I’m using a US VPN, my browser and operating system locale is set to United States English, and my Google account and “result language and region” region is set to the US, yet Google still manages to find out my actual location.
It’s not very apparent but I’m rarely encountering contents (Online shop, places and other advertisements) for the country I’m currently living in, even for search quaries not containing any clue of where I’m living in like “書道 meaning” or “thence”. (No I don’t live in Chinese speaking country.)
How is that even possible? I’m freaked out by the Google’s ability of spying where I’m living in. Don’t try to “customize” my god damn experience PLEASE. I want results from the US, that’s the reason I’m using all the US VPNs and other stuffs.
The moment Google sees a VPN IP, it actually spies more. It know you are on VPN. It will use all your unique identifiers - like tracking cookies placed by google ads network, other websites tracking cookies which google has some links with, your browser fingerprint (this is quite unique - because it contains info of the extensions you installed, browser version - not everyone gets the latest update at same time).
In future I expect they can track you using AI - like the words you choose when drafting mail, your mouse movement patterns, your keyboard speed. They will do everything possible.
Also lets say you use original ip till 1 am, then vpn till 5 am, then original ip till 7 am, then vpn till 8am. Even if you open 1 google / google related site / app - it knows two ips are following a close pattern and one of the ip is a vpn, so probably vpn user is actually the other ip.
They are supposed to do all this in hidden and not let you know. I think some of their services inadvertently leaks this info. And you found out.
Solution - use a diff device, display resolution etc. - and never login to anything google. Just use it for your vpn use. This way it is very hard for them to track. Also try never to use your original ip in this device - so that they wont guess it.
If I am your friend and I save your number (your country) in my google phone contacts. It gets kinda obvious.
Also, search patterns, location services (even if it’s a bit), vpn masks your IP to be from a different country. But like… There’s other stuff that isn’t masked by VPNs, that shows what country you are in.
You might not have gotten a full understanding of how VPNs work. Especially the part of WHAT is changes, and WHAT is does NOT change.
If you are logged into Google on your phone and you are logged into Google on your laptop, then you’re not fooling anyone, because your phone knows exactly where you are.
If you are logged into websites or apps that use Google Analytics on your phone, yeah, you’re not fooling anyone either.
Have a fitness watch maybe? Whoa brother, I hope you don’t have anything to hide.
Use a deGoogled phone like a GrapheneOS of CalyxOS phone, and don’t use your Google account or any of the optional Google services on it. Don’t use Chrome on your desktop, use Firefox or Brave in private mode. Run Linux on you Desktop if possible. Get rid of your Google account, or forward all your Gmail to a different service and interact with it there.
You need to clear browser cache and cookies before you connect to VPN, because some website store identifiers in those, so if you’re casually browsing a web without a VPN, then switch VPN on,it won’t necessarily have effect on the website aka spoof your location
Cookies, hardware id, account associated devices, Google devices with shared accounts, bluetooth and WiFi triangulation, wardriving identifiers (they wardrive, tag your WiFi.Bluetooth connections to your location. They have faced multiple lawsuits for this but still do it)
And on and on you have to take a ton of steps to de-google successfully, and if you mess up even once and log into the wrong site with the wrong device it will be associated with your real physical location through any number of methods
Don’t use Google. Use private browsing mode to avoid cookies hanging around too long. Block trackers. Also, don’t use mainstream browsers. No matter what you can be tracked, but you can at least maintain partial privacy from some parties.
By checking the unique id of the cell tower you are connected to. By checking the GPS receiver on your phone. By scanning for nearby Wi-Fi networks. Google has an extensive map of where every Wi-Fi is located.
If you are still logged in to some account, that account knows who you are.
If you have cookies that tell a website who you are, the website knows who you are.
If you use the same configuration of OS, browser (version), hardware etc, a website can know who you are, because the combination of those factors is pretty unique. Not sure if that’s legal where you live though.
Do you have Geolocation turned off in your browser? They can get realatively close on a consistant basis without that but with your IP info, but if you are using a VPN the Geolocation info tells them to ignore your IP. Then add in other points like advertising cookies and Google Anaylitcs which are on most websites and they can narrow things down quite a bit.
Hell browsers have webcams set to use as presance and mottion sensors (my supermarket isn’t happy I block that one).
Then there is leaky RSTP and on rare occasions apparently even getting Canvas can route around to your rough location, but that is an exception.