It's not the current location that's retrieved. It's the approximate location of when you sent the message (or as I mentioned previously, the location of your map view in intel if you send the chat from there) or other "alert" event.
Considering most of the alert events are location specific events (playerX captured/attacked/deployed portalX, linked portalX and portalY), playing the location based game exposes your location to other players.
Considering most of the alert events are location specific events (playerX captured/attacked/deployed portalX, linked portalX and portalY), playing the location based game exposes your location to other players.