If they knew what you look like they'd not want access...except to an eye surgeon.

As for why they're asking? Because they don't know and want to in order to pick ads without paying Google for the info, probably. Maybe tied to the EU privacy standard they have to adhere to.

It's all about demographics, Mark.  Doc has it right.  ( OMG!!  Did I actually say that!!!????)

Could really care less. If I don't want to grant access then I hit deny. 

I don't know exactly what this location request is about, I just deny it. I don't use a VPN so my IP address should give them my location anyway.

If you use a smartphone you'll indeed notice that apps want access to your camera, microphone, location and other things you might not want to share with them. Since smartphone apps are supposed to be sandboxed they have to ask for permission. Regular Win32 programs can in theory access those things without asking because there is no sandbox.

I don't like sandboxed programs which are being pushed on the desktop too, because they are dumbed down compared to regular programs, but on the smartphone all apps are "dumb" anyway so sandboxing may be a good idea there, especially if the permission system is granular.

Some apps don't ask for permission because they are installed by default. Someone mentioned that he switched from standard Android keyboard to Hacker's Keyboard and saw a reduction in network activity... I don't know if this is true, but the devil is often in the details and sometimes the most important things are those they don't tell you.

It doesn't help that our governments are complicit in the largest collection of personal data in the history of mankind.

I try to use open source software because it's harder to hide nasty stuff in there. I do believe open source could solve our privacy problems. However, just as JcRabbit pointed out in another thread, making money off open source software is very difficult so it's doomed to free software offerings and those projects have to rely on donations or ads which isn’t ideal.

I think there is some similarity to the web. Ten years ago most websites were free and relied on ads. Then came the adblockers en masse and the ad model was no longer a sustainable model. So now there are more paywalls and less content is free. And websites also became aware they could make money off data collection so surfing the web "anonymously" today involves a lot of work. I just use an adblocker and let them have their cookies on my machine. Sometimes I clear browser history, but I don't care too much about browser tracking. It's a way of giving back to websites which can't rely on ad revenue any more.

Whatever you use you have to give something back; it's just a question of what, when and how.

Unfortunately, greed causes companies to want your money AND your data.

Yes, and I am in agreement here at Wincustomize to turn off my ad blocker and anti-tracking apps.  I am a subscriber here so I don't see ads, and I have no issues with cookies here, either.

It is a different matter, however, on sites where ads a pushed down your throat and they want to track your surfing habits to target you with even more [very much unwanted] ads.  Regardless of the legitimate content, I will exit any site that tries to force crap down my throat; wants my location and wants to place cookies [to do what?] on my PC.

I've heard so many times that the now generation thinks everything on the internet is free... or should be.  I wonder where they get that idea?  Could it be from the example companies have set by using the internet as a data free-for-all, then taking liberties with the collected data by sharing your/our information with business partners and other companies.

And now Microsoft is forcing ads down Win 10 users throats on that crappy start menu of theirs.  Thanks to Stardock's Start10, I never ever see that poor excuse for a start menu.  Now I don't know that users who got Win 10 supposedly free can really complain, but those who ended up having to purchase it should NOT have to see ads built in to their OS.

It's not greed. It's business. As magazines and newspapers die advertisers are going over to the net. It's only logical and it's called progress.

   Since before I wuz knee high to a grasshopper commercials and ads have always been plastered on 'free space' such as billboards, magazines, newspapers and even comic books (love comic books lol). A company makes something they want to sell so they tell people about it. If they don't tell the people then how the people gonna know about it. I don't approve of some of the methods they use, that's an ethics issue. Targeted ads can be fine tuned if a company knows location and browsing habits.

   They target a particular demographic and focus on it. That's the progress part. However, it is business as usual and there's money to be made. You can't blame the companies per se, you have to lay that on the ones who run those companies. Money is a powerful incentive and who wouldn't jump on it. Greed isn't that rampant, not yet anyway. But there are individuals who throw ethics out the window and chase those bucks rather aggressively. That's life and nothing is going to change that. That's also why we have ad blockers and options to either accept or deny a location request, to keep 'intrusive' ads from messing up your day. 

