Is Google watching us? Sure that sounds funny, but really, is the tech giant keeping tabs on everything we search and everywhere we go? 30 years ago that might have sounded impossible, like something from a "Star Trek" movie or an episode of the hit TV show “The Twilight Zone,” but according to a report out of Australia, this all could very well be happening, and the kicker is consumers may actually be paying them to do so.

Big Brother?

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that THE ACCC (the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) is investigating accusations that Google is spending millions to secretly track patrons' every move.

Reports indicate that nearly $600 million is spent annually in Australia to secretly track users' every step. If true, that is a bit creepy.

Rod Sims, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman, revealed some disturbing information after being briefed by US experts. The US reportedly intercepted and decrypted messages sent back to Google from mobile phones running on the company’s Android operating system. That is not a good sign.

Experts from Oracle, a computer and software tech giant, are claiming that the ACCC is on to something. Reports indicate that Google is using mobile data from Android phone users’ accounts to secretly snoop on their every move, all while collecting information to help advertisers target the consumer.

This has millions of folks concerned, and rightfully so.

While Sims indicated that his team is looking into this, he went on to say that the department discovered a lot of issues in terms of a lack of privacy, even for the simplest and smallest things. He added that Oracle's presentation was extremely interesting and should make people look deeper into digital platforms before jumping in head first and assuming that all of your information is secure.

Someone is always watching

While this news is disturbing, it gets even worse. While many of us love to use Google Maps, search engines, and other handy devices, it seems as if we are being tracked 24/7 even if we never use them at all.

Switching to airplane mode or removing the SIM card won’t stop the tracking from happening.

Oracle experts say phone owners’ data and information is still being monitored at all times. The only way not to be tracked? Shut the phone off. For millions of Android users, that simply seems like a hard option to deal with.
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