Not you IP address but your router/access point's MAC address and been doing it for many years.

For example, I receive quite a few devices for reviews, and I mostly give things away after using those. Many years ago, I gave a friend in another city a router. For a few weeks his computer and other devices reported his location as being my city instead of his. It took a couple of weeks for Google services to catch up.

Google logs your current location and the MAC address of any access point visible to your phone. In your case, if you used your phone via the VPN for more than a few hours, Google associates that MAC address with the finer location from your phone's GPS. It may not link that data to your account, but it uses it to help getting a GPS location.

If you live in a location with low traffic/human density then it may take longer for Google to change it back.

This information is also used for a GPS cold start. Actual GPS takes a few moments to get a fix, even more if indoors. A GPS get a fix faster if you are using it close to where it was last used, or how fresh the stored almanac data is, otherwise it may not find expected satellites in certain locations in the sky. While a fix is not available phone GPS uses any visible MAC address to determine its coarse location.

On laptops and desktops with no GPS, browsers will use this access point data to set a location - IP addresses databases are not up to date enough and sometimes they are linked to the ISP office address and not to specific towns and cities and certainly not to a specific address.

I'm sorry that you were oblivious to this, but their job is to track and monetize anything they can unless it's explicitly outlawed. Even then, Alphabet breaks the rules (namely of the EU) all the time as they seem to be content with paying fines on a regular basis.

https://www.wired.com/story/eu-hits-google-third-billion-dol...

If you, as the user, want to restrict this, you can do so here:

https://myadcenter.google.com/controls/ads-data/historical-l...

Advertisers are generally aware of this. They can control location & language targeting. Digital advertisers are aware digital target is imperfect, and that imperfection is often called "wasted" and is n priced in.

Your comment about Edge on your desktop makes me thing something beyond Google is going on, as Edge only runs on Windows (a non-Google product, made by Microsoft) and Edge is also a non-Google product, made by Microsoft. I wouldn't be surprised if something is confused in Windows & that's propagating into your web experience.

Have you not been out of the country in the last decade?

This is both expected and known and waaaay deeper than what you think.

The ad brokers - of which there are thousands - are tracking you and sharing information collected between different apps to each other. Each app has several analytics packages that send this data.

Any ad server can get this from an analytics package, or from another ad broker. Many ad brokers function as every other component in this web too. Just like Google has both Google Analytics, an ad serving platform, an ad brokering platform and ability to get data from other ad brokers, all alongside the ability to directly track you like you imagine. But probability wise, it’s not “Google tracking you”, its everyone.

Google changes the UI language in its first party apps based on IP, which is a much bigger deal than advertisers chosing to send Spanish ads to people who spend time in Spanish language countries.

As other people have said in exhaustive detail: where you are comes from a lot of signals other than your IP address at the VPN end of your VPN. Off the top of my head: you connected to some cell tower in Mexico.

Go to google.com/history and clear out all history from all services. Go to YouTube and do the same. Clear everything from your browsers, meaning you have to log in again. If it's allowed, return the phone to its default state.

Just for good measure, power the phone off, take the battery out, wait an hour, put the battery back in, and power back up again (this part is cargo-cult, I know).

There are probably even more sanitary measures I'm missing here.

Using IP addresses to infer approximate location is very common, but advertisers can do it other ways. Maybe Microsoft does something different?

Getting it wrong in this way is rather puzzling, but it's unlikely that anyone here is going to be able to debug it without a whole lot more information about your computers. Maybe there are cookies you can delete?

Are all those devices logged in into your account? Maybe Google thinks you're Mexican because of your recent stay in Mexico and serves you content in Spanish. I'd check the language settings of the search engine, Google News, Android or iOS apps, the content of cookies in the browser, etc.

It sounds like a leaky tunnel.

Also, is it your private tunnel? I think it also looks at the language settings of the bulk of users coming from that IP address. As an example, try using any public VPN hosted in a German datacenter, with a German IP address on a German AS, but created by Iranians (either as help to circumvent the crackdown or as a honeypot; they routinely post these en masse on Telegram), and you'll be detected as Iranian and start getting results in Farsi.

(don't try it actually, or at least use precautions and while not logged in)

I have location tracking disabled on my Android phone and moved to a different state over a year ago but they still show my old home and work pips on the map. However, the articles in the Google Assistant pane are now nearly all relevant to my current location but they gradually transitioned from the old regional news over many months. This is one of the few places where I leak detailed fingerprint data with unfiltered web browsing.

Google is clearly collecting its tracking from a variety of sources but integrates it sporadically.