   We live in the digital age folks. Digital this and digital that. Music and movies and news and sports and so many apps for this that and everything else...all them ones and zeros crammed into tiny stuff like sardines. No wonder it gets stuffy, hot and sticky in there, not nice. So you dl somethin' and click on it. Loads up in memory and pops up on your screen. You play with it a little bit then close it. Its in memory right? So why doesn't it remember where it came from? Its just goes back and jumps into the nearest hole. What's up with that? So a couple few days go by and you're usin' stuff and closin' stuff and none of it has any clue as to where it came from. That's why it takes so long for stuff to open again 'cause the cpu has to go find it. Little bit here, little bit there, that's a lot of work. Then ya gotta go in there and clean up the mess memory made and put stuff back where its supposed to be. And......you gotta be armed when you're lookin' for stuff. 

   There's gremlins in there and you gotta shoot 'em. How did gremlins get into there? Duh...they hitched a ride on the download 'cause somebody not paying attention. You see somethin' on the net and you go..."Wow! Gotta get me some of that" and you do. You got anti-virus installed so you not worry too too much. But...your A/V doesn't see it 'cause it ain't lookin'. You click on it and BAM! You ain't got it, it gots you, so there. You don't know it though. You don't find out until you go to pay your bills and "WTF". Your bucks are history, gone as in not there. The bad guys took over your PC and cleaned you out. This is the digital age folks. Ain't nuthin' off limits.

Ok...I'm done.   

Because it is the only profession that saturates our lives with obstrusive advertising.  No other profession intrudes into our lives like advertising does by taking up every available space to force ads down our throats.  It is NOT necessary!

We have a department store here in Australia named Harvey Norman.  Every second page in our local free rag is a full-page Harvey Norman ad, but not to be content with that, the advertisers insert a 15 - 20 page colour catalogue as well.  Take out the advertising and there are just 5 or 6 pages of actual news from 20 to 30 or so pages.

Furthermore, I get that same catalogue in my mailbox... it is binned immediately without opening.  Still not satified with invading our newspapers and magazines, Harvey Norman also advertises on billboards; the backs of cabs; on the sides of buildings; in leaflets interted into our other purchases; on TV.  Sometimes Harvey Norman will get 3 ad segments in a 3- 5 minute ad break.

Tell me that's not overkill.

What's more, Harvey Norman isn't the only company that goes to such extremes with advertising.  In Australia many others do it, saturating us with unwanted and obstrusive advertising everywhere we look.  I am sick and tired of it, as are millions upon millions of others around the world.  That's why ad blockers have become a reality and so popular; why people record their TV programmes so they can fast forward through the ads; why so much paper advertising ends up in the bin unread.

As for the how do we know what's available without advertising, we get off our fat arses and get into the stores.  We get the same kind of saturation advertising from our main supermarkets.  I/we throw it all in the bin unread.  We go to the supermarket and look for the products we need, and if there are new ones, sometimes we will try them, but we mostly stick to out tried and true usuals.

I NEVER take any notice of advertising and try to avoid it at all costs [sometimes I can't not see it because it's damned everywhere] yet I still get the products I need/want by doing my own research, getting out into the stores to see for myself what's available.

For mine, advertising is a plague... but if more people got off their fat arses and got out into to stores, well it needn't be so damned prolific.

Same here!  I sadly see far too much advertising everywhere else, I don't need it while I'm browsing the internet.

Too darn right!  The internet is nosier than Ena Sharples.... who wanted to know the ins and outs of every cat's arse on Coronation Street.

As for leaky browsers, I do my best to tighten security with Firefox with the various addons.  However, I'd never ever use Chrome... given Google's history for data mining and nosing into your business/browsing habits.  Not too sure I trust Microsoft's browsers, either.... moreso now that Win 10 is around, tracking users movements via Cortana [which is connected to Edge and IE] and throwing ads up in the start menu, etc.  I use none of it: not IE nor Edge or Cortana.

Nope, give the bastards nothing, much less a freebie

The be right, Uvah, I be aggrieved by them thar high n' mighty muck-a-mucks.  They be tha wurst thievin' scoundrels tha wurld 'ave e'er seed.  I reckuns we should take their booty n' redistribute it among tha poor n' pirates wot 'aves no meens o' support since them thar bankers steeled it.