where you go, what you eat and whether you have a kidney for sale. And forgot to mention this above - Rahul Gandhi was right. Aap chronology samajhiye.