You're absolutely right; I've operated a site-to-site VPN tunnel between two locations (tunnel endpoints were on the routers, and both peers were sharing an public IP address).

After a while, Google would associate the IP address of the local side of the tunnel with the location of the remote side of the tunnel.

I assume this is from Android devices connecting to the network on the remote side, being geolocated by Google Play Services, and Google tying this location with the IP address.

I don't have a single Google device in my residence for this among other reasons. I bought a tablet once while traveling just like you with my cc, didn't have time to use it much, just streamed video (never signed in, don't even remember my google account from years ago), the tablet has no gps or mobile data capability. As soon as I got home it connected to my wifi automatically. I thought I lost my mind for a few minutes. My phone being connected and somehow associating me (they can fingerprint you by your device sensors -- patented) with the stores ssid is my only explanation.

I get MS and apple are locked down but why the hell would you use a product by a company that treats you like google does. Apple and MS are just greedy or shortsighted, google is openly hostile, it's not that they don't care about your privacy but that loss of your privacy is their main product!

I am facing a different tyranny from Google. I just moved to US from a different country. I am not able to install any US based apps as Google play store has my original country tied in. Google knows I am in the US, but they want me to give a payment instrument (Paypal, or Credit card) before they allow me to update the country.

Short answer can be summarized as follows: Can X correlate data "that way" about users at scale and at an acceptable cost? If yes, then X does it.

Works for all companies that generate revenue from targeted advertising (GAFAMs of course, and many many others).

For a very long time Google thought my Newark, NJ IP address was in UAE, where I’ve never been to. Most other websites serving a local version (e.g. airlines) based on GeoIP got it right, but a few also decided I was in UAE; I don’t recall which ones. I submitted Google’s IP location correction form[1] and it was fixed months later. Google’s GeoIP database is weird.

[1] https://support.google.com/websearch/workflow/9308722?hl=en

> I just wish I could make this known to Google's advertisers. Are they aware that when I travel, they're pay to show me ads that I can't understand?

I live in Canada, but came to Australia for an extended period to visit family.

I'd been in Australia, using wifi and a local Aussie SIM for over 6 months and Facebook and google were still showing me ads for Canadian things. I wonder if people paying for FB and Google ads know they're being shown to people outside the country like that. I'd be mad if I were paying for that.

Not the worst that can happen from travelling. At least now you can filter out everything that's in Spanish without having to second guess whether it's an ad or not.

I logged into the WiFi of a Russian airport once and from that day I had Russian spam in my email, fake invites on Google calendar, attempt to break into my Shopify account and others (probably using data from breaches)

This might be the use of the VPN tells them to identify VPN users and get their "real" location. Lots of people may be using VPNs from Mexico. So when they see a user that has used VPN, they discard their fake IP address data and use the one they suspect is true.

Google’s IP geolocation database can sometimes be weird and not match what other providers think. One day, Google decided that I’m in the Netherlands (I’m not, I’ve never been there, and I haven’t used a VPN). This affected ads and displayed prices in a few random places, but then it went to normal.

Have a look at Wigle.net and you will better understand how some localisation services works.

it's not just ads, it affects the entire Google Cloud infrastructure. I've seen this in some proxy servers too. Wondering if this is mostly related to location data or a persistent cookie and/or tracker that's designed to detect VPN activity.

I actually like that I see ads in other languages on youtube, based on VPN location.

So instead of manipulative junk I receive some funny blahblahblah videos I don't have idea what about and not putting junk in my subconscious.

Genuine question. Does Apple just not do these things? Is my privacy *actually* protected better with an iphone? I still have to use Google Mail for work and occasionally use Google Maps to find things.

> Is this expected/known?

I expect that Google will use any data the can obtain to make themselves more money. So if could've imagined the situation you described.

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A few years ago someone did a data export from linkedin and received a CD, I think either in the early days of GDPR or maybe during the predecessor (NL: WBP) which was effectively the same except no fines. One of the takeaways there was that linkedin suggests users to each other that share an IP address. I have also noticed that youtube on tv will suggest things that someone in the household watched on the phone. Whether it's truly by IP address or by some other proximity proxy, in the end the answer is the same: yes, adtech firms use correlations, such as your IP address.

It sounds like you're one of today's lucky ten thousand. https://xkcd.com/1053/

So what should OP have done to avoid being tracked while on vacation?

Turn off android Location? Use a burner phone, and sign in with a new account?

Can Google do the same thing on iOS?

I recently bought a brand new pair of golf shoes from a physical store. I did not even search for them or look at any golf shoes online. The next day, I got Google ads served for the same brand of shoes I bought... Coincidence? Seemed very creepy. I know they sometimes do "re-tageting", but in this case I am sure I didn't look at any stores online. Only the fact that I physically visited a store with my tracking devi... errr i mean "phone", in my pocket...

Are you sure there isn't a mix-up with your VPN? I travel a lot internationally and never experienced anything like this.

Oh yeah, something I've noticed is that I have Spanish neighbors and I occasionally get Spanish YouTube ads

Every single advertising company is exploiting every single side channel that they can.

This should not surprise you.

When I change my dns location, the language and adverts change for my shield/android TV

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> I can't believe Google is doing this

Have you been living under a rock?

Do any diving down there? I really need to get back.

Leaky VPN, time to switch to Mullvad. GOAT.

welcome to the matrix.

yes it's a known fact, and no there's no way around it.

Why is everyone so worried about personalized ads? Serious question.

Google uses the whole bag of tricks to correlate your location and other personal information, they are actively engaging in a surveillance system which previous Stasi members (yes Eastern Germany) have described as a wet dream.

That can include any number of avenues, including from implants they've put on devices you may carry. For example, even if you don't have location services on, depending on the model it will keep the last X number of AP points and cell towers that came into range, and that information may be used to correlate your location regardless of if the feature was turned on or off by you. I'm pretty sure intermediate cell towers sell some of this information to Accurint which is where most governments agencies go for information when not Palantir.

Google has a lot of ad fraud because of their pernicious use of surveillance may indicate you fall within a demographic to their ad companies that you do not, but they are the only marketshare in town for ad providers.

No there isn't a way to game the system in any way, you have no control over their algorithms, or even your own hardware.

You may also notice that if you talk about a specific thing hitting the same keywords over and over within a few minutes, within range of one of those devices all the ads switch to that thing. Like a purple dog collar. Technically that's wiretapping, and should be illegal, but no ones holding them to account because someones decided its not illegal if an algorithm does it?

For anyone not aware of the tech involved in this, this may seem like a tinfoil hat like response invoking the I can't believe it response. That's fine, but it is happening regardless of people thinking those thoughts, and you have no agency to change or stop it which was by design.

If you are unhappy with that, the only option is to become an expert in the technology, or bury your head in the sand.

The thing that most people don't get about privacy is, privacy is your future. If you give up your privacy, you are giving up your future.

Whatever that may be, its what you are trading when you use anything made by companies involved in this despicable and evil trade.

You become a victim to anyone who pays to have access to that information or some derivative of it, and its done in a subtle way that you don't concretely know when that's been used against you or when its happening.

Those companies won't give you enough information to make an informed decision about it because they are deceitful and malevolent by design and have used leveraged buyouts to consolidate that power in a global game of monopoly, and most likely received funds from people within the government to set this up in the first place.

They have gotten where they are now at by stripping agency, and voice, and corrupting and subverting the areas they would normally be held to account.

So the only real alternative without specialized knowledge is to become a luddite and not engage in society (in the US).

This mostly because everything is being forced through compulsion into the online space without proper safeguards, you have companies who are acting as arms of government without government oversight, which is also by design.

Most people can't become a specialist at tech overnight, and the people that do go the luddite route are ostracized, and have less opportunities for anything that falls in the social spectrum.

Many people do not realize just how bad things have gotten because they rely on institutions to get their news, such as from the Sinclair's of the world.

If you have a chance look at the deadspin Sinclair video. That was made years ago, and despite that and other issues, they were still authorized for further mergers to consolidate their business.

The reason the world is getting so crazy and going off the rails is because these 'evil' people have been allowed to continue this attack on agency and speech without restriction, and the people responsible for not taking action against these companies are the same people we voted into office but more appropriately were tweedism'ed into office without a real choice by us.

When you look at social media stuff, you always have to wonder if the people responding are real, most of the time if the post has an algorithmic negative sentiment then you'll be downvoted, not by real people but by bots. To de-amplify your voice. The same goes for news, to amplify your engagement.

If you've read any history, you would understand we have very dark times ahead of us, and the previous generation who came to power in the 90s, will have a legacy of the generation that failed in every area that counted because they sacrificed their childrens future for short term goods which were then stolen from them under the same framework they supported.

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Yes I fucking hate that. Google knows where I am and all searches take into account my location and I can't change it. If I change IPs, it's a matter of days before they find out. I think they do it using physical geolocation (gps, wifi routers nearby) from Android phones connected to my wifi network.

They’ve been doing this for probably twenty years. It is not new